Creative Economy 101

Since Richard Florida popularized the notion of a "creative economy" a few years ago in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, more than one of us has asked, "what is it anyway." We know it is more about technology and less about traditional factories but beyond that pinning it down for some of us has been a little hard. It means different things to different people as this Business Week article illustrates. To make things doubly hard, many communities don't know quite how to be more "creative." So for the next few weeks we are going to talk more on this site about what it is and how you get it.

Our first stop is a terrific policy brief from the Community and Rural Development Institute at Cornell University entitled, The Creative Economy Practitioner's Toolkit: Taking Advantage of Campus and Community Resources. In this short piece, you get a real sense of what to do on Monday to get the creative ball rolling in your community. What I like about this approach is that it validates what I say to communities all the time, "start where you are." What the Cornell folks are telling us is that we are not using one of our most valuable resources--colleges and universities--to their fullest economic potential. Like our own publication, University Avenue Meets Main Street, the partnership often hinges on the president's support and interest. So we need presidents to think out of the box and step-up is one clear message. Another is that the first step may be the hardest.

Be enouraged: we will figure out what a "creative economy" really is and how we all get to have one!

Comments

[Blair Benjamin]

As a participant in one of those much talked about creative economies (the Berkshires -- specifically, MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass.), I look forward to this discussion. For my two cents, I suggest Tom Borrup's Creative Community Builder's Handbook (http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/productdetails.cfm?SKU=069474) as an excellent place to look for guidance and inspiration.

[Blair Benjamin]

As a participant in one of those much talked about creative economies (the Berkshires -- specifically, MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass.), I look forward to this discussion. For my two cents, I suggest Tom Borrup's Creative Community Builder's Handbook (http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/productdetails.cfm?SKU=069474) as an excellent place to look for guidance and inspiration.

[Dan Bassill]

In one part of the Business Week article was a statement that read: "some corporations might become more like voluntary associations, run for the benefit of their working ''members.''"

If this thinking is applied to social benefit organizations, it means that people from many different places and sectors can be working together to solve problems that in the past have been beyond the scope of single organizations

If business leaders beging to tap this concept, they might do more to encourage employees to become involved in social benefit organizations, and they might be more strategic in supporting them with innovation and collaboration tools, because the ideas and habits these employee learn in these organizations can become ideas and habits they apply in support of the corporation's goals.

I look forward to following this discussion and encourage readers to visit the web site below, where they can find more than 100 links to articles about knowledge management, creativity, innovation, etc. These are concepts we hope people working to help disadvantaged kids reach jobs and careers will apply in their own on-going actions and innovations so more and better long-term connections are made with kids in cities all over the country and the world.

http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/TMLearningNetwork/LinksLibrary/tabid/560/rrcid/13/rrepp/20/Default.aspx

[Sandy]

May I suggest Rich Florida's website as a fine resource for information about the creative economy:

www.creativeclass.com