
CREATIVE METROPOLES Newsletter #1
Eleven capital and metropolitan cities of Europe have joined their forces to further foster the development of their creative sectors. The project CREATIVE METROPOLES is spearheaded by the culture and business development professionals from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham (in partnership with Wolverhampton), Helsinki, Oslo, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw, and has received 2.44 M EUR funding from the INTERREG IVC programme in an effort to make public support systems and instruments more focused, effective and better tailored to the actual needs of the creative industries. After project launch in the end of the year 2008, project representatives have carried out large scale research on the existing policies in support of Creative Industries and in 2009 city representatives have participated in numerous events presenting the project, case studies and giving input in discussions on Creative Industries, as well as organized the first experience exchange event in Warsaw. Project will run until September 2011.
Project kick-off in Oslo In March 4-6, 2009 project representatives met for the kick-off meeting to gain a common understanding on the goals and expectations of the project, as well as to discuss the research needs with local experts and external research team. During the Creative Cafe session an opportunity to informally discuss all five research themes was offered. Each city presented its Creative Industry either telling about it or visually revealing it through Creative posters that have been used also in further events. CREATIVE METROPOLES project and case studies from the cities were also presented at the Kreativ Oslo 2009 event, where most of the project participants took part in. Read more: Oslo kick-off meeting in Photos Kreativ Oslo 2009 in Photos
Innovation@Creative Industries in Berlin Conference Innovation@Creative Industries, taking place in Berlin, was second event to bring together not only project representatives and researchers, but also people that represent Creative Industries in the cities and can tell their side of the story. For example, Vytautas Ratkevièius from Vilnius presented the independent community of Uzupis, Kari Halinen from Helsinki talked about Arabianranta – Creative District and Living Labs for Innovation, Volker Heller from Berlin explained how to innovate the marketing of culture, Karoli Hindriks revealed what it means to be a creative textile designer in Tallin, Sara Lönnroth presented Transit Studios – Pre-incubator for Innovative Artists, Craftspeople and Designers, and Aksel Kolstad from Oslo gave an unforgettable performance involving piano playing and ballet steps to present how innovations can help in promotion of classical music. The presentations were given in creative formats. Along with the conference and the management team meeting, two Creative tours were organized in Berlin for the CREATIVE METROPOLES project representatives, giving access to designers’ studios, fashion schools, creative districts and creating a better understanding on how Creative Industry forms and fluctuates in Berlin. Read more: Summary of the conference by Dieter Haselbach Innovation@Creative Industries on Projekt Zukunft webpage Innovation@Creative Industries in Photos
CEB and Blender! in Helsinki During the conference Creative Economy and Beyond (CEB) preliminary findings of the research on creative industries in 11 cities involved in the project Creative Metropoles were presented by Dieter Haselbach from Berlin. His main interest was to address such questions as: is it possible to organize and steer the creativity and is one policy applicable for different cities? A day before CEB conference in Helsinki creative entrepreneurs representing cities from CREATIVE METROPOLES project were brought together for a special networking event called the Blender! In workshops and group work moderated by Miira Paasilinna, CI expert from Diges ry, young entrepreneurs discussed the challenges and future of creative industries, presented a 5 min sales pitch and also worked on new creative business ideas. CI business representatives had the opportunity to create business contacts, as well as participate for free in the CEB conference, gaining new insights and ideas. Their vision of how CI will develop and what challenges are faced now was presented also to the CREATIVE METROPOLES project team and followed by a long informal discussion session. Read more: Blender! Creative Economy and Beyond webpage and summary Creative Economy and Beyond in Photos
First Experience Exchange Event in Warsaw First experience exchange event of the project organized in Warsaw in October 2009 brought together more than 100 participants that represented policy makers, creative entrepreneurs, academics and other stakeholders from the cities involved in the project. In presentations and discussions participants covered three out of five project themes, i.e., Architecture of the public support for CI sector, Finance for the Creative Industries, and Increasing the Demand for Creative Industries. Researchers gave insight into the mapping findings, emphasizing most crucial points on CI support. Cities had brought also representatives from policy makers, incubators and creative companies to present real life cases under each of three project themes. After intensive presentation and panel discussion sessions, participants had also the opportunity to discuss most of the topics informally. The second experience exchange event will be held in the first quarter of 2010 in Stockholm. Read more: Highlights from the event Presentations of the participants Programme of the event Warsaw event in Photos
To be continued... In our next Newsletter we will inform on the results of research carried out in all 11 cities on the existent support mechanism for CI, as well as planned activities in year 2010. Stay tuned! To read more on the CREATIVE METROPOLES project or subscribe for the Newsletter, please visit the project website.
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CREATIVE METROPOLES
Newsletter #1

