Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class (2002) argues that regional/community development depends on: novel combinations of knowledge and ideas, that certain occupations specialise in this task and that people in these occupations are drawn to areas providing a high quality of life Therefore Florida argues that an essential development strategy is to create an environment that attracts and retains these 'Creative' workers. An analysis of recent development in rural US counties, which focuses on natural amenities as quality of life indicators, supports the creative class thesis.
Evidence from urban areas also shows a strong relationship between creative class presence and growth, although natural amenities play a smaller role.
It seems to me that the focus of Enterprise Facilitation is less on attracting the creative classes by providing great amenities. It is more about valuing and developing the creative and collaborative potential in local people.
Wasn't it Schumacher who said that all of the resources a community needs for its own development are always already present?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
[size=18]I couldn't agree with you more, Mike. The coveted Creative Class referred to by Florida, is that 'class' of knowledge worker whose earnings are large and whose skills are portable - we want them to settle in OUR city to dispose of those earnings. The desire is not for creative people, per se, but for access to the cash flow of those who are currently the economic stars.[/size]
As someone who has worked with over 2,000 artists and culture workers since 1995, I can tell you that quality creative human capital is already here. Where I live, in Vancouver, the place is crawling with it. [size=18]Unfortunately, despite the wide-eyed enthusiasm on the part of many arts mavens and business leaders for the concept of the Creative Class and the Knowledge Economy, the paradigm is far from shifted. [/size]Nobody seems to 'get' that artists - creative and sometimes unconventional people - are natural entrepreneurs, not just window dressing to lure those with excess disposable income to our economy.
Most seem to believe that this heightened interest in creative capital should be used to leverage more money for arts organizations and tax breaks for cultural industries, and that will be enough to develop and support, and provide income for, the actors, dancers, painters, writers, composers, weavers, costume designers, potters, etc., etc. While this approach may seem to make good economic development sense, it is still an 'industrial/employment' model. Build the industries, and they will hire the workers. How those 'workers' manage to survive, keep their skills sharp, and stay poised for opportunities between projects is their own business. All the risk is downloaded to the individual. A little social darwinism at work here.
[size=18]This does not, as Mike points out, maximize the potential of local people to generate economic activity themselves through finding and releasing their creative and collaborative potential. [/size]It enables us to perpetuate the myth of the 'starving artist' as a given part of choosing a creative life. In fact, the 'starving' part has more to do with how the work of artists is managed and remunerated, than with being an artist. It is these self-subsidizing unconsious entrepreneurs whose existence and activities ramp up the 'bohemian index', revitalize urban wastelands, engage in community advocacy and challenge the status quo. And when the neighbourhood begins to revitalize, gentrification begins to push the costs of living in the area beyond the reach of those who made it attractive again.
This seems to be an accepted and expected process in every city and neighbourhood, bemoaned and fought against to little effect, over, and over again. [size=18]It need not be so.[/size] We are wasting our most valuable opportunity to support a biomass of creativity by breaking this cycle, and it starts with a change in mindset by all concerned.
[size=18]Daniel Pink [/size]points out in his book (A Whole New Mind: How to thrive in the new conceptual age), there is a need for those who can integrate information and ideas, conceptual thinkers, now that [size=18]the knowledge economy is moving beyond information management[/size]. Those workers that make up Florida's Creative Class - the ones we need to attract - have been the programmers, sofware engineers and designers of code and web apps. Because they can work from anywhere, and their work is well paid, amenities and location for lifestyle could determine where they will settle (and spend their disposable income, taxes and so forth) That is why the artists and creatives who already live here are not the desired Class, because they are not earning and spending the big cash.
But you who work in sustainable development, small local economies and think long-term will appreciate the value of using the tools of Enterprise Facilitation to link the potential of local creative entrepreneurs to the knowledge and skills and ideas they can use to maximize their engagement in the economy. [size=18]This is sustainable development, not a 21st-Century version of resource extraction, because it develops the people and the economy and the community in a way that is regenerative, resilient, relevant and effective - true capacity-building.[/size]
Post a Comment