Suffolk – a Creative Community?
Yesterday evening we attended an interesting event at Endeavour House entitled The Creative Community
Approx 20 people attended, 8 appeared to be county council employees.. there seemed to be no politicians or councillors. A disappointing turn out but an interesting debate nonetheless. Below are notes taken during the briefing and ensuing debate.. please feel free to add your thoughts.
Meeting Notes
Steps to making a Creative Community in Suffolk (* following info taken from briefing by Stephen Aguilar-Millan, Director of Research, European Futures Observatory)
Make area / environment appealing
Creative agents are repelled by communities that lack vision, who are trapped in the past and whose vested interests generate a resistance to change.
Need 10% of workforce to be creative agents to achieve creative lift off
- Develop Area – Creative agents are very demanding or arts, cultural, recreational facilities… Festival / event to create/ force change
- Develop local bootstrap for intellectual property creation Needs to be a source of tech, talent and social tolerance.
- Develop People climate not Business climate
All 3 necessary to attract creative agents.
Who are the Creative Class?
Now
Computer & maths
Education & library
Arts, design, entertainment, media
Life and Social Sciences
Architecture & engineering
Future
Bioinformationists
Geonomics architect
Avatar manager
Data miner
Eldercare wellness manager
Technology Adoption Life Cycle
Suffolk = laggards late market adopters like 16% of pop
Innovators 2%
Early Adopters 13%
Early majority 34%
Late Majority 34%
What’s happening elsewhere?
Idea Lab
Basepoint
TEDx
Intelligence2
RSA events
POP!TECH
Sophia Antipolis – Creative Business Park in France no local taxes incl free buses
Brighton has free wifi in city
Dublin – lowered rates / Southern Ireland – Royalties – postbox capital of britain
Points made during the discussion after the briefing:
Suffolk will be invaded by people who want to live here who will change the dynamic – make it how they want it because Suffolk people aren’t making it what they want..
Financial and environmental crises coming our way – what are the Real jobs doing Real things in Suffolk.
Localism Bill – Opportunity to be involved in the future.
Time is now – Doom & gloom brings opportunity to create change
Need to acknowledge blocks in political / critical debate not happening even in short term
Democracy going through a fundamental change – arab spring – own version locally – Council will be challenged – Creative communities will use all means possible to push ideas forward
Everyone has potential to be creative
The Cut – Waveney – people are doing it for themselves
What can the local authority offer? What does it have that it can give?
Agitation about the money which has been put into Adastral Park – what has come out of it? £ or SRoi
Do it – The Suffolk Way
What are policy makers and politicians attitude to the creative world? What are their suggestions?
Suffolk is incredibly creative but the richness of this creativity and the output it offers could be grown by building better community and physical spaces around it.
4 Comments for this entry
Steve
It was an interesting meeting. I discussion thats no doubt been going on for decades. But it keeps failing because government and quangos throw money at big ideas. i.e. top down, build it and they will come. Rather than bottom up. i.e. see what community is out there build on that, keep building on that don’t stop building on that towards aims that this community wants. Listen, do, tweak, listen, do, tweak listen do.
veronique mermaz
Tomorrow… cloud controllers, uranium recyclers, simplicity consultants, home companion-caretakers, space tour guides, farmers…and also politicians, writers, undertakers, prostitutes, religious leaders… Life and death will still go on… Would love to see 2099.
suffolkdigital
Like the idea of a Simplicity Constultant so much so that I’m wondering whether to try and become one. I really think your are on the button with some of these 
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Stephen Taylor
Sad libraries seen only as creative for now, but glad they get mentioned at all! Suffolk libraries were early adopters of a lot of tech (self service machines in all libs) and approaches to being accessible (all libs open on Sundays). Big changes afoot, and perhaps an opportunity in the SCC response to cutting library spend without cutting libraries.
People will always worrry about change – natural reaction even when change self induced and wished-for.
Lots of creativity in SCC, but not always harnessed and directed positively.