BRITISH COLUMBIA's 2013 DREAMCATCHER REPORT

British Columbia Creativity/Innovation Plan

In May 2012, BCreative convened a conference to consider the development of the creative economy of British Columbia, to build bridges to link the business and  cultural communities, to promote information sharing between the cultural sub-sectors, and to bring forward useful information, analysis, training, and research resources that can assist in building BC’s creative economy.

While the conference revealed a vast array of creative activity in the province, there remains little support from government outside the BC Arts Council, augmented by Community Gaming Grants. Support is relatively low compared to other Canadian provinces.

The creative sector employs an estimated 85,000 people (not including volunteers) making this the second largest of BC’s six major industrial sectors). It generates of $4 billion in economic activity (the fifth largest sector in the BC economy).

The Dreamcatcher Report summarizes the BCreative conference and presents two actions that could help the BC creative economy:  recognition and brand. As part of recognition, cultural subsidies to artistic activity can serve cultural policy and can act as an investment in cultural infrastructure. Branding the BC creative sector would place creativity and innovation in the mainstream mindset and act as long-term, primary, identifying element in BC and its society.

THE ROLE OF FOOD IN THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

Culinary team-building in London, UK, is offered by L'Atletier des Chefs 

I have noted over the past year the increasing role food and "foodies" play in the Creative Economy.

Dan Taylor, "The Creative Rural Economy Guy", seems to include food in about 10% of his prolific twitter posts (@Cre8tiveDanT) coming out of Peterborough, Ontario. Culinary team-building is an emerging trend to develop competitive creative thinking skills in groups and businesses, so writes Laura Cole with Business2Community. Creative Chef Kitchens in Derry, NH has built a business incubator for foodies, linking food artists, entrepreneurs and start-ups with economic development. In 2012, the USDA allocated $10 million towards the local food movement, through their Farmers Market Promotion Program. Over $11 million was pledged last year to over 1,800 food start-up projects via Kickstarter in the USA.

Richard Florida, in his book "Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited", tells us in essence that if you can put something on a blank sheet of paper, or blank computer screen, or mold something new out of material or from your body, and exchange that intellectual property for economic gain, you are a creative and you help build the economic well-being of your community. Think about that for awhile. That would include, for example, architects, engineers, mathematicians, doctors, musicians, computer programmers, artists, comedians, playwrights, filmmakers, boat and fashion designers, advertisers, dance choreographers, vintners, and, yes, culinary chefs.

Many community projects use food as a starting point or keystone in economic development in towns such as in Balston, Virginia, and Holyoke, Massachussets, the food trails of Kilkenny, Ireland, and the food clusters of Ontario as described by the Martin Prosperity Institute. Interestingly, Florida found relationships between community economic development and the number of coffee shops. These are meeting places for creatives. The Kitchen Sisters talk about how communities come together through food in the Edible Education Series of lectures from the University of California, Berkeley.

The creative economy is more than visual and performing artists, and technical people. It includes food and the culinary arts. Networking food producers and food consumers via culinary creators forms part of the creative economy. Food creates communities.

What is your creative food story?

Norwalk CT: A STORY ON HOW TO BUILD A CREATIVE COMMUNITY

YouTube video of "friendly" presentation of Norwalk 2.0 project and survey results, to the beat of the song "Hey Hey Hey" by Sounds of Sunshine Michael Franti & Spearhead Capitol.

This is an inspiring story about a community looking for answers on how to transform their place into a "cool downtown". The story can apply to other communities -- urban and rural.

Norwalk 2.0 is an independent, non-profit start-up operating on a shoestring budget. They asked questions of those who work, play and live in their community -- lots of questions. How do we fill up vacant storefronts? How do we let people know about the creatives who live there? What do we know about ourselves? What do we care about? How do we get the community engaged, including artists and businesses? A 12-question survey was broadcast to members of the community, free, over the internet and on foot, for five months, gathering information.

Cloud image of concerns from "Native Norwalkers"

758 people took the survey. They learned, for example, that 82% of respondents like to dine out. 64% like attending community events such as the Oyster Festival. Interestingly 48% of Norwalk news is spread by word-of-mouth. Wordle was used to visually display issues that most concerned the community. They also used similar "cloud pictures" on population sub-sets such as "native Norwalkers".

Norwalk 2.0's events and projects were often small, innovative, grass-roots, sustainable and community-based. But there were obstacles. First, the group did not neatly fit into any box. They had to build credibility and trust. Norwalk 2.0 learned three lessons for success: leverage technology, engage politicians, and be transparent.

Vacant storefronts are becoming leased. Stakeholders now seek the group out for input to community planning, zoning and creative community development ideas. Developers continue to support the group's events and community building.


I came across this item through the creative place-making initiatives listed with NEFA, the New England Foundation of the Arts website. It is worth a listen and read, and even be part of a presentation on what enthusiasm and community spirit means to the well-being of a community, no matter how big or small.

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN COMMUNITY DATA

Imagine walking or driving about a neighborhood and automatically capturing data and information on your mobile device about your surroundings, such as: age distribution, political contributions, average rent, popular local spots, recommended restaurants, how people commute, record temperature and housing units over time.

Sitegeist is a mobile App that "presents localized information visually so you can get back to enjoying the neighborhood." It extracts data from available sources. This tech tool was developed by the non-partisan, non-profit Sunlight Foundation, as part of their mission to develop cutting edge technology and make government more transparent and accountable.

