-Michelle Royal, Board Chair of Creative Tampa Bay and CEO of HowDoYouInnovate.com

“Unique assets like this bridge come along once in a generation. Look at what NYC did with a mile long elevated railway that most people thought should be torn down. Today, it is Highline park, a central draw for both tourists and locals. It is an unforgettable Love Note of the community for its people. This could be our Highline Park.”

-Peter Kageyama, For the Love of Cities

Learn more at: http://friendshiptrailbridge.com/

I have truly enjoyed the privilege of serving as your editor for the past two years. As someone who has been involved in Creative Tampa Bay since inception in 2004, I have watched in awe as the organization had a hand in transforming the conversation of creativity in the Tampa Bay region. When we first began, the idea of creativity and livable communities was barely an afterthought – now efforts can be seen everywhere, from young professionals groups to microfunding. The BUZZ has been the main communication vehicle to further CTB’s mission since its creation. As I look back at all of CTB’s accomplishments, I can truly say I am proud to be associated with it.

All the best for the future of Tampa Bay,
Megan Hendricks

In a survey conducted by IBM last year, 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one competitive edge” of the future. And Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently wrote that dance, music, theater, and visual arts “are essential to preparing our nation’s young people for a global economy fueled by innovation and creativity.”

Yet despite the need for employees and entrepreneurs with well-developed right-brain “soft skills” and the wealth of research indicating that students at schools with robust arts programs are more likely to go to college, school art programs nationwide are being decimated by budget cuts. In Los Angeles, elementary school art programs may soon disappear altogether. The result is that students are missing out on the opportunity to, in Duncan’s words, “experience the arts in deep and meaningful ways and to make curricular connections with math, science, and the humanities.”

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In order to meet the needs of the creative class and Tampa Bay community, The BUZZ, the weekly newsletter of Creative Tampa Bay, is taking a step back to evaluate our content and is temporarily going on vacation, getting a remodel, a reconstruction.

The Buzz has been a primary driver of content for Creative Tampa Bay, connecting us to local events and happenings as well as thought leadership from around the country and world.

A Special Thanks:

The Buzz has not been possible these past four years without the passionate, committed efforts and leadership of Megan Hendricks. As the Buzz editor she has represented the ideals of Creative Tampa Bay and connected us to the community we serve. As a long-standing board member of Creative Tampa Bay, she has been an important agent of change from the very beginning of the organization. The Creative Tampa Bay Board wishes Megan the most success on her new professional journey.

In order to keep true to our mission, here are some useful tips to keep you, our amazing creative class, moving forward to Think, Connect, and Act in this creative economy.

How to THINK different

Creative Tampa Bay and The BUZZ has been fueled by one primary mission: to be a catalyst for change in the creative economy. In essence, we exist to help us THINK DIFFERENT. Creative Tampa Bay has made it possible for the creative economy to become a part of our integrated conversation about economic growth in Tampa Bay. The ideas we have supported have spawned diverse outcomes such as creative conferences, groundbreaking research studies, young professionals groups, Boomer initiatives, collaborative community engagement, new media sources, and, most recently, leaders in the micro-funding movements.

To continue our commitment of equipping the community on how to think different for creative community change, we have launched 2 workshops in tandem with the Ten100 initiative and in partnership with last year’s Ten100 winners, SWINGS.

Bright Idea Workshops
http://adproof.creativeloafing.com/challenge/workshops.php
Need inspiration? Want feedback on how to make your good idea irresistible? Then you need to meet the awesomely energetic winners of last year’s 10/100/1000 Challenge, Reuben Pressman and Hunter Payne of Swings Tampa Bay. On Thurs. Mar. 15, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at CL Space (1911 N. 13th St., Ybor City, above Spaghetti Warehouse), they’ll host a 10/100/1000 Bright Idea Workshop for applicants seeking tips and encouragement, for people who haven’t yet decided whether to apply, or anyone in the general public who’s merely curious. Admission is free.

These workshops are designed to help you, creative community change makers, design and pitch a better idea for positive creative change in our community. You or your idea could change OUR world!

How to stay CONNECTed

You can still connect through…

1. website - http://www.CreativeTampaBay.com
2. facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/creativeTB
3. twitter – @CreativeTB

We will still be updating the creative community on what is happening in Tampa Bay. Please continue to add events to our website and post your thoughts on our facebook page. YOU make Tampa Bay creative and will help us keep the spirit alive in the interim.

