May 05, 2003
Economy and Diversity
Continuing the conversation of the themes of Richard Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, and the previously-mentioned panel discussion on "young creatives" is today's column by S. Renee Mitchell.
After detailing the implosion of Portland's once-planned Oregon Creative Services Center (financed by the Portland Development Commission, whose website, as of this writing, reads, "No web site is configured at this address."), Mitchell gets right to it:
Although the soured economy can be blamed for some of Portland's misfortune in capitalizing on this knowledge-based economy, a new study also provides some interesting insight:
Metro Portland doesn't have enough homosexuals.
The leading indicator of a metro area's economic growth is a large population of gay male couples, according to Dr. Richard Florida, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.
Apparently, gay male couples "make more, spend more and are more likely to be scientists, engineers and computer geeks than the rest of the population."
Other significant economic indicators, Florida's study concludes, are immigrants and artists. The connection works sort of like this: These types of freethinkers tend to appreciate the outdoor cafes, funky restaurants, accessible art galleries and a hip music scene. And that same pulsating street culture attracts the talent pools that attract the kind of knowledge-based companies that spur economic growth.
...
Metro Portland does have redeeming attributes, though. We have a high "bohemian" index, according to the study. We rank five out of the top 50 metropolitan areas on the number of musicians, painters, writers, filmmakers and other creative types.
Richard Florida will be speaking on June 8 as part of the Americans for the Arts 2003 Convention, prior to which will be Cultural Citizens: The Emerging Arts Leadership -- both to be held here in Portland.
Or, at least, to be held here in Portland for the upper classes of cultural creatives, since the registration fee is, well, not at all cheap. Then again, I guess I'm forgetting that the only cultural creatives who count are the ones with money.