In the Beginning:
On April 11, 2003, almost five hundred people came to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center to hear creative economy guru Dr.Richard Florida describe what it takes to build a vibrant community in today’s technology environment. It was music to the ears of most in attendance and the excitement and energy has been building ever since. Getting Dr. Florida to Tampa and attracting so many community leaders to hear him speak was the result of a coalition of organizations involved in business and the arts: The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Tampa Bay Partnership, the Pinellas and Hillsborough Arts Councils, Tampa Downtown Partnership, Tampa Bay Technology Forum, and the Florida High Tech Corridor.
Some three weeks later, four Tampa Bay women – Michelle Bauer, Deanne Roberts, Karen Raihill and Sigrid Tidmore — joined up with Richard Florida again at an international conference in Memphis. Over several days, the participants crafted the “Memphis Manifesto” which challenges communities to take actions to promote a creative economy based upon the three pillars of Talent, Technology and Tolerance.
By the summer of 2003, Deb Talbot joined the other four women to incorporate CreativeTampaBay with the idea that it would serve as a catalyst for perpetuating the energy and commitment of all who are eager to see Tampa Bay take full advantage of its unique heritage, geography, and economic strengths in building our own creative economy. Today, the organization reaches thousands throughout the region and is proud to have a
diverse board representing creative enclaves throughout the seven-counties that make up Tampa Bay.
2005 Annual Report
Strategic thinking, global connections, and community-building were all evident during 2005, CreativeTampaBay’s second full year of operation – leading to greater growth and possibilities for the region’s creative pursuits in 2006 and beyond.
CTB launched a year-long strategic planning process to shape the direction of the organization for the next three to five years. Australian consultant Larry Quick helped CTB put a framework around creative community design and development. Quick says communities need to move beyond the information or knowledge era to the “age of innovation” for reshaping economic and social progress. Under the deft orchestration of CTB board member Donna Manion, we determined five pillars of importance:
- Research
- Sustainability & governance
- Communication and building connectivity throughout the community
- Dialogue on social, cultural, economic, and environmental facets of our region
- Socio-economic diversity
CTB President Peter Kageyama took to different continents and North American cities this year to share the story of CreativeTampaBay. In return, many thought-leaders and exciting projects were introduced to Tampa Bay.
Last winter in Australia, Kageyama shared the stage with Dr. Richard Florida in Perth, and then traveled to Melbourne where he spoke before VicUrban, the public-private development agency for the State of Victoria. VicUrban repaid the visit in May when their planning executives conducted meetings with local leaders in Tampa and St. Petersburg and met with local developer Bill Bishop. VicUrban is committed to sustainable development, affordable housing, and prosperous and successful communities.
In March, USF’s Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities and its director and CTB board member Judi Jetson brought Harvard professor and author Robert Putnam to town for a community-wide dialogue on “social capital,” a term Putnam made popular in his book, Bowling Alone. Putnam’s research suggests that broad personal relationships are a critical component of vibrant, innovative, diverse communities, meaning: crime is lower, educational levels are higher, children flourish, and overall people are healthier and happier.
CTB followed up Putnam’s appearance by hosting four world cafes to initiate dialogue to educate and elaborate on the importance of social capital and to take the pulse of the region’s sense of social connectivity. More than 200 people attended these gatherings held in downtown Tampa, Clearwater, downtown St. Petersburg, and at the Museum of Science and Industry in north Tampa.
In April, CTB was hosted at Graphicstudio and the Contemporary Art Museum on the University of South Florida’s campus. May Weber and Sigrid Tidmore organized a tour of the celebrated ARTE exhibition featuring the Cuban sculptors “Los Carpinteros.” A special presentation from Dr. Klasko, Dean of the USF Medical School, helped attendees understand how important a world-class art museum is for attracting top medical research talent to a community.
In June, Kageyama, CTB chairman Deb Talbot, and Michelle Bauer were the Tampa Bay contingent at a conference in Rhode Island called “Transforming Urban Communities: Lessons from Providence and Liverpool," by Rhode Island School of Design and the Royal Society of Arts. The symposium was billed as a “call to reflection,” not action – intended to improve the quality of the questions, deconstruct assumptions, and open doors to future events.
Kageyama then went on to London, Ontario, to be a panelist and presenter with Charles Landry at a creative cities conference. Landry, an international authority on the future of cities, was the keynote at the September 2003 Creative Cities Summit that CTB held in St. Petersburg and will be returning in 2006 to be a creative in-residence in Tampa Bay.
