Listen to Dr. Ron Burnett, President and Vice Chancellor of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, talk about the connection between creativity, innovation, and the economy, and you come away thinking about all three quite differently.
As part of the Chamber’s ongoing and hugely popular Inspiring Success series, Dr. Burnett spoke to a sold out crowd on Tuesday, September 15 at the Coast Discovery Inn. He offered much food for thought and I suspect that if attendees hadn’t needed to return to work, the discussion would and could have continued further into the afternoon.
He shared huge amounts of thought, ideas, opinions, all focused on the single theme “Art, the economy and Innovation in the Digital Age,” which also happened to be the title of his presentation. But lest you think “who cares?” - keep reading. What he shared is relevant to us all during this time of economic transition for our economy.
Creativity and innovation can’t be manufactured but the conditions in which they thrive can be encouraged – by local residents and government alike. They are directly related when you think of creativity as ”extracting value from nothing”, just like mining and innovation as the successful exploitation of the new ideas. These in turn spur on thedevelopment of new products, services and fresh ways of doing business.
What is the economic footprint of all cultural industries in Canada? Glad you asked. I can now answer that.
In 2007, the cultural sector contributed $84.6 billion dollars to the economy (that’s 7.4% of the country’s GDP). And how many jobs does it support? 1.1 million. But despite these impressive numbers, what are the first victims of federal and provincial spending cuts when times are tough? Yup, you got it. The arts, in all its various forms. We’re seeing that right now in Campbell River and throughout BC. Short sighted at best, disasterous at worst.
Dr. Burnett’s other key points included:
* 64% of Canada’s cultural workers lives in Vancouver, Montreal, and Vancouver (this stat led to two questions – how do we encourage our young people who are passionate about a creative-based career to stay in Campbell River and how do we woo them back to our community after their education is finished?);
*Social networking is a huge factor in developing and maintaining people’s identity;
* Arts group have to get out of the “anti business” mind set so many of them find themselves in and focus on “ground level involvement with the economy,” according to Dr. Burnett
Small communities like ours are “the engines of creative engagement” in our country and creative people are at the heart of economic innovation says Dr. Burnett. Armed with this knowledge, what are we going to do with it?!
Arts and Culture, Local Events | ginaforsyth December 4, 2009 | 
Comments (0) 