Eleven capital and metropolitan cities of Europe have joined their forces to further foster the development of their creative sectors. The project CREATIVE METROPOLES is spearheaded by the culture and business development professionals from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham (in partnership with Wolverhampton), Helsinki, Oslo, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw, and has received 2.44 M EUR funding from the INTERREG IVC programme in an effort to make public support systems and instruments more focused, effective and better tailored to the actual needs of the creative industries.

After project launch in the end of the year 2008, project representatives have carried out large scale research on the existing policies in support of Creative Industries and in 2009 city representatives have participated in numerous events presenting the project, case studies and giving input in discussions on Creative Industries, as well as organized the first experience exchange event in Warsaw. Project will run until September 2011.

Project kick-off in Oslo

In March 4-6, 2009 project representatives met for the kick-off meeting to gain a common understanding on the goals and expectations of the project, as well as to discuss the research needs with local experts and external research team. During the Creative Cafe session an opportunity to informally discuss all five research themes was offered. Each city presented its Creative Industry either telling about it or visually revealing it through Creative posters that have been used also in further events. CREATIVE METROPOLES project and case studies from the cities were also presented at the Kreativ Oslo 2009 event, where most of the project participants took part in.

Innovation@Creative Industries in Berlin

Conference Innovation@Creative Industries, taking place in Berlin, was second event to bring together not only project representatives and researchers, but also people that represent Creative Industries in the cities and can tell their side of the story. For example, Vytautas Ratkevièius from Vilnius presented the independent community of Uzupis, Kari Halinen from Helsinki talked about Arabianranta – Creative District and Living Labs for Innovation, Volker Heller from Berlin explained how to innovate the marketing of culture, Karoli Hindriks revealed what it means to be a creative textile designer in Tallin, Sara Lönnroth presented Transit Studios – Pre-incubator for Innovative Artists, Craftspeople and Designers, and Aksel Kolstad from Oslo gave an unforgettable performance involving piano playing and ballet steps to present how innovations can help in promotion of classical music. The presentations were given in creative formats.

Along with the conference and the management team meeting, two Creative tours were organized in Berlin for the CREATIVE METROPOLES project representatives, giving access to designers’ studios, fashion schools, creative districts and creating a better understanding on how Creative Industry forms and fluctuates in Berlin.

CEB and Blender! in Helsinki

During the conference Creative Economy and Beyond (CEB) preliminary findings of the research on creative industries in 11 cities involved in the project Creative Metropoles were presented by Dieter Haselbach from Berlin. His main interest was to address such questions as: is it possible to organize and steer the creativity and is one policy applicable for different cities?

A day before CEB conference in Helsinki creative entrepreneurs representing cities from CREATIVE METROPOLES project were brought together for a special networking event called the Blender! In workshops and group work moderated by Miira Paasilinna, CI expert from Diges ry, young entrepreneurs discussed the challenges and future of creative industries, presented a 5 min sales pitch and also worked on new creative business ideas. CI business representatives had the opportunity to create business contacts, as well as participate for free in the CEB conference, gaining new insights and ideas. Their vision of how CI will develop and what challenges are faced now was presented also to the CREATIVE METROPOLES project team and followed by a long informal discussion session.

First Experience Exchange Event in Warsaw

First experience exchange event of the project organized in Warsaw in October 2009 brought together more than 100 participants that represented policy makers, creative entrepreneurs, academics and other stakeholders from the cities involved in the project. In presentations and discussions participants covered three out of five project themes, i.e., Architecture of the public support for CI sector, Finance for the Creative Industries, and Increasing the Demand for Creative Industries. Researchers gave insight into the mapping findings, emphasizing most crucial points on CI support. Cities had brought also representatives from policy makers, incubators and creative companies to present real life cases under each of three project themes. After intensive presentation and panel discussion sessions, participants had also the opportunity to discuss most of the topics informally. The second experience exchange event will be held in the first quarter of 2010 in Stockholm.

To be continued...

In our next Newsletter we will inform on the results of research carried out in all 11 cities on the existent support mechanism for CI, as well as planned activities in year 2010. Stay tuned!

To read more on the CREATIVE METROPOLES project or subscribe for the Newsletter, please visit the project website.