Voices: You've Got to Have Art
Around every other corner, it seems, there is a buzzing discussion about Scranton's cultural renaissance. And not only that it's happening, but that it will transform the city. It is the creative soul of our citizens, people are saying, that will lift us from our rut and raise us to a new level of prosperity.
For those who have been singing the praises of the region's resident talent for years, the reward of widespread appreciation is almost shocking. Suddenly everyone is on the same wavelength - the city's political, economic and artistic leaders are all basking in the same burst of positive energy. It is an energy that is contagious and spreading like a wildfire.
Such an energy is something author and economist Richard Florida says people can just feel in the air, in the atmosphere, of a city. It is something that instinctively tells residents and visitors whether a given place "gets it" or not. And it is cities that get it, he says, that will thrive in the new millennium.
Richard Florida is a Professor of Regional Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The release of his new book The Rise of the Creative Class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life has attracted an enormous proportion of national attention even before its official release on June 15.
Florida proposes that there are three types of creativity - technological, economic, as well as cultural and artistic creativity. His description of the creative class embraces not just fine artists, but also those whose "job" it is to think creatively including teachers, scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, etc.
It is this creative class, his book states, that are the most influential class of the new millennium - playing the role in the growth of our cities as factory workers did in 1880's and "the company man" did in the 1950s. According to Florida, nearly 40 million Americans - over 30 percent of America's work force - fall into the creative class. And, he stresses, the class is growing.
His hypotheses suggest that the cities best able to attract the creative class are those that will enjoy the most economic growth. Florida insists that focus groups and indices such as concentrations of bohemians and gays seem to better predict a metropolitan area's future success than conventional measures. One of Florida's cited focus groups looked at graduating college seniors and second-year MBA students in Pittsburgh who explained that they want to live and work in a city that is diverse, creative, exciting, with outdoor and extreme sports and a lively arts and music scene. They had no plans to actually utilize all of these amenities, but they did want to know that these things would exist in their chosen community.
Florida's work isn't the only work out there supporting the arts. A study recently released by the national non-profit advocacy organization Americans for the Arts addresses the economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences. Researchers discovered that the county's nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year. Of this is $80.8 billion in revenue generated by local merchants (hotels, restaurants, parking garages, etc.) from spending related to the attendance of arts event.
It is inspiring for the creatively-inclined to have proof that the arts do in fact mean business. It is even more inspiring for those of us in Scranton, however, to see that our city is not lagging behind in such realization. Our awakening to the creative aptitudes of our region is triumphantly synchronized with many other metro areas much larger than the Greater Scranton area.
On Thursday, crowds will line the 300 block of Penn Avenue for Art and Jazz on the Ave., an event sponsored not only by the Everhart Museum, but also by the City of Scranton. If you haven't heard the buzz, if you haven't felt the energy, this is an event most likely to infect you. The arts are out there. Schedule your arts and culture exposure now or you might just find you've been left behind.
For more information on The Rise of the Creative Class visit www.creativeclass.org.
-- alicia grega-pikul, 27 June 2002
