So recently on the twitter I was a part of contingent that derided the Creative Cities Summit. What honestly started as a bit of a snarky joke and a way to evoke a bit of fun took on a life of it's own.
What started as #uncreatives and #uncreativelex has turned into me defending myself and my own small dissension.
From a purely outside perspective it all seemed rather trite and to quote my friend 'like a lot of self-help horse shit'. If you need to pay an outside consultant to tell you that 'people are born valuable'and that life lived a bit smaller can be meaningful then in my opinion you need more than a three day seminar to work that out.
90% of what I saw coming out of there was nothing more than name dropping and self-agrandizing. It seemed as though some felt that only those present had opinions at all, and were alone in their passion for this city. Obtuse. Trite.
My biggest disappointment came at who was not invited to the summit. My friend Dr.Nick Kouns already stated that without the presence of WRFL and Ace Weekly, two of our most valuable creative resources who've been doing the hard work of getting the word out and bringing people together for 20 years in the city it all seems a bit impotent. (He put it more eloquently than I over at his blog: http://www.nickydoc.net)
You'll hire outside consultants to tell you to value Lexington talent while you concurrently are ignoring Lexington creative talent. That rabbit hole runs deep. The thing that truly struck me was when I saw there was a discussion of the redevelopment of Cox Street parking lot. What? Cox Street parking is something that is used every single day by employees of Rupp Arena, Lexington Center Corporation, and others. It was stated that it should be 'something that could work around UK ballgames of course'. Like there was no other purpose for this space. This told me right there that this consultant knew NOTHING about Lexington, and the person tweeting knew NOTHING about Lexington. This is the content you get from outsiders. I could name at least a dozen sites in Lexington that need redevelopment but this consultant looked no further than out the window at a parking lot.
So when I tweet dissent, it isn't due to jealousy or misunderstanding, it is what I see as a lack of substance.
I have been told that there were a lot of valuable discussions to be had, I would state that don't be so obtuse as to think the same thing wasn't going on outside of the conference.
I have been repeatedly thanked for being so vocal against the Creative City Kool-aid, and I will continue to deride where I see something falling short of it's idealistic goals.
I do hope this brings about results and not more lip service. Lexington has real needs that can't be fretted away by a 3 day event. If they wanted to begin a discussion, they have done so, but don't attack those who may see what occurred differently.
"So when I tweet dissent, it isn't due to jealousy or misunderstanding, it is what I see as a lack of substance."
ReplyDeleteI think it might be because of misunderstanding. You're only looking at it from your individual point of view. The attendees, sponsors, and speakers all got what they wanted out of the conference. Clearly there was no lack of substance, maybe just a different preference between you and the attendees.
I also want to say that nobody that I know thinks the conference was 100% inclusive of all the talent we have. Not attending didn't mean anything other than you weren't there. Nobody was so presumptuous to assume the attendees were the only creative people in Lexington, or even that everyone at the conference was creative.
There will be other events where creatives can gather. Most of them will be free or cheap in order to be more inclusive. I hope to see you around. Of course, if I don't think that I'd enjoy one of them, I'll probably stay home -- but I doubt I'd start name-calling the people that did choose to go.
The "redevelopment of Cox street" discussion was a THOUGHT EXPERIMENT from speaker Mike Lydon which followed a hypothetical timeline about a new Rupp Arena. It was meant to demonstrate a process for thinking about any redevelopment in a way that a wide-ranging audience could easily understand it.
ReplyDeleteIt was a reasonable example. The Cox street area IS the likely location for a new arena and it poses an academically interesting problem of how to redevelop a sports arena in a way that best serves Lexington, supports economic development, supports arts, and create a great place to spend time...between and during events.
I just don't understand the "need to pay a consultant to tell us we're valuable" comment? National speakers were invited to a national Conference to speak about national issues. Any "consulting" that we got from the event was a result of their presentations and after-discussions. Speakers are paid to come. But most of the costs of the event were covered by sponsors.
I welcome ALL opinions. We need someone to break through the complacency, local OR outsider... whoever can shake things up. Charles Landry and Rebecca Ryan's "outsider" insight that "pretty landscapes are making Lexington complacent" was brilliant, and to see LFUCG/Mayoral people talking about that was terrific.
"Outsider" Bill Strickland's story about the Manchester Craftsman Guild brought one of the most powerful messages to Lexington about leveraging the creativity of everyone from welfare moms to gang members - about how great environments result in great hope..and outcomes. You watch. This outsider's message will become rooted in local action...
So... I REALLY WANT you to be involved in the real work of helping Lexington change. Go and be heard. And please stop using Twitter as a source for research... it's not serving you well at all.
As someone who attended just a few sessions of the Summit, I was not that impressed. Granted, had I attended others, maybe I'd have taken a little more home with me...but as for the few I attended, the substance just wasn't there.
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