Post industrial age movers and shakers
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 12:03PM 
It was 2005 and I was packing my bags to make my first trip to Canada (Toronto). I was heading to a conference entitled Creativs Places + Spaces : Risk Revolution (organized by Toronto Artscape). I had found out about it through networking, researching and asking tons of questions. It turned out to be one of the most forward thinking and creative conferences I had ever been to! It was through a newsletter distributed by this organization that I found out about the book Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. It was this book that pushed me to launch my company and this blog. I then began trying to find and read anything and everything about the concepts of the creative class, the creative economy and creatives.
Below is a post from my good friend and fellow creative Neil Takemoto (see my links on the brink: Cooltown Studios) who summarizes these ideas below.
Who are the creatives?
Many of you in the know have heard about the Creative Class, the Cultural Creatives, and now, the Renaissance Generation. What is the difference between these groups, and if there is, how are they interrelated.
Cultural Creatives - 50 million in the U.S., aka the New Progressives, introduced by author Paul Ray in his book, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World. These are the people who care, and specifically care about the bigger picture, from sustainability to authenticity to humanity.
Creative Class - 38 million in the U.S. representing the creative industry workforce in science, engineering, architecture, design, education, arts, music and entertainment. Based on research by Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class and Flight of the Creative Class, their presence is directly tied to economic prosperity.
Renaissance Generation (RenGen) - Take the Cultural Creatives and the Creative Class and apply them to a defined movement and time period rather than a demographic or psychographic group, the result of which is literally a second renaissance. There will always be a creative class and cultural creatives, but it is only here at the beginning of the 21st Century, a time of unprecedented need and opportunity, will we have a RenGen. ---------------------------
Creatives aren't confined to any age group or demographic. They aren't confined to Babyboomers, or Gen X-ers, or just Millenials. They consist of those whose personal and professional outlook in life (thinking about new transformative concepts, being creative, living authentically) converge and can often be one in the same. It's these individuals who are now generating unique ideas, creating new business models, and producing change that will help individuals, organizations and businesses navigate and manage the upheavals we are now experiencing.
Are you a mover and shaker? Are you a creative? If not you may want want to consider this:
The first rule of business is the first rule of life - adapt or die.
Photo courtesy of festivalcupside.com
Reader Comments (1)