Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

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It’s more fun in a group!

Friday, May 6th, 2011

funGuess what? It’s true! We learned and felt another powerful experience in Barnsley during our last URBACT Creative Clusters project thematic workshop. At the same time that our network is reaching the end, we feel that our team building is improving its abilities to share and learn.

The latest edition of the creative brief planted some of the new seeds that our network has been
harvesting in the last couple of years. Óbidos and Reggio Emilia are working together by putting in practice a common project of developing creativity as an educational resource that could improve intellectual and entrepreneurial skills. Beneath the surface we are all discussing other possibilities of working together. Education, creativity and innovation, new social solutions of community inclusion and technology resources are some of the areas that are in our virtual daily round table. This is one of the signs of our good health or wellbeing.

The final conference in Óbidos, June 9th, will be an important step to reach conclusions
of the work undertaken, but also to establish a platform of common objectives and new solutions for our challenges. Once again we reinforce our invitation for all you to come to Óbidos and activate your brain cells under this stimulating theme: “Creative Footprint – The Next Big Step Will Be a Lot of Small Steps”.

Miguel Silvestre
Creative Clusters Lead Partner

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Getting Visions from Children and Youngster – The Creative School Contest in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary

Friday, January 7th, 2011

young_contestUnder the URBACT Creative Clusters project, the Municipality of Hódmezóvásárhely launched the “Creative School Contest” at the end of November 2009. The main topic of it was how young children imagine the city in 15 years. The leadership of the town regards the young generation’s opinion and imagination is really important and significant, because the town is built for them, so their ideas are crucial and are the base of local development.

The contest was announced in every primary and secondary schools in the town between the age of 11 and 18. Students could handle their work either individually or in groups. The contest deadline was 12 March, 2010, so children had 4 months to think about their future town. It was a positive shock for us that more than 44 pieces of arts have arrived from 9 town’s schools. The composition of the arts was very mixed: 36 pieces of paintings or drawings, 6 mock-ups, 1 statue and 2 PPT presentations.
The students expressed not only their creativity and fantasy, but also their wishes through their work. More children imagined fountains and baths with huge slides in the city centre, but shopping centre, cinema, zoo and skateboard ground also appeared. Lots of children’ ideas were impressed by the present panel programme (renovation of big block of flats), so they made drawings/paintings which represented colourful buildings with different patterns.
There were several children who besides the amusement, regarded energy-reformation as a really important fact, so they would like to see wind powerstations in Vásárhely in the future. Among the wide-choice, there was only one ceramic-work, a multi-functioning tower with more floors and rooms, named after the late museum director.

The arts were appraised by a 6 member jury, which consisted of ceramists, artists, the museum director, painter and teachers. The opinion of the jury was that young generation had lots of amazing, creative, new ideas and in their decision the most important aspect was what kind of new technologies and methods were used in order to prepare the arts.
The winners were the students of Gábor Klauzál Primary School. Their work was the most complex and it was the closest to the reality and the ideas were absolutely feasible. They have made a presentation about the present situation and at the same time it contained their plans for the future, which are mainly connected to sport activities, just like go-kart, canoe ground, skateboard ring and fountains.

The winners of the contest, three children at the age of 13, won a 4 days Study Visit in Kortrijk, Belgium, together with the URBACT Creative Clusters partnership. I have a positive note for the contest: seven months after the initiative, the municipality has already realized two ideas from the winner teams’ imagination. One of them is the skateboard ring, while the other is the fountains. I think that young generation dream the future.

Anikó Varga
Hódmezővásárhely, Partner in URBACT Creative Clusters Project

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Attracting and retaining creative talent in medium-sized towns. The strategy in Barnsley, UK

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

barnsley3Attracting and retaining creative talent in Barnsley (partner in the URBACT project Creative Clusters in Low Density Areas) is set against a backdrop of a deprived post-mining economyt, with a small but emerging creative sector. Located inside the triangle Manchester-Sheffield-Leeds, in Northern England, regeneration investment in Barnsley has provided key venues for culture and creative industries locally but these have struggled to attract occupants and audiences and there is a clear need for more focused activity, building on from a current mapping exercise and strengthening this emergent economic sector by understanding its needs and the challenges it faces.

