I have exhausted my opinion on Twitter, but I wrote this and submitted it to ACE Weekly and wanted to share it here.
Many people are passing judgment on Creative Cities Summit Lexington. Those in attendance are comparing it to the next best thing since sliced bread (and rightly so) but some are calling it a waste of time, energy and money. Some people are criticizing the conference for more talk than action, which is something that we have seen a lot of in Lexington anyway. From what I have seen, there has been a great deal of discussion about harnessing a city's creative energies, making the most of the people who live in it. If you've lived in Lexington for awhile, or even if you're new to the city, you already know that there is large amount of creative energy here. With University of Kentucky and Transylvania University among institutions of hiring learning in the heart of the city, it is hard to ignore the amount of creativity that is coming from the college-age citizens. However, I haven't seen any students talk about attending the summit. This is strictly an outsider's perspective, but for an organization whose aim is to showcase the talent and creativity of a city, Creative Cities Summit Lexington did a poor job in tapping into that which college students held.
“But you didn't even go? How can you say anything about CCSLex?” Well, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't afford the $199+ in registration fees. I understand that CCSLex depended on sponsorships to make the conference happen. Having immense non-profit experience, I understand the importance of sponsorships. Conferences are expensive. I get it. However, I did not know that there was a reduced rate for students. Why was that not publicized? I was also made aware of certain partial scholarships. Partial, meaning they did not cover the entire $199 cost, however if one was able to register as a student, that partial scholarship for one person would have been a full scholarship for a student.
I was told via twitter that a resolution would have taken simply a telephone call, that someone should not have waited for the conference organizers to “reach out” to those less fortunate. I do not think that is a fair statement when you do not pursue something because you simply think that the $199+ registration is a static number. Also, when you go to the registration page, there is no mention of a student rate on the selection screen, so I believe it is fair to assume that there is one rate for the event, not to mention all of the “extras” (Young professionals conference @ $25, A Day at the Races @ $19, etc) that conference-goers had the option of participating in.
So, could someone have been given multiple scholarships? Well, I don't know, but no one ever said. Some people said they didn't know about scholarships at all. But to not give a stronger push toward the college student population was definitely an interesting point. On the “Why Attend?” page of the CCSLex website, there are lists with reasons why certain groups of people should have attended the conference. Among them, young professionals, members of the not for profit community, and entrepreneurs are listed. The reasons for college students to attend (all seven of them) were all about getting out of the classroom, learning from an experience other than college classes, thinking about how you can handle yourself in the community in the future. That's all well and good, but I know a lot of college students who are working to make Lexington (and the world) a better place right now. These students are incredibly creative and would have been perfect candidates to attend this conference. However, in reviewing the #ccslex tweets on Twitter and posts on Facebook, I am not sure if any college students attended at all. Two types of people were neglected in the planning for this event: creative people who have less money than others and college students. If you're a broke college student, like me, then forget it!
