Creative Catalysts have a name and website: DaytonCREATE.org!

DaytonCREATE

Creating Regional Excitement, Action, Talent and Enthusiasm

A few weeks into the Creative Region Initiative and my fellow catalysts and I are busy getting organized and growing our teams (busy enough that I've been a bit quiet on this blog lately!).  Our communication team has really been impressive right out of the gate... They have recruited an online pro (hi Brooke!) who has been busy creating a new website for the group: www.DaytonCREATE.org

This new site is the place to keep up with each team's progress updates.  And don't worry, we'll continue to do stories about the initiative here on DMM from time to time and our new DMM Forum will continue to serve as the official communication forum for both catalysts and non-catalysts alike.  You are ALL welcome to sign up there and get involved with the conversations.  And if you are interested in getting involved with one of the team initiatives then contact the appropriate person (more info at the DaytonCreate.org site).

Btw - I am on the Dayton Creative Incubator team and we are currently researching arts incubators.  As many of you know, Dayton has one helluva arts scene.  An arts incubator would provide our independent artists with affordable (free?) space and services in a true community setting.  And with the exciting things happening in the newly formed Oregon Arts District, now is the time to  capitalize on our region's strong arts community by helping them grow.

The following is the first DaytonCREATE press release - check it out and then go check out the new website.  And of course your comments are welcome here on DMM.  What do you think?

Creative Region Initiative Officially Kicks Off

Last night the Creative Region Initiative was officially kicked off as the organizers of the project and the 32 chosen catalysts met one another at the Westcott House in Springfield.  There was quite an energy in the room - we have some great people in the group and it is possibly the most diverse group of people I've ever been involved with in my life.  There is also the sense that this ambitious and unique effort is very different from any other community-based project ever executed in the past.  I believe there is a ton of potential to do some projects that have a huge impact on our community and will hopefully inspire even more spin-off projects in the future and beyond.

I am a Creative Region Initiative Catalyst

I just learned this past Friday that I have been selected to be one of thirty community catalysts that will be working on the Creative Region Initiative for the next year.  Of course, I will be writing about my "creative class adventures" here on MostMetro.com, and we will be using the new DMM Forum to help communicate ideas from both within the group as well as everybody else that would like to share ideas for improving our economy and making our city and region a more vibrant place.

I encourage ALL of you to join our forum and share your ideas.  Don't just be a spectator - get involved.  Because that is the whole point of this project - to get as many people as possible involved in deciding what Dayton's future will be.  The thirty catalysts are only the beginning - this effort will need the help of many more people.  If you've ever heard of crowdsourcing - this is it.  Stay tuned, because you'll read about the different projects that come out of this initiative HERE FIRST.

And if you are late getting here and have no idea what this is about, click here.

UPDATE (2/18/2008): I was just informed that not everybody that was selected has been notified yet, so if you applied and haven't heard back, they may still be working on contacting you.  And if you aren't ultimately selected to be a catalyst, you can STILL GET INVOLVED.

Creative Region Initiative - It's Official

Yes, it is official - the funds have been raised and Dr. Richard Florida's Creative Class Group will be coming to Dayton to work with thirty community catalysts who will be selected over the next few weeks. 

Leaders sought to be catalysts in region's creative class initiative
Dayton Daily News
January 20, 2007

The money is raised, the consultant is hired and Richard Florida himself will be here in March to train Daytonians on how to build and sustain "creative class" growth here in the Miami Valley.

The Creative Region Initiative, the moniker given to the local effort begun a year ago by the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education and a task force of 20 community groups, kicks off today with a call for 30 volunteers to be trained by Florida's consulting company, the Creative Class Group.

It is obvious that this effort will continue to have skeptics, especially in a town that seems to have never met a consultant it wouldn't throw a bunch of money to for a study that says what everybody already knows or whose advice ultimately isn't followed (the recent $100k study by KMK Consulting comes to mind).  But unlike those past consulting efforts, I believe this one is different.  Instead of outsiders that come into town, poll a few people, write some fancy report , collect their paycheck and then leave town - this effort is managed and implemented by us.  Us as in we who live in this community and are likely already working towards making our community better.  Florida's Creative Class Group simply lays out the road map; it is up to those of us who become community catalysts to do the real work.  And by doing that real work ourselves, we stand a much better chance at developing a successful and sustainable plan for growing our city and region - and especially our urban core... because after all, it is the urban core that the creative class typically gravitates to.

This of course is how I understand it; since I have not yet been a part of this whole process I really can't speak with authority on how it works.  I invite those of you who have been involved since the beginning to comment here and give any additional details that you may have.  And look for MostMetro.com to play a role in this Creative Region Initiative in the near future...

Additional Links:

Creative Class on MostMetro.com (with NPR/Richard Florida interview)
More Creative Class on MostMetro.com
SOCHE Website
Creative Class Group
Richard Florida's Blog on Dayton
Daytonology's Creative Class in Dayton Analysis

Richard Florida's Dayton Lecture Tonight on WYSO

For those of you who missed Richard Florida's visit back in March, WYSO (91.3FM) will be rebroadcasting the lecture that was part of Wright State's Presidential Lecture series in partnership with www.soche.org tonight (11/27/2007) at 7pm.  The program can also be streamed on WYSO's website at www.wyso.org.

More details on the ongoing efforts with Florida's Creative Class consulting group will be coming soon.

Creative Class in Dayton

Jeff over at Daytonology has a pretty good post about the Creative Class in Dayton, including maps of where the majority of "creative class" types supposedly live in the region.  I'm not surprised to find that while the expected neighborhoods of OD, South Park, McPherson Town and Grafton Hill ranked high, so did several suburban areas.  The Dayton region is very divided in terms of suburban and urban, with so many younger people who unfortunately have very little connection to the inner city.  Thus, there are many young creative types that continue to live in the burbs.  I also have to wonder if Dayton neighborhoods would rank even higher were it not for the fact that so many of the so-called "creative-class" people simply leave this region altogether for cities like Chicago, Boston, NY, SF, etc. 

Because of Richard Florida's broad definition of who actually belongs to the Creative Class - basically ANYBODY who works a job in which they use their mind to create or does creative things outside of work - I'm not sure it is meaningful to actually try to map out where they all live.  And as Jeff points out, the census statistics he compiled do not take into account all of those creative people who work menial "non-creative" jobs to simply survive while pursuing truly artistic endeavors (such as every single struggling musician I've ever known).

Dayton and the Creative Class

     Last night, Richard Florida (American economist and urban studies theorist) spoke at Wright State University.  His book Rise of the Creative Class was one of the things that inspired me to get more involved with urban advocacy.  Yes, I am included in that creative class group - I'm in my 30's, I am an entrepreneur, I work with technology, I live downtown, I enjoy coffee shops, I go to the theater.  But that isn't what Florida's "Creative Class" is all about, despite what many people believe.  No matter what your profession, if you frequently express yourself either through art, music, writing (even bloggers), acting, etc., then you are in fact creative and thus in this group.  If you work at a job where you use your mind to create - whether that is at a software company or a manufacturing plant where your input leads to process improvement - you are in the creative group.  The point is, many people think of this "creative class" idea and think that it only applies to high tech people or artists.  Those "yuppie types" as I've heard some people say.  But as Florida spoke last night, he emphasized the fact that this class of people is not very exclusive; most of us are indeed creative and thus are part of this group.