This past fall Kageyama represented CTB as part of the Manchester, England, trade mission sponsored by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Creative industries are a recognized, legitimate sector of the economy in the United Kingdom with a cabinet-level position, minister of creative industries. In fact, creative industries are being urged to put down roots in England to join a 1.5 billion pound a year sector.
The strong Tampa Bay connection with the UK is evident on this side of the Atlantic as well. Anamaria Wills, chief executive of the Creative Industries Development Agency in the UK, visited Tampa Bay in September to talk about the organization that she co-founded in 2000. It serves artists and creative entrepreneurs in design, media, visual and performing arts, crafts, marketing and advertising, and new technologies with professional development and business support.
Also in September, Aussie playwright and director Craig Christie paid an encore visit to Tampa Bay and did an evening presentation with CTB board member Bob Devin Jones at the Studio @ 620 on “Theater Beyond Entertainment.”
It was a busy October with two significant events. Business 2.0 senior writer Gregg Zachary, through the efforts of Michelle Bauer,spent three days in the area sharing his perspective on a myriad of topics from science, technology and society, as well as diversity, identity and the intercultural relations. Zachary emphasized that there are technology users and technology creators, and the U.S. wants to be in the latter category because innovation is the key to growth. He also stressed that the new wave of immigrants coming to our shores have both “roots and wings,” meaning that they want to be based in America but also want to stay connected to their native country by visiting frequently and sending money back home. He recommended that Tampa Bay understand the special ethnic clusters that are here, figure out how to be inclusive, and use them to their fullest advantage.
At the invitation of Deb Talbot, Ken Ford, Ph. D., founder and director of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, shared his views on talent attraction and economic development. Among his key observations: Talented people are mobile and can live anywhere they want; jobs follow talent, not vice versa; cities can be talent attractors and repellors; in the new economy, the landscape will look “spiky” with high pooling of talented individuals. He urged us to understand the powerful role that universities and research institutes play in economic development as can federal research money; find out what is authentic, but don’t let it be a barrier to entry to those outside the market; and allow outsiders and newcomers to sit at the “big invisible table.”
With the wide variety of this year’s and future events, CTB strives to do “civic acupuncture” by interjecting ideas and energy into the life force of the community. CTB also is proud of board members who are following their own creative endeavors. Deb Campbell, under the Forward Thinking Initiatives she has pioneered at the Museum of Science and Industry, is putting on the first Youth Entrepreneurship Camp at MOSI for students from seventh grade through high school. Thanks to the generous support of MOSI and the Florida High Tech Corridor. Susan Taylor Lennon, dance faculty member at the University of Tampa, drew rave audiences this past summer with “Telling Secrets: A Moving Memoir,” narrating her own life story and animating it with original dance choreography.
Research will be high on next year’s agenda, with Deanne Roberts chairing this effort, as CTB is a major participant in “Things Look Different Here … So What Should We Do About It?,” a national study to identify the unique characteristics of communities. We will be able to distill Tampa Bay’s uniqueness through a critical assessment of our differences in relation to national and other regional indices. Many key components of our region’s “personality” will be examined, including entertainment, recreation, health, lifestyles, gender/sexual orientation, international travel, religious participation, social capital measures, readership and viewership, auto ownership, occupations and demographics, music, food and beverage consumption, and politics.
CTB will build on this study, which promises to generate as much interest and media coverage as 2004’s Young & Restless study, with an on-site visit by Charles Landry. Landry’s broad international experience will help the Tampa Bay region identify its existing assets and initiatives and point to near-term opportunities that are simple, inexpensive, and relatively easy to theme. Landry will spend three weeks in our communities helping to develop strategies to build upon what is already in process within the region.
This two-pronged research approach during 2006, while providing significant data and analysis, will also engage a number of community organizations and leaders from seemingly disparate business segments and industries in dialog about what uniquely defines the brand known as Tampa Bay.
Stay tuned – 2006 promises to be stimulating and informative, as CTB board members Michelle Bauer and Tom Butler are working on a meaty calendar of salon conversations, place-oriented networking opportunities, and major events and workshops.
CreativeTampa Bay also played a role in CEOs for Cities, a national, nonpartisan alliance of urban leaders, from mayors, corporate executives, university presidents, and heads of business leadership groups to foundations and other civic organizations. CTB board member Sigrid Tidmore, George Gordon of Tampa Bay Technology Forum, and Karen White, USF St. Petersburg regional chancellor attended the December national meeting in Chicago. Mayor Pam Iorio and CTB board member Christine Burdick of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, and CTB board member Karen Raihill of the Tampa Bay Partnership are also slated to become active participants in 2006.