I think this idea can be made scalable to include so much more to enrich our experience moving through new communities. Imagine, for example, being presented, in real-time, cultural events and groups, community notice boards of items for sale, rest and recreation, video/audio vignettes of local talent, professional network contacts, local tide and ferry information.


Sitegeist points us towards an immersible experience where the community can offer us its culture, opportunities and vision. What a great tool, for example, for tourism operators and regional economic developers.


If you had a mobile App such as Sitegeist what would want to learn as you walk or drive about a new community?

CAN THE 6% PLACE PROJECT THEORY WORK IN RURAL AREAS?

image from: http://www.citylabpgh.org/experiments/six-percent-place/

6% Theory tells us that when at least six percent of a neighbourhood's population works in creative fields, investors are attracted (2007 Creative Neighborhoods Study). Can the 6% Place Project theory work in rural areas, such as much of Nova Scotia, Canada?

I was inspired by "doTank" cityLab, whose mission is to use the city as a laboratory for experiments that might stimulate economic vibrancy, and their 2011 6% Place Project. Their project developed a practical toolbox of 16 incentives to reach the 6% creatives target. This project identified creatives and the "creatives environment" in the Garfield suburb of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA.

The six-percent goal is a starting place to look at economic growth/revival. In its simplest terms, the starting goal is to look at the "lay of the land" and count the number of creatives in the community, looking at factors, such as:
topography
road patterns and infrastructure
median income
educational achievement
family makeup
worker movement/chain migration patterns

The Toolbox that was developed by cityLab to attract 6% creatives to Garfield, Pennsylvania, USA, included projects such as:
Dream property database
Expand the Arts
Food Incubator
Street Market
Tiny Housing
and more ...

What can we learn from the cityLab 'doTanks' example, by mapping and identifying creatives in rural areas and conditions that attract/deter creatives so we can build our economies? Can the 6% theory apply to rural areas?

How does your region's rural communities stack up against the 6% theory?


San Francisco's Six-Percent Neighborhoods PDF 

LINK TO 6% Walkabout article.
LINK TO 6% Place Project PDF.

CREATIVES USE STORIES TO SHARE CULTURE AND HISTORY

The film "How Far Is Heaven", is set in Jerusalem,
an isolated community on the Whanganui River in New Zealand

"Without your past who are you, and does it matter if anyone knows?" : Solange, Rwandan Refugee

Everyone has a story to tell. Stories enrich us, and the creative community of filmmakers and storytellers can capture, preserve and share the culture and heritage of often forgotten, or isolated people.

In 2011, film-makers Christopher Pryor and Miriam Smith created a film about the 120-year-old Sisters of Compassion convent located in Jerusalem; an isolated community along the Whanganui River of New Zealand. The story, "How Far Is Heaven", tells of three remaining three Pākehā nuns who lived there and the local Maori community that embraced them. This is one of several films about small communities, presented at the New Zealand 2012 International Film Festival. The nuns reportedly no longer live there since the film was shot. The filmmakers have shared a part of the community that no longer exists.

Irish-born author, Colum McCann, came to the USA in the 1980s and set out across the USA, on bike, to find stories. He found many. In a recent interview with NPR host Neal Conan, at the Apsen Institute Ideas Festival and Story Swap Project, he says 

"Storytelling is about understanding other people ... if we can understand what’s happening to others, then we can finely, sort of, understand what’s happening to ourselves because there’s really loneliness in not being able to tell your story."

The Story Swap is a powerful storytelling idea that builds community. Storytelling creatives abound, such as:

The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling including New York State.

Ottawa Storytellers.
The UK Society for Storytellers.

Zanendabe: The Institute of African Storytellers.

Mapping Memories "is a collaborative media project which uses personal stories and a range of media tools (video, sound walks, mapping, photography) to better understand the experiences of youth with refugee experience in Montreal". Hip Hop artists, No Bad Sound, in "Roots To Rap With: Expressing Identity Through Music" use music to tell about their roots and their new life in Canada; to let people of other cultures understand each other.

Stories are powerful. Today, they can be readily created and shared. What stories can your community share with the world?

LINK: How Far Is Heaven (Trailer)
LINK: Interview with Colum McCann (Audio)
LINK: Mapping Memories Project (Video)

CREATING AND SHARING YOUR CULTURE THROUGH MAPS

If you could share and map great "campfire" stories from your area, what would you say? What would you show? What would you write? What would you teach? If you could easily do this online, with friends and colleagues, where would you start?

What would you share about the elder, for example, who still collects rare plants in the area to make native medicines? Or the music historian who has collected local folklore and songs from the past? Or the author who writes about long-lost, ghost towns? Or the lady who makes periwinkle soup? Or the farmer who teaches how to make rich compost in eight weeks?

Destination tourism consultant and guru Roger A. Brooks once wrote "Great Stories Make the Campfire Memorable" in his book "The 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism". If you want to entice visitors you must share interesting stories.

"Generic" map and images of the area around Argyle, Nova Scotia, that can be customized.

Google Map Maker lets you customize a map and post such stories with friends and colleagues, and now share them with the world (text, images, audio, video, links).

You share the map with those you want to help build it. You display the map with those you want to see it. People can comment on the map. They can review/correct the map. They can provide further/new information about the area. 

Google has just made community mapping and sharing easier, so your culture, heritage, geography, industry -- your stories -- could be shown to the world. It's like crowd-sourcing an "organic, breathing map" of your area, making the map richer, more complete and current.

What's your next community map?