August 19, 2003
Coming Back Around To Portland And The Creative Class
Every now and again, I poke my head into the local conversation on the so-called creative class, often as it pertains to "young creatives." Awhile back, I had wanted to plug a couple of pieces that appeared in The Organ Review Of Arts, but they never found their way to the print publication's website.
Fortunately, one of them, by Tiffany Lee Brown, is up at Music Liberation Project. It mainly discusses the distinctions between the creative class and actual creatives (you'll understand what I mean by that when you read the piece, and calls upon actual creatives to get themselves involved in the local conversation about the creative class, especially since certain parties at City Hall may be trying to determine what sorts of actual public policies could help foster creativity and its benefits to Portland.
Accompanying that piece, however, is an additional article for Music Libertation Project itself.
It argues that "Portland is changing, with or without you" and offers fifteen suggestions for what the City could do to help Portland creatives. They range from removing the utility pole postering ban; to finding "a creative way to allow murals and other publicly-visible artwork on privately-owned walls," to avoiding "massive redevelopment efforts that transform happening underground creative scenes into yuppie shopping malls;" and beyond
I'm still trying to catch up on any number of topics here, so I won't get into specific reactions to each of the fifteen suggestions. But they should serve as a decent jumping off point for anyone curious about the conversation about Portland and the creative class.
Speaking of which, I'm officially announcing the first experiment in adding special sections to this website. Specifically, I'm launching a group weblog called Portland And The Creative Class. If you've been a part of the local conversation on these issues, or would like to be, you have two options for participating in this new special section.
Either email me via the "Contact the Editor" link over in the left-hand sidebar, asking for an account to be able to post items directly to the weblog. Please tell me who you are, what your interest is and why you should be added as a member of the weblog. Or, if you don't think you have enough to contribute in that fashion, just keep an eye on the special section for any items about which you have something to say via the "Comments" link beneath each.