How to take ACTion

You can continue to engage in conversation and share great resources through our facebook page. In addition we have launched the Ten100 initiative.

Ten100
http://adproof.creativeloafing.com/challenge/
For the second year in a row, Creative Loafing and Creative Tampa Bay present 10/100/1000 — a contest to find 10 great ideas to make Tampa Bay a better place to live, with $1,000 awarded to the best idea of all.

You can also help the cause by becoming a supporter of Creative Tampa Bay and the Ten100. Microfunding is the wave of the future. Donate $100 to Creative Tampa Bay, and Creative Loafing will list your name or your company’s name on the 10/100/1000 website, providing links to your business and offering opportunities to network with leaders of the area’s creative economy. Your contribution does make meaning!

You can contribute by clicking on this link: http://tinyurl.com/Ten100club

Or click on this link and donate directly to Creative Tampa Bay any amount of your choosing: http://tinyurl.com/createCTB

YOU MAKE TAMPA BAY CREATIVE and YOU make Creative Tampa Bay.

Be bold! Be Brilliant! Be Brave!

Thank you for being loyal fans thus far! In the meantime, we will continue to support you and the BUZZ WILL BE BACK!

Thank you!
Michelle Royal, Board Chair of Creative Tampa Bay

For additional information please email the Board Chair of Creative Tampa Bay, Michelle Royal at Michelle@HowDoYouInnovate.com

Click here for a note from your Buzz editor.

A team of artists plan to bust out cans of spray paint Saturday to cover the amateur tags littering the back of the Hope Thrift Store on 9th Avenue with gallery-worthy graffiti. The project will become the largest mural in Bradenton, covering 2,200 square feet.

Hector Ferran is the project’s facilitator. His inspiration for the project followed a trip to Miami. While there, Ferran visited the Wynwood Art District which touts an incredible collection of street art. After returning home to his live-in gallery in the Village of the Arts, Ferran transformed his backyard into a graffiti playground.

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“Our partnership with USF Health will bring their leading-edge research right to the doorsteps of residents in communities where we have hospitals in Tampa Bay,” said Mike Schultz, President and CEO of the Florida Region for Adventist Health System, the parent company of Florida Hospital. “Patients in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties will no longer have to travel for personalized and state-of-the- art medicine in the specialties where we have affiliations with USF Health.”

In September 2011, the Florida Hospital announced that it was developing strategic health care partnerships, including one with USF Health. Today, both organizations announced how the partnership is translating medical research advancements into cutting-edge patient treatment in the following specialty areas: cardiology at Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute, breast health at Florida Hospital Tampa, neuroscience at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, and surgical oncology, melanoma and breast cancer at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs.

“Through these critical specialties, we’re going to transform how patients experience health care at Florida Hospital in our area,” said Dr. Stephen K. Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “Patients will have greater access to our world-class physicians and the new scientific discoveries at USF Health. As important, USF Health will also work with Florida Hospital and its patients to create personalized, coordinated care in cardiology, breast health and other targeted specialties.”

Cardiology

Cardiovascular patients at Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute will benefit from research collaboration and USF Health’s exploration in genomic screening for personalized health care. Genomic screening uses an individual’s genetic profile to customize the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease to each patient.

“No other providers in Tampa Bay will be able to replicate the level of how we begin to tailor procedures to individual patients to maintain their heart health,” Dr. Klasko said.

“Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute will now combine its personalized health care delivery and clinical research with USF Health’s leading academic medicine and research,” said John Harding, President and CEO of Florida Hospital Tampa Bay Division. “This innovative partnership will give health care consumers a broader range of treatment options for cardiovascular disease.”

Breast Health

Women across Tampa Bay have been experiencing the benefit of a comprehensive diagnostics center exclusively dedicated to breast care at Florida Hospital Tampa. Recently, USF Health partnered with an existing breast program composed of Florida Hospital Tampa, Community Medical Imaging and Tampa Bay Breast Care Specialists to build an even more comprehensive breast health and cancer program. This collaboration brings together private practices, academic medicine and a hospital to form a renowned team of expert radiologists, radiation oncologists and breast surgeons. Based at Florida Hospital Tampa, this multidisciplinary approach to breast care provides a comprehensive range of diagnostic services, cancer treatments and research protocols to patients, while offering a higher level of coordinated care. One of the major patient benefits is reducing the time from screening to diagnosis to treatment. Providing rapid diagnosis — often within the same day — increases early detection, which is a critical factor in successful outcomes for breast cancer patients.

