Creative Houston

Baylor College of Medicine Plans Cancer Center for Dallas

Dallas Morning News: Baylor plans cancer center in Dallas rivaling M.D. Anderson, 2008-Sep-25, by Jason Roberson: In May 2005, Baylor's senior executives and oncologists began brainstorming about the possibility of a cancer center, said John B. McWhorter, president of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. "We noticed individuals leaving North Texas, going to M.D. Anderson and the Mayo Clinic, seeking cures for various cancers," Mr. McWhorter said. "We wanted to be a destination center, but we needed to make some changes." About that time, Mr. McWhorter also got new studies showing that the hospital system was improving in its detection of cancer, another point of encouragement.

"3rd Ward" in Brooklyn Rethinks the Arts Space

New York Magazine: The Growth of Artists' Space 3rd Ward, 2008-Aug-11, by Sarah Bernard: In 2006, artists Jason Goodman, 29, and Jeremy Lovitt, 28, launched 3rd Ward, a multimedia beehive in East Williamsburg with photo and recording studios, a wood and metal shop, a room full of iMacs for video artists, and a gallery. For a modest $300 a month, members “can literally make anything here,” says Goodman. “In one room somebody’s building robots, in another someone’s making furniture, in another someone’s shooting fashion photography.” As businessmen, Goodman and Lovitt are just as freewheeling, branching off into real estate, party promotion, and, soon, a cooking collective.

Creatives have own Trade Show in NY, Paris, London

Forbes How The Creative Class Connects - Forbes.com, 2008-Jun-20, by Lauren Sherman: Before 2006, the creative industry--in this case, defined as photographers, stylists, makeup artists, fashion editors and art directors--lacked a structured networking event of any kind. Creatives are supposed to be hip, in-the-know and friends with other cool, interesting artists. The idea that they need a stodgy business format like a trade show to get the job done seemed the antithesis of what they're all about. ...

Connections launched at French Advertising Week in 2006. Soon enough, Le Book was holding yearly trade shows in Paris, London and New York. Speakers and attendees have included creative luminaries such as Jefferson Hack, co-founder of Dazed and Confused magazine and  Another Magazine, Nadia Swarovski, and, most recently, hotelier Andre Balazs. Walter Schupfer, who represents everyone from  Elle magazine's international creative director Gilles Bensimon to star photographer Michel Comte, says Connections has created the structure to increase productivity in the industry.

Sacramento Tests Smart Growth

Wall St. Journal: With Gas Over $4, Cities Explore Whether It's Smart to Be Dense, 2008-Jul-7, by Ana Campoy: Seven years later, with gasoline hurtling past $4 a gallon, Sacramento has become one of the nation's most-watched experiments in whether urban planning can help solve everything from high fuel prices to the housing bust to global warming. "They're really the model," says Steve Winkelman, a transportation expert at the Center for Clean Air Policy.

More Artists Work with Environmental Sensitivity

Houston Chronicle: Meet three Earth-friendly artists, 2008-Mar-25, by Eileen McClelland: Mychal Mitchell of Austin works with recycled papers and scrap leather to create hand-bound books.She says artists with green outlooks are increasingly easy to find."I have lots of friends who are doing interesting sculptures with recycled materials or found objects," Mitchell says. "I think there's a lot more consciousness because of the economy, as well. It makes sense to recycle."

Why Creative People Cluster

Fast Company: In Praise of Spikes, 2008-Mar, by Richard Florida: Creative people cluster not simply because they like to be around one another or prefer cosmopolitan centers with lots of amenities (though both things tend to be true). They cluster because density brings such powerful productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers.

Scottsdale with Fresh Urban Mix

Iconoculture: Trend Observation: Monotony is not an offering at The Mix Shops of Southbridge, a newly developed shopping center in Scottsdale, Arizona, comprised of independent boutiques and one-of-a-kind restaurants. The unique shops were hand-picked by boutique entrepreneur Jennifer Croll, who included stores by local designers as well as locally owned retailers who stock well-known labels.

Seattle Knows what Entrepreneurs Need

NY Times: Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley, 2008-Feb-8, by John Markoff: A start-up ecosystem needs social networks, support businesses and a business culture that views failure as a badge of honor, not shame. All of that is in place in Seattle. Tom A. Alberg, a partner at the Madrona Venture Group, one of Seattle’s leading venture capital firms and an early investor in Amazon, says the city is now home to a growing community of technology innovators who are willing to take risks.

NYC Economy Needs the Arts

TIME Magazine: Culture Club. 2008-Jan-17, by Richard Lacayo: In 2005 the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank, issued a study of the city's cultural sector, which it defined broadly to include art, design, music, theater and dance, as well as TV and film production, architecture, publishing, fashion and even advertising. It found that taken together those professions were second only to financial services as an economic force, employing 309,000 people, or more than 8% of the New York City work force....New York can cultivate the arts as an industry sector for the same reason that Detroit can support the production of cars: because it offers a powerful infrastructure, a network of suppliers, expertise and kindred spirits....The real estate crunch is a potential calamity for the arts economy.

How Tampa Bay builds Creativity

CreativeTampaBay: Jan 7 08 Newsletter. Top 10 List for Creative Communities, by Deanne Roberts: ...3. Creative communities have lots of young people aged 24-35 who are both the workhorses and show horses of the workforce. To appeal to this group, a community must be attractive to singles, not just the traditional family. 2. Creative communities are entrepreneurial. There are lots of innovators who commercialize their ideas and start new companies. 1. Creative communities capitalize on their own assets and resist copycat strategies.

UH Prof Reviews New York Architecture

Houston Chronicle: New York's New Museum a head-turner. 2007-Dec-9, by Ronnie Self: The architects — who work collaboratively under the name Sanaa — have said they admire Houston's Menil Collection primarily for its successful use of day lighting in its galleries and for the relationship it maintains between inside and outside. In the New Museum Sejima and Nishizawa took advantage of their volume shifts and setbacks to introduce bands of skylights. This solution allows natural top lighting into all of the galleries, a difficult thing to achieve in a multistory museum.

Texas Lags in International Patents

Philanthropy News Digest: Kauffman Foundation Study Identifies Leading States for Innovation. 2007-Nov-5, press release: Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, and Connecticut top the list of states that are leaders in innovation as measured by international patent applications, a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finds.

Review of "The Warhol Economy" by Elizabeth Currid

The New Yorker: If You Can Make It Here, 2007-Oct-22, by James Surowiecki: The history of American economic innovation in the twentieth century is really a history of clusters—think of movies in Hollywood, cars in Detroit, and technology in Silicon Valley. The traditional explanation is that the costs of being near your competitors are outweighed by the benefits of being near a critical mass of suppliers and customers. ... Currid’s conclusion [about New York as the capital of culture], based on dozens of interviews, is less sublime. “There is very little that gets done in New York that is merit-based,” a musician told her. “It boils down to the same maxim: ‘It’s all who you know.’ ”

Spending to Reduce Taxes

New concept currently being used in Vaughn, north of Toronto: Municard is an innovative credit card program that allows the cardholder to accumulate “cash rewards” which are automatically credited against their property taxes. The more you use the card, the less property tax you pay....Your card number is directly linked to your property tax account.