Colleges as Catalysts for the Creative Class

GENERAL

Research Abstract
Colleges as Catalysts for the Creative Class
As cities and towns seek to revitalize their downtowns, they are looking to an emerging "creative sector" to help attract tourists, produce new products, and develop more jobs. The sector gained recognition in 2000, when the Creative Economy Initiativea collaboration among the New England Council, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and several other groupspublished a groundbreaking study of a regional creative economy on the basis of research by Mt. Auburn Associates, consultants in the field of economic development. The study identified the "creative cluster" work force, which includes artists; educators; people who work in creative enterprises, like art galleries and architecture and graphic-design firms; people who supply instruments, arts supplies, and other materials; technical workers, including lighting designers and sound engineers; and those in nonprofit cultural organizations. Colleges are an important part of the creative sector. We offer what is all too rare: employment for artists, scientists, and other innovative thinkers in various disciplines; spaces to develop new work; and environments that ideally allow students and faculty members to experiment, take risks, and learn from their failures. But are our institutions playing the role that they should in helping to build the creative economy?
Colleges are an important part of the creative sector. We offer what is all too rare: employment for artists, scientists, and other innovative thinkers in various disciplines; spaces to develop new work; and environments that ideally allow students and faculty members to experiment, take risks, and learn from their failures. But are our institutions playing the role that they should in helping to build the creative economy?
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Journal
ELLEN MCCULLOCH-LOVELL
Chronicle of Higher Education
8-Dec-06
4
December, 2006
PUBLISHER DETAILS

The Chronicle of Higher Education
1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington
DC, 20037
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