Finally, much thanks to DeanneRoberts, Michelle Bauer, and Elizabeth Leib (who does calendar listings) for editing 50 editions a year of the BUZZ, CTB’s electronic newsletter with nearly 3,500 subscribers. This year the number of guest authors of the “Creatives Speak Up” column has really increased. The goal is to get lots of voices and opinion circulating throughout Tampa Bay.
2004 A Look Back
By Michelle Bauer
It’s been a remarkable year for CreativeTampaBay. After the enthusiastic reception of our first event, CreativeTampaBay MEETS!, in September 2003, our founders – Deanne Roberts, Sigrid Tidmore, Karen Raihill, Amie Devero, Deb Talbot and myself – decided it was time to add some structure to the project so it could have a positive, wide ranging impact on our region.
We tapped the energies of 34 talented and committed people from all around Tampa Bay — artists, business and non-profit leaders, economic developers, academicians, and community activists – and convened as a board in January of 2004. In the past 11 months, we’ve produced a major study, The Young & the Restless;” held numerous “salons;” and hosted the Creative Cities Summit, a international conference that convened 300 thinkers and practitioners in the creative economy from around the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. We’ve also built upon two initiatives we started in late 2003: our weekly online newsletter, the CreativeTampaBay Buzz, which has almost 2000 subscribers; and the CreativeTampaBay web site (www.creativetampabay.com).
I was lucky enough to serve as CTB’s president this year, and it has been one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. I’ve met so many people in Tampa Bay who care passionately about making their communities more vibrant places to live, work, and play. CTB has been blessed with support from individuals, institutions, businesses, and the media. While I couldn’t possibly thank everyone who deserves to be acknowledged here, there are a few people and organizations it is necessary to single out for special recognition here:
Our Executive Committee is the engine that powers CTB. Sigrid Tidmore and her son, Sean Kelly, lent their artistic and technical talents to the creation of CTB’s beautiful web site and the design of our weekly newsletter. Deanne Roberts has edited the Buzz (with the help of Elizabeth Leib), supervised the research committee and the Young & the Restless study, acted as our media spokeswoman, and secured funding and other support from leaders around the region. She and Peter Kageyama have visited groups around the state (and in Peter’s case, other cities in the US and Australia) to share CTB’s vision. Deb Talbot has offered superb guidance and financial counsel. Karen Raihill and Amie Devero spearheaded our communications and public policy efforts. Melinda Chavez has been instrumental in coordinating our initiatives.
Our board has been incredibly active. We’re grateful to Stephanie Agliano, Kyle Bebout, Tom Butler, Deb Campbell, Ron Christaldi, Tony Collins, Dr. Jim Deegan, Natasha Del Toro, Ray Dile, Bob Devin Jones, Nancy Loehr, Donna Manion, Wit Ostrenko, Anthea Penrose, David Rigall, Joanne Rock, Franci Rudolf, Frank Sanchez, Don Shea, Roberta Schofield, Susan Taylor Lennon, Dr. Larry Thompson, Anthony Tucker, Margo Walbolt, and May Weber for their service to the organization.
Our research projects and events would not have been possible without the support of key businesses and organizations. We’re grateful to all of our sponsors, especially the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Tampa Bay Technology Forum, Progress Energy, Verizon, and SunTrust Bank for their support.
Last month, the CreativeTampaBay board unanimously elected Peter Kageyama as our 2005 President. You know Peter from the Creative Cities Summit and the “Wouldn’t it be cool if….” columns. Peter’s vision and energy will help us accomplish things we never dreamed about. We hope you’ll stay tuned and join us for what’s sure to be another fun, exciting ride!
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[…] There has been a lot of hype in the local Detroit media about hosting this Second Creative Cities Summit October 13-15th since Governor Granholm announced it and blogged about it February 15th. No location for the event has yet been identified. Neither the link in the MiLifeMiTimes article nor the Cool Cities page of MSHDA seem to provide any detail. MiLifeMiTimes goes on to say the first Summit was held in St. Petersburg Fl. in 2004, which is also listed in the Freep article released in the same media salvo on this issue. Digging in a bit further, I find that an organization called UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) hosted what they thought was the first one in Philadelphia last year, partnering with a local organization called Innovation Philadelphia. From MiLifeMiTimes, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s (MSHDA) Cool Cities Team is a key organizer of the event. So I am confused - when was the first summit? Freep also mentions Creative Cities Productions, which doesn’t seem to exist, at least to Google. Peter Kageyama, who is mentioned in conjunction with Creative Cities Productions is very active in Creative Class activities, more of which you can read about here. I am hoping to get some people engaged in this worthy effort, so I hope more information on this event is provided soon! […]
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