He waka eke noa: 'Like, it's the creative vibe, man' (1)

I kind of like the word vibe. 'Like, you get the vibe, man'. It's not the sort of word you want politicians to use about economic recessions. You'd hope they were slightly more data informed, more economically and data literate. But maybe it is the sort of word you could use when thinking about the creative environment, and about creativity in general. Maybe it's also a word you could use when thinking about the extent to which a city values, nurtures, and supports, learning, the degree to which a city is learner friendly. My online Cambridge dictionary defines 'vibe' like this:

"the mood of a place, situation, person, etc. and the way that they make you feel"

I've been wondering about the significance of the 'vibe' of the places in which we live, the vibe of our environment. Why might it matter? As I've wandered around a number of towns and cities in Te Wai Pounamu, I've been noticing the 'vibe' of those places. One way in which we pick up the vibe about creativity is with displays of public art works.

At the bottom of this post I've added a series of photos of some of the pieces of public art I've seen and experienced. Have a browse.

The 'creative vibe' could of course equally be generated through performance art, but the ephemeral nature of that is problematic. We see a wonderful change in the cityscape of Ōtautahi Christchurch during the World Buskers' Festival 'Bread and Circus', but I'd wonder what the residual effect is as memory of the event fades.

The small scale retail scene also sends me a 'vibe' when I see small retail stores selling artworks and a general array of what are often 'unique' items, especially when I see the same stores opening their doors year after year after year,..,. it takes something special to ensure the longevity of these businesses. That tells me that there are enough people who value that tangible side of creativity to support those businesses. This is something I rarely pick up in the retail malls (although there are some exceptions to that). Given the social place of malls these days, I wonder if it is possible for them to influence the 'creative disposition' of their local populations in this way? The trouble with that is of course that their management is answerable to shareholders, and influencing the creative dispositions of their locals is not their core business - no apology needed.

I do think there is such a thing as a 'creative vibe' in schools. I believe it is possible to nurture and sustain creativity in schools. My previous experience working with the Manaiakalani network and the 'Learn Create Share' pedagogy showed that this can be done, and when schools have a pedagogy that includes creativity you are more likely to see young people who value and believe in their own creativity. You get what you pay attention to. It takes vision and leadership, it takes guts, it takes time, it takes a huge amount of talking and doing, but.. it CAN be done.

The Hornby High School vision

I am 'wondering' whether such a thing as a 'creative vibe' in communities, towns, and cities, is real, or merely the result of what I 'want to see', a product if you like of my own confirmation bias. And if so, is it a necessary part of a creative city, and also therefore of a learning city, because I believe that creativity and learning go hand in hand.

You could be forgiven for asking the question 'so what'. Why is this of any interest or significance? My undergraduate background in economics kicked in (oddly) and that lead me to think about the 'Creative Economy' and its benefits, and in the process of reading and thinking about this I came across the Canadian Heritage publication 'The Creative Economy: Key Concepts and Literature Review Highlights' (2013). In this the authors make this statement:

"For the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the creative economy is an evolving concept based on creative assets potentially generating economic growth and development (2008):
• It can foster income generation, job creation and export earnings while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development.
• It embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property and tourism objectives.
• It is a set of knowledge-based economic activities with a development dimension and crosscutting linkages at macro and micro levels to the overall economy.
• It is a feasible development option for innovation, multidisciplinary policy responses and inter-ministerial action.
• At the heart of the creative economy are the creative industries." (Page 4)

And more importantly:

"The Conference Board of Canada, along similar lines, suggests that there is a growing understanding and appreciation of the relationship between the arts, the cultural industries and broader society stating that “a creative economy extends beyond the culture sector to harness creativity in order to bring about positive social and economic changes across a broad spectrum of industries, sectors and social organizations” (The Conference Board of Canada, 2008, p.3)." Page 6)

And again:

"A significant social impact of the creative economy is its contribution to employment with the creative industries generally accounting for around 2 to 8 per cent of the workforce in the economy (UN, 2010) (including Nova Scotia at around 4.5 per cent and Canada at 3 per cent). The creative industries are both knowledge intensive, requiring specific skills and high level qualifications, and labour intensive (such as the theatre or film industry) where high creative output occurs. According to Florida, the quality of these kinds of jobs may provide greater work satisfaction because of the creative skills required – therefore driving innovation in the wider economy (2002).
Another important social aspect of the creative economy, particularly the cultural industries, is its role in fostering social inclusion." (Page 10)

The authors also reference the link between creativity and learning:

"Important links have also been made to education. In schools, the role of arts and culture in forming the social attitudes and behaviour of children is well recognized." (Page 11)

This takes me back to the paper 'Replanting creativity during post-normal times' (O'Connor, Anderson, Freebody and Ginns, October 2020) in which the case for creativity in schools is well argued. With respect to the economic benefits, they state:

"Creative citizenship clearly provides an economy with a competitive advantage (Buchannan et al, 2018). Increasingly, New Zealand will require workforces that can not only solve problems but pose new ones, synthesise ideas, take well managed risks to develop ideas, products and services of value. This clearly speaks beyond the contribution that the creative sector makes to the economy, recognising that internationally the trade of creative goods and services has doubled throughout the past twenty years (UNESCO, 2013). As tourism dwindles post-COVID-19 the creative sector both as a domestic market but also in the international trade of film, music, and visual art will become an important part of diversifying the New Zealand economy. More importantly, it will be the competitive edge a creative workforce gives across all sectors of the economy." (Page 11)

This statement about the impact of creativity on learning stands repetition too:

Much of the research suggests that fostering creativity through the arts empowers children to better learn throughout other subjects and areas of their lives raising both personal competencies and academic success. Syllabuses and curriculum documents over the last decade have increasingly mandated creativity (Jefferson and Anderson, 2017), yet research indicates there has been no discernable or systematic rise in creativity within schools. (Page 18).

If we accept this connection between creativity and learning (and there is a lot of evidence to support the connection) then this again leads me to make a connection between creativity and the concept of the 'learning city'.

This next part may be too big a leap, but I am wondering if supporting a more creative city may be a precursor to nurturing a 'learning city'? Is it possible that thriving creative arts sectors lead to more creativity and innovation across the economy generally? Could it be that civic investment in public art works supports the growth in that 'creative vibe', which in itself then supports more creative thinking, attracts people of a more overtly creative disposition, and so generates more innovation, and hence economic growth? Does it mean that 'creativity' might become a 'way of being' in a city for more and more people?

Here is a selection of photos I've grabbed from some of the places I've been in over the past couple of years, and some of those pieces of 'public art' that I've seen.