Neuroscience

The new Neuroscience Institute at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills will have a team of USF Health neurosurgeons on-site who are trained in the treatment of brain, spine and acute stroke procedures. Time is an important factor with most medical issues, but especially with stroke and neurological conditions. The new 24/7 dedicated stroke team includes academic neurosurgeons from USF, neuro-interventional radiologists, board certified neurologists, emergency physicians and certified registered nurses to coordinate care from triage to diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Patients will have access to the latest evidence-based treatments from USF, including brain surgery, spine surgery and minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms. Having all of these services offered in one location means patients will no longer need to travel outside Pasco County, saving precious time, which is a critical factor for neurological procedures.

Surgical Oncology, Melanoma and Breast Cancer

To round off the partnership, patients in Pinellas and west Pasco counties will benefit from enhanced medical expertise at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital. USF Health physicians will now be available for patients – a plastics and reconstructive surgeon trained in the most advanced technologies and treatments for breast cancer and other oncological disorders, and an internationally known surgical oncologist specializing in the treatment of malignant melanoma, complicated skin cancers and breast cancer. The partnership creates a comprehensive and coordinated approach to cancer care that gives patients the option to receive state-of-the-art treatment without leaving their community.

“These four affiliations are the foundation for Florida Hospital and USF Health’s plans to establish a higher standard of coordinated care throughout the market,” said John Harding. “This announcement is just the beginning of our vision to elevate health care in Tampa Bay.”

For more information, please visit www.HigherDegree.org

Florida dominated an Orbitz Insider Index detailing Americans’ preference for spring break destinations.

Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers appeared on the top 10 list.

Tampa ranked No. 9 on the list, down from No. 7 the year before. Average airfare was $354, compared with $307 in 2011. Average daily rate was $133, up from $122 the year before.

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The idea that an isolated genius produces the best ideas has lost much of its cache in our networked and crowdsourced world. But Jeremy Vandermeij’s vision of collaborative art and design is a whole lot more individualistic and experimental than what any ordinary crowd would produce. And a whole lot more joyful.

Vandermeij’s work as a self-described “creative generalist” employs friendship and camaraderie to extraordinary creative ends; no one, from a work’s creator to the attendee or consumer or patron is left out of the process. As creative director at the Gladstone Hotel, former curator of the hotel’s annual Come Up to My Room event, which invites creators to create an immersive experience in the hotel’s rooms, and co-founder of Toronto Design Offsite and Public Displays of Affection, Vandermeij has worked to surmount the often artificial boundaries between art and design, personal expression and public service.

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Share Some Sugar enables consumers to lend and borrow rarely used items with their neighbors while earning some extra cash.

We’ve seen an increasing number of sharing platforms appear over the years, as consumers seek to lend and borrow rarely used items while earning and saving some extra cash. NeighborGoods and StuffPal are two efforts we’ve seen designed to facilitate such exchanges, and recently we came across another: Share Some Sugar.

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New study is first to identify characteristics of firms started by entrepreneurs who create products for their own use, then commercialize them

A study released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation shows that “user entrepreneurs” have founded more than 46 percent of innovative startups that have lasted five years or more, even though this group creates only 10.7 percent of U.S. startups overall.

“Who Are User Entrepreneurs?” is the first study to quantify the prevalence and characteristics of user entrepreneurs – those who have created innovative products or services for their own use, then subsequently founded firms to commercialize them – and identify how the firms they start compare to other U.S. startups in terms of revenue growth, job creation, R&D investment and intellectual property.

“Users have ignited technological change in industries ranging from medical devices to sports equipment to juvenile products. In many cases, users, not producers, have the best information, and their incentive is to build something better for their own use. As a result, they are able to create truly novel innovations. When they commercialize these innovations, we all benefit,” said Sonali Shah, assistant professor and Buerk Fellow at Foster School of Business, University of Washington, and co-author of the report. “This report provides the first comprehensive documentation of the prevalence of user entrepreneurship. Users make significant innovative and economic contributions to society – contributions that we are just beginning to understand and acknowledge.”

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