Adam Arvidsson on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:40:05 +0100 (CET)


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<nettime-ann> open call for workshops in Malmö


.

SPLAB: Strategies for Sustainable Creativity- a three day collaborative event in Malmö, Sweden, 6-8/5- 08.

 

OPEN CALL FOR WORKSHOP PORPOSALS

 

We have been asked by the Municipality of Malmö (Sweden) to come up with alternative policy suggestions for sustainable creative development. Malmö is in a phase of transition from a depressed post-industrial city to something else.

The city has a booming creative potential. It is has a large and diverse immigrant population, many of whom have an academic education, and it presently  attracts young people from all over Scandinavia. Its music, art and club scenes are famous, and the city is generally perceived as 'cool'.

However, this creative potential has not yet been institutionalized. The creative industries are underdeveloped, and although the new university pursues a lot of initiatives, these have so far had limited effect. The municipality has asked us to come up with suggestions for how to better utilize this potential. However they want to hear something different form the standard Florida narrative. Instead of just emphasizing economic development and the 'creative class', they want a more multidimensional approach: We are not only asked to investigate economic potential of ‘creativity’ but also its political potential: the extent to which it can work as a foundation of a re-vitalization of democratic processes, as well as its branding potential: the extent to which it can underpin the branding of the city. Also, we are interested in thinking about sustainable approaches to creative development. While the Florida approach tends to sweep away the very 'bohemian' creativity that it seeks to valorize, we want to investigate approaches that can capitalize on creative processes without destroying their foundation.

One of the ways we want to try to arrive at such suggestions is through a three-day collaborative event. The event will take place in an abandoned part of Malmö ex-shipyards during 6-8/5. During the first two days  we will invite creative actors from all across the Malmö city-scape to work with politicians and representatives of business to interact, communicate and identify problems and issues in common. This will mainly take place in a number of workshops where invited experts conduct discussions, experiments or interactive games with the people present. The idea is to highlight different aspects and introduce new thoughts in the process. On the 8/5 the process will be terminated by a public event. We will have talks in the morning and a number of parallel discussion sessions in the afternoon.

 

This is where we need your help. We would like to invite suggestions for possible workshops to be held during the first two days, through this open call. The selected paticipants will have their travel and accommodation costs covered (for a maximum of two people per workshop) and receive a one-off consultancy fee of € 500.

 

The workshops aim at involving participants in practical activities, with the purpose of reaching tangible results and goals. Any aspect of sustainable creative development is of interest, from the use of urban space, media infrastructures that allow for greater participation, new funding and welfare systems, better mobilization of city wide forms of collective intelligence etc.

In this respect, talks and debates will be just a medium in order to support collaborative and participative activities.

 

Each day there will be three workshops and an evening lounge event. One of the daily workshops could continue its activities and results into the evening lounge event.

 

The workshops should be about three hours long and will involve a mixed audience (5-20 people) of creative people, politicians, business representatives, civil servants, academics and the public at large.

Each workshop should have the following aims.

-           the design of sustainable models for managing, supporting and enhancing the city’s creative             resources;

-            efficient team work;

-           the active participation and collaboration among the participants, encouraging social/cultural -            integration and cross-disciplinary projects;

-           the achievement of precise goals, producing tangible results.

 

The space is large and there are many possibilties, from interactive installations via role playing games to traditional straight seminars. If you have questions regarding practical possibilities please discuss these with event-designer Eugenia Laghezza (SPLAB: Strategies for Sustainable Creativity- a three day collaborative event in Malmö, Sweden, 6-8/5- 08.

 

OPEN CALL FOR WORKSHOP PORPOSALS

 

We have been asked by the Municipality of Malmö (Sweden) to come up with alternative policy suggestions for sustainable creative development. Malmö is in a phase of transition from a depressed post-industrial city to something else.

The city has a booming creative potential. It is has a large and diverse immigrant population, many of whom have an academic education, and it presently  attracts young people from all over Scandinavia. Its music, art and club scenes are famous, and the city is generally perceived as 'cool'.

However, this creative potential has not yet been institutionalized. The creative industries are underdeveloped, and although the new university pursues a lot of initiatives, these have so far had limited effect. The municipality has asked us to come up with suggestions for how to better utilize this potential. However they want to hear something different form the standard Florida narrative. Instead of just emphasizing economic development and the 'creative class', they want a more multidimensional approach: We are not only asked to investigate economic potential of ‘creativity’ but also its political potential: the extent to which it can work as a foundation of a re-vitalization of democratic processes, as well as its branding potential: the extent to which it can underpin the branding of the city. Also, we are interested in thinking about sustainable approaches to creative development. While the Florida approach tends to sweep away the very 'bohemian' creativity that it seeks to valorize, we want to investigate approaches that can capitalize on creative processes without destroying their foundation.

One of the ways we want to try to arrive at such suggestions is through a three-day collaborative event. The event will take place in an abandoned part of Malmö ex-shipyards during 6-8/5. During the first two days  we will invite creative actors from all across the Malmö city-scape to work with politicians and representatives of business to interact, communicate and identify problems and issues in common. This will mainly take place in a number of workshops where invited experts conduct discussions, experiments or interactive games with the people present. The idea is to highlight different aspects and introduce new thoughts in the process. On the 8/5 the process will be terminated by a public event. We will have talks in the morning and a number of parallel discussion sessions in the afternoon.

 

This is where we need your help. We would like to invite suggestions for possible workshops to be held during the first two days, through this open call. The selected paticipants will have their travel and accommodation costs covered (for a maximum of two people per workshop) and receive a one-off consultancy fee of € 500.

 

The workshops aim at involving participants in practical activities, with the purpose of reaching tangible results and goals. Any aspect of sustainable creative development is of interest, from the use of urban space, media infrastructures that allow for greater participation, new funding and welfare systems, better mobilization of city wide forms of collective intelligence etc.

In this respect, talks and debates will be just a medium in order to support collaborative and participative activities.

 

Each day there will be three workshops and an evening lounge event. One of the daily workshops could continue its activities and results into the evening lounge event.

 

The workshops should be about three hours long and will involve a mixed audience (5-20 people) of creative people, politicians, business representatives, civil servants, academics and the public at large.

Each workshop should have the following aims.

-           the design of sustainable models for managing, supporting and enhancing the city’s creative             resources;

-            efficient team work;

-           the active participation and collaboration among the participants, encouraging social/cultural -            integration and cross-disciplinary projects;

-           the achievement of precise goals, producing tangible results.

 

The space is large and there are many possibilties, from interactive installations via role playing games to traditional straight seminars. If you have questions regarding practical possibilities please discuss these with event-designer Eugenia Laghezza (spontanlab@fenomenal.org). Working languages will be English or Swedish.

 ). Working languages will be English or Swedish.


 


Yours Sincerely, 
Adam Arvidsson

Actics Profile:

Associate Professor, Media Studies
Department of Media, Cognition and Communication
University of Copenhagen
Njalsgade 80
2300 Copenhagen S



tel +45 35328124
fax +45 35328110
cell  +45 26174875
+46 702416473
Skype-ID adamerica70
www.media.ku.dk



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