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Cities: Art and the Creative Class Aren't Going to Save You

Posted by: Tim Halbur

17 December 2010 - 9:00am

Thomas Sevcik says that hoping for an economic benefit by attracting the creative class and artists is a wrongheaded strategy.

Yael Friedman at Urban Omnibus comments on Sevcik's provocative presentation at Art Babel, which Sevcik admits is the wrong audience, saying, "I'm very sorry, I should be talking to mayors and art strategists at cities instead of the people in the art business."

Friedman summarizes Sevcik's presentation:

"Sevcik posed several challenges to the accepted wisdom about the impact of the creative industries on cities. Along with questioning the Bilbao Effect, he targeted the value of the 'creative industries' themselves. He posited that the creative industries are actually innovation-averse, citing several studies that argue that, due to chronic under-funding, 'once [creative industries] find a formula [of] how they can sell a product – a special type of website or special strategy – they tend then to sell the same thing over and over.'"

Art Salon | Urbanism | Why Art and the Creative Class will Never Save Cities from Art Basel on Vimeo.

Full Story: Thomas Sevcik: Why Art and the Creative Class will Never Save Cities
Source: Urban Omnibus, December 16, 2010
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If hundreds of people in your community raised reasonable concerns about a planning program you developed, how would you respond? Perhaps you might call a community meeting, or ask community elected officials to reach out to community leaders.
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