Sculptor Maria Markovich blends wire, twigs and birch tree bark to make the large birds and horses that fill her Norristown art studio.

Markovich is tall and slender, with an air of relaxed coolness that might seem more at home in SoHo, where she once lived, than in Norristown. She arrived in the borough two years ago, lured by lower rents to a converted factory on Washington Street, where a mini-Renaissance has started to take place.

"There are artists here but more could come," she said.

It is a belief shared by Norristown officials and local developers, who have started offering incentives such as tax breaks and grants to woo artists.

The ideas are from the 2002 book, The Rise of The Creative Class, written by Carnegie Mellon University professor Richard Florida, according to Steven Nelson, deputy chief operating officer for policy and planning for Montgomery County.

The book states that cities need to attract and cultivate young, creative people, as well as gays and minorities, for revitalization. That means making Norristown comfortable for artists, writers, musicians, architects, and software developers.

"The creative class attracts others," Nelson said. "The artists tend to create what's hip, and others are attracted to that."

It may take three or four years, but when artists move in, change follows. Once-vacant buildings become studio space. Rundown storefronts can turn into galleries. Trendy restaurants and cafes pop up where decay once reigned.

Look at Manayunk and Old City, where many of Norristown's newest residents used to live. There, studio rents became too high, forcing artists to flee to places such as Norristown, with its cheap rent and urban flavor.

Artist Tim Hawkesworth has owned the Norristown Arts Building at 619 W. Washington St. since 1996. Before that, he was producing paintings in a Manayunk studio.

But the Manayunk building went upscale and Hawkesworth, of Haverford, moved out.

He found a deal on the industrial building that used to be a Halloween costume factory. Rent for 1,000 square feet of studio space in the Norristown Arts Building goes for $400 a month, less than what Hawkesworth said he paid in Manayunk.

Now, all 23 studios are filled. "Artists are always looking for affordable space," he said.

Norristown has been doing what it can to help. In May, the borough changed its zoning code to allow residences, artist studios and galleries in light-industrial areas.

The change allows developers to submit plans for projects without the headache of obtaining a variance, said Jane Musonye, Norristown's planning director.

Tax-abatement programs such as Keystone Opportunity Zones could also help spur more development tailored to artists, Musonye said. "That's what makes you more attractive."

Wooing the artistically inclined is not a goal only in Norristown. Municipalities across Pennsylvania are taking similar steps to make fading industrial towns hospitable to those on the creative fringe.

"There seems to be a growing interest in this kind of thing," said Philip Horn, executive director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

In Scranton, Mayor Chris Doherty has thrown his support behind the renovation of a 200,000-square-foot building into artist-loft apartments. A $10 million grant has been awarded to a developer.

The city also has hired the nonprofit organization, Artspace Projects Inc., of Minneapolis, because it specializes in converting deserted industrial space into loft residences.

"I'm following what the governor did in Philadelphia and going after the young people and the artists," Doherty said. "It works."

Rents at Artspace projects are kept affordable through low-income housing credits administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Pontiac Building in Pittsburgh, where 37 live-work spaces were created, is one of Artspace's projects.

In Norristown, there are two developers interested in converting an old shirt factory at 620 Corson St. into loft apartments.

While plans are in the preliminary stages, such a development would be a coup. Norristown officials have been trying for 10 years to rehab the sprawling building, which abuts the SEPTA tracks along Markley Street.

The borough has negatives to overcome: crime, drugs and violence, and a municipal corruption probe.

And until the basics - good schools and safe streets - are covered, a struggling town like Norristown will never get off life support, said Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a New York City think tank that specializes in urban issues.

"If the city isn't paying attention to those things, then they've got their eye off the ball," Malanga, a critic of Florida's theories, said.

Often, cities tinker with the latest planning fad instead of making expensive choices, such as improving schools or hiring more police, Malanga said. "Sometimes it's easier to say, 'Let's rezone this district to attract artists.' "

Norristown does have diversity on its side, a plus when attracting creative people, according to Florida. Of Norristown's 31,282 people, 35 percent are black and 10 percent are Latino.

As for architecture, the borough's industrial past has left it with an abundance of red-brick factories that are ideal for studio conversion, Nelson said.

Hawkesworth believes that Norristown needs to establish a vision of what its future could be, so everyone could work toward a common goal.

That is what happened in Millville, N.J., a working-class town with a stagnant economy that transformed itself into a vibrant artists colony. In the last four years, 45 businesses have opened and some restaurants have a two-hour wait for dinner, officials said.

Tax breaks and marketing spurred Millville's rebirth. Enterprise zones allowed the town to offer no-interest loans to entice artists from Ohio and Missouri, said Mari Anne Lods, of the Millville Development Corp.

The New Jersey Council on the Arts helped with marketing campaigns that attracted artists to Millville and publicized their work once they arrived, Nina Stack, a spokeswoman, said. "It wasn't just about renovating buildings."

Hawkesworth said similar efforts could increase Norristown's artist population.

"Norristown isn't yet cool," he said. "Norristown could be cool."