Success communities and businesses create audacious goals. Make a goal for your community to be a creative capital.
Brookings is the Creative Capital of South Dakota
Recently a small group of engaged community members in my hometown of Brookings sat down to plan our upcoming TEDx event. We asked: why stop with a single event focused on creativity? Let’s make our community a continuous hub of creativity. A capital of all things innovative, inclusive and creation-focused. Let’s make a creative capital.
So we did. Brookings is officially the creative capital of South Dakota (complete with its own #creativecapital hashtag).
Being a creative capital does not simply mean there are creative people and events happening. It means the community is actively building creative capital.
Creative Capital
Creative capital can be thought of in the same way we think of financial capital or cultural capital.
- Financial capital includes money and investment, essential to build a business and fund projects.
- Cultural capital, as originally articulated by Pierre Bourdieu, is the resources that promote social mobility which could be education, speech, knowledge of inside cultural references or even the way someone dresses.
- Creative capital is the assets that make creativity possible.
Creative capital includes the environment, resources, support network that encourage people to stand out, try new ideas and create ideas.
Three Ways to Build Creative Capital
Inclusive Environments
The physical spaces in a city can add to or detract from the creative capital. The more dense a community is, the more innovative and creative it is.
It’s not just density in general but density of particular types of people. As an example, the more dense a community is with artists and cultural creatives, the more innovative and creative it is.
Why? Artists and cultural creatives are not necessarily starting businesses and encouraging entrepreneurial activities, but they are an indicator of inclusiveness and an openness to new ideas.
Communities that want to be creative capitals need to build their creative capital with inclusion. Attracting diverse groups of people and then creating spaces where they can interact leads to creation. It could be public spaces where people run into one another or it could be a density of coffee shops, bars, apartments and entertainment. Fewer strip malls and gated communities and more downtowns and third spaces are a simple equation for building creative capital.
Supportive Social Networks
Creators need direct support and encouragement to take the leap and start their project. Meeting other creators or being encouraged to be a creator or participant is essential to improve creative capital and the number of creators in a city.
Events forcing people out of their comfort zone such as TEDx or 1 Million Cups are great ways to start. Building opportunities to quickly mobilize creators and supporters such as a simple email lists are also great ways to build the network.
Most importantly, current creators need to extend the inclusive environment to their own social networks. Introducing someone early in the creation process to a network of like-minded creatives is a great way to encourage and directly support them in their efforts.
Benefactors and Resources
Behind many creative ventures are financial benefactors. A community that has financial resources and is willing to invest those resources in the creatives building new ideas is a community with true creative capital.
A great example of this idea in practice is Doug Burgam in Fargo. Doug helped build a software company that eventually sold to Microsoft. With the resources from this successful acquisition, he invested in his community renovating the downtown area, starting a venture capital fund and supporting emerging community leaders.
Many communities have a Doug Burgam. Someone who has done well from a community willing to give back to the community. Even if we are not blessed with financial resources, most of us have other resources that can be shared with creatives. It could be gifting a weekend at a lake cabin with someone who is working hard in the community as Greg has suggested. It could be sharing knowledge with creatives with mentorship. Maybe it is buying space at a coworking space for someone else, donating a desk to a startup or lending your garage for the local band. It could also be a willingness to volunteer to get a project launched.
We can all be benefactors and benefit from the resources of