Sector development is already happening, and over the last few years a stronger connectivity across the sector has been helped by social media. This ‘conversation’ has enabled individuals in the sector to connect naturally, and the public sector to ‘tune in’ to what is going on, and contribute where appropriate. Key to this has been creating environments for discourse and allowing free use of this – both cost and restriction free! The sector has been able to stimulate its own informal skill sharing and networking via these platforms.

There is a need to animate the sector if it is to grow stronger and keep talent local. This includes animating the places and spaces that we have built with cultural and sector development focused events such as networking, and encouraging sector led ‘guerilla’ activity across all venues and places as well as programmed activity.

The networking programme gives access to speakers, ideas and spaces that wouldn’t usually be freely available and brings interested parties from outside of the area to experience first hand a positive event and atmosphere. The events also encourage a sense of ownership of the sector and its physical assets, which in turn builds confidence, pride and word of mouth promotion. High profile events developed locally but for a local, regional and national audience are also important – Northern Futures, Small World and Barcamp Barnsley present the town in a positive and proactive way.

To summarise, we are aiming to attract creatives with the animation of our spaces, and our openness to ideas, and retain them with a strong, supportive infrastructure and a sense of ownership. The sector is encouraged to have its own voice, be confident and connected, get on everyone’s radar and be a friend to many. It isn’t about just throwing money at the sector – providing an ecosystem to encourage creativity is fundamental.

Tracey Johnson – traceyjohnson@barnsley.gov.uk
Sector Specialist Creative and Digital Industries
Barnsley Development Agency – URBACT Partner

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Green Paper on Cultural & Creative Industries: a lost opportunity?

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

creatives_blogThe public consultation period about the Green Paper on Cultural & Creative Industries [“Unlocking the Potential of Cultural and Creative Industries”] made by DG Education and Culture was over last Summer. It is clear that Paper comes a bit late, when many EU cities and regions are displaying strategic visions and specific agendas in promoting creative industries, especially in UK, Portugal, Nordic Countries and in Central Europe.

The document is right in summarizing a range of basic statements, namely: the powerful linkage between cultural and creative industries and education; the promising role of CCIs in the new post-crisis productive model; underlining the connection to the digital economy and the EU digital agenda; ICT-based creative firms and professionals and its role in innovation diffusion; links to the EU strategy on intellectual property; or the cluster approach when addressing this kind of industries.

Nevertheless the Green Paper is clearly poor when proposing comprehensive guidelines to promote creative industries. For instance, it is not enough to demand a place-based approach. On this point the reaction by URBACT Creative Clusters submitted to DG Education and Culture has been focused in enhancing creative-based local strategies as an opportunity window particularly for middle-sized towns in intermediate region contexts, or as a way to re-think rural development nowadays.

Also the Paper is lack of considerations on the nature of the space of the creative class: meeting places, work-private life interactions, mix of uses in promoting creative districts and so on. And it shows an absence of fresh ideas related to specific financial support tools for creative entrepreneurs. Summarizing, in my view the document does not give a basic comprehensive and strategic framework for promoting creative clusters by regional and local governments. Anyway, let’s see how all the contributions submitted during the consultation period can revitalize a flat starting point.

Miguel Rivas
URBACT Creative Cluster Lead Expert

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Creative Ceramics

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

cermaicsProbably since the very beginnings of ceramic production there has been a duality of purpose, to make objects designed for daily (even construction or industrial) utility but also objects with a decorative or ornamental quality. This has, together with use of local materials and colour preferences, shaped the development of different decorative national or local styles, which are evident in the traditions of the URBACT UNIC project partners. Everyone has an image of what Limoges or Delftware means. Or we can imagine the intricate often Moorish or Asian influenced patterns reflecting the historic cultural exchanges which define the Portuguese experience. The tableware and “azulejo’s” are instantly recognisable even if, in the interim, industrial production has responded to contemporary needs and desires in terms of functionality.

