It's a matter of scale, isn't it?

I keep thinking about what it might mean, what it might look like, to have a learning city, and particularly a creative city.  You can probably tell that in my own head these two are inextricably entwined, rightly or wrongly.

This means that I keep looking around me for examples of creativity being developed, displayed, and valued, and there seem to be lots of them.  Here are a few examples.

There's Kim's 'Creative Trust' (an operation that she has scaled back somewhat to take on a different role in education). 

Kim at a recent CPPA meeting, with Nigel Latta

I was walking stridently towards an appointment a week or two ago and happened up this Street art project. I stopped and talked to Graeme, asking him some questions... wow is he an impressive human being. Tino pai to mahi, e hoa!!! The arts making a difference to lives.

There is the Manaiakalani Schools network whose kaupapa is 'learn create share', a kaupapa that tries to build student creative and critical thinking into their learning, all amplified with the affordances of digital technology.

Their vision of create' looks like this:

There's Kane Stewart's 'Egg Academy'

What about the Ōtautahi Christchurch Young Writers' school? Around and growing young writers' talents since1993

Our Ōtautahi Christchurch city libraries network offers plenty of opportunity to develop creative thinking and creative skills with holiday and after school programmes. The Ōtautahi Christchurch central library, Tūranga, and the network of suburban hubs being redeveloped, contain facilities that support creativity.

 Their support for creativity looks impressive. When I see a sign like this, I get kind of excited.

On Level 4 of Tūranga

There are communities of creatives, like the Art Box project in Ōtautahi. In their own words:

"Our exciting art space has its origins in the series of major earthquakes that devastated central and eastern areas of Christchurch. Since 2004 this modern, air conditioned, building has been the studio of well known local artist Beverley Frost. However, seismic events caused thoughts to meander and flow. Various artists began to talk about the need for a place where a creative renaissance could flourish following the loss of so many of the city's artistic outlets. The result was Art Box, a Christchurch Gallery where modern works can be viewed in a relaxed and friendly environment."

There is the Ministry of Education 'Creatives in Schools' programme. As Tumuaki of Hornby High School I had the privilege of working with Dr Claire Hughes on such a programme (well two, actually, over two years). The engagement with rangatahi was phenomenal, Claire a prodigious and inspiring talent.

As I said, there are lots of these activities, and with the exception of a city's library network, they are most often small ventures, often just one or two people, making a difference at that point in time with a small group of their fellow human beings.

My wondering is are they having sufficient impact? If not, is this a matter of scale? OR even if they can be scaled sufficiently to have any significant impact? In fact, are such things scaleable at all, or the idea of scaleable creative activities in itself an oxymoron?? If anyone could scale these, you'd think it would be a city's library network. 

And of course a lot has been written about the impact of the commodification of art.

"Living in a capitalist society, we are forced to pit ourselves against each other in a system we have no choice but to participate in. We are coerced into adapting ourselves and our skills into fitting the role of benefitting capitalist society. And unfortunately, the art world is no exception. While the businessperson and the manufacturer are rewarded, the writer and the artist are suppressed. Unless of course, that art is commodified."

Even Marx had something to say about the role of art in the capitalist society.

Is what we have now 'as good as it gets'? Is the current paradigm of the arts, and creativity more generally, the best we can hope for? Is it pointless to try and grow a whole community as a creative "collective? (Remember that I mean creativity in its broadest sense, not limited to the creative arts only, although definitely incorporating them).

Perhaps the best answer lies in collective action. Maybe it's a bit of the old gestalt psychology - the whole is more than the sum of the parts. If we bring the enormously diverse community ever closer together, we amplify the impact of each organisation. I've quoted Peter Korotkin before. And of course this beautiful whakataukī:

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

What I do believe is that the mahi of an organisation like Ako Ōtautahi - Learning City Christchurch is essential. Someone needs to bring the diverse community together. 'Learning Days' is one of those things that might just start to make a difference.

Watch out for Learning Days 2024. This is such a promising initiative that might just scale this whole learning city/creative city thing.\