Today the ceramic industry in Aveiro (URBACT UNIC partner) but also in the area around Obidos (URBACT Creative Clusters partner) in the neighbouring Caldas da Rainha, bear testimony to this tradition. However in an effort to explore and capture new markets, creative designers are experimenting with innovative extreme temperature kiln techniques, successive heating and (shock) cooling, alternative raw materials (including recycled production waste), grains and compound compositions, to produce ceramics often with utility value, but also  primarily as artworks or even purely sculptural pieces. So while the value and appreciation of the traditional local style and production of objects, even for daily use, remains a keystone of production – new objects are attracting new clients to the shop windows in historic cities like Obidos.

The departure from local source styles but using the technical skills and knowledge developed in these areas over centuries, is giving the sector a new and innovative dimension to stimulate small local industries and exploit sales potential for delicate articles, where transportation is an added marketing consideration. The relationship between artistic creation and the heritage city, providing a high quality exposition space while at the same time delivering a specific clientele, represents an important asset in heritage linked urban economies. It brings the issues concerning a number of URBACT projects into sharp focus. The “Guardian”  journalist Andy Beckett suggests that “property firms have learned the big lesson of gentrification: where artists go, estate agents follow”*. Perhaps urban heritage and other sectors of the economy could be equally added to this equation.

*(“In the gaps developers left, another world is being built” – The Guardian newspaper 21/08/2010)     

Philip Stein
Thematic Pole Manager

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Creativity and Innovation in Europe

Monday, July 26th, 2010

creative1A few months after the presentation of the Green Paper on Cultural and Creative Industries the European debate has been more centred on innovation, rather than creativity. In a document produced for the European Commission Enterprise & Industry Directorate-General called “New Cluster Concepts Activities in Creative Industries” the core definition of creative industries is linked to art, music, culture, writing and fashion. This approach is mainly metropolitan-based.

The document also states a big difference between creativity and innovation: “Art and culture and most other creative industries are not driven by neither research, nor new solutions based on new knowledge from users; creative industries are basically taste-driven and most creative workers aspiration is to set new standards for users taste and choice”.

As appealing as this theory can be, for us, the two words are connected. We don’t have one without the other. In small and medium-sized urban areas the main difference is to have an integrated strategy connecting creativity, innovation, sustainability and education.
And that’s why Education was the subject of our last Creative Clusters project thematic workshop in Reggio Emilia. For the partners, it was the opportunity to learn with one of the world references. The degree of specialisation and educational development in Reggio Emilia is impressive, and the feeling from outside is that Reggio Emilia has the future guaranteed. Obviously, things are always most complicated, but one thing is for sure, Reggio has a huge advantage when competing with other places: Innovation.

Read more:

Miguel Silvestre
Creative Clusters Lead Partner

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What makes a city buzz?

Friday, July 9th, 2010

socialexchangeThis is the question which will be addressed by the  social innovation exchange at its Summer School 2010 which takes place in Singapore in September. 

The most dynamic cities in the world have always been immersed in the critical innovations of their time, but why do some do it better than others? What inhibits a city’s ability to innovate? How can cities around the world capitalise on and mobilise the wealth, creativity and knowledge within them to speed up our ability to tackle social challenges?

The Meeting will examine:

  • Conditions for innovation: How can we empower cities to radically innovate to better address pressing social challenges? What are the specific tools and institutions that are helping cities to creatively solve their problems?
  • Barriers for innovation: What is preventing some cities becoming truly innovative? Is it a matter of a lack of institutions or the right people; is it a problem of governance; or a cultural issue, are people just scared of taking risks?
  • To what extent does either the physical environment of a city, or its virtual environment, hinder or foster social innovation?

Participants from across the globe with a ranges of backgrounds – social enterprise, incubators, government, the private sector, charities and foundations – are being invited to Singapore to meet each other and to share ideas, best practices, and methods on innovating to create a better city. The programme will combine key note speakers, open space sessions, time for collaborative working, and opportunities to visit the best of social innovation in Singapore, as well as plenty of time for networking to maximise the exchange of ideas, experiences and thoughts.

Read more:

Peter Ramsden
Thematic Pole Manager

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URBACT Creative Clusters in the European Forum on Cultural Industries in Barcelona

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

efciThe Portuguese city of Óbidos and INTELI–Intelligence in Innovation Centre, respectively Lead Partner and full partner of the URBACT network on Creative Clusters, were invited to attend the European Forum on Cultural Industries that took place in 29-30 March 2010, in Barcelona. The objective of the event was to discuss the importance of cultural industries within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union. There were also presented the general lines of the Green Paper on Cultural and Creative Industries.
The forum was structured around five key lines of discussion: the financing of the cultural industries; the professionals of the cultural industries (new skills derived from the digital mutation, training challenges, mobility of talent); internationalisation (local production in global markets, internationalisation and cooperation strategies); intellectual property and the management of rights; and spatial development (the role of cities as pro-active frameworks for local creative clusters).
The Mayor of Óbidos, Telmo Faria, presented a communication on the so-called Creative Óbidos strategy in the framework of the URBACT Creative Clusters Network in the session dedicated to “Culture in the European Local and Regional Development programmes”.
In the closing session the Ministers of Culture of Portugal, Spain, Finland, French Community of Belgium and the Minister of State of the Federal Chancellor, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media of Germany presented their views on the development of the European cultural industries. The European Commissioner for Education and Culture, Androulla Vassiliou, emphasised the excellent example of the Town of Óbidos in the framework of the development of culture and creativity-oriented policies.
The informal meeting of Ministers of Culture of the EU took take place after the Forum, on the 31st March 2010.

Catarina Selada – INTELI

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Thematic workshop in Romania: Creative Clusters “Diversifying Local Economic Base and Opportunities to Young People”

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

logo-creativeThe thematic workshop Creative Clusters: diversifying local economic base and opportunities to young people will take place in Mizil, Romania (October 29-30, 2009), in the ambit of the URBACT Network “Creative Clusters in Low Density Urban Areas” that reunites 10 cities from all over Europe, in which Óbidos is the Lead Partner.

This event will be the first of a series of Thematic Workshops that will be organised during the next 2 years centred on the other themes addressed by the network: events and cultural agendas as catalysts; promoting the creative city: a new range of facilities and infrastructures; creative entrepreneurs and talented people: attraction and retaining; setting the basis: creative education environments at local levels.

Aside from the symposium, the signature of the Óbidos Charter – A Pact for Creativity by an additional number of Romanian councilmen who have become associated to the movement and objectives of the network will be an important moment of the event.
We recall that in the Óbidos Charter strategic orientations were defined and an action plan was put in place in what concerns the promotion of creativity in public policies at a European, regional and local level.

David Vieira

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Welcome to the human technology city

Friday, July 31st, 2009

 

JyvaskylaURBACT Creative Clusters Network has recently been reinforced with the participation of Jyväskylä [130,000 inhabitants], a youthful, lively and international city located in Central Finland. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a “city of schools” hosting two Universities: the University of Jyväskylä and the JAMK University of Applied Sciences and a number of innovative cross-field research institutes. The city is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto and the home of the annual Jyväskylä Arts Festival.

 

As in the whole Country Jyväskylä is very active re-shaping mature industries and promoting new productive realities throughout knowledge, technology and creativity. This range embraces clusters such as Forest Industry Future, Bioenergy cluster, Nanotechnology, Ubiquitous computing, New generation machines and equipment, the EduCluster [on education activities], the so-called wellness sector on technologies around sports and health sciences, or tourism and experience management. The vision for the area is to build an innovation ecosystem setting people at the core: that is the meaning of the place-brand “the human technology city”.

 

Within the URBACT framework Jyväskylä is appearing as a benchmark in innovative learning systems, new cluster readings for urban economies; and innovative facilities and venues for creative industries and activities.

 

www.jyvaskyla.fi/lang

Miguel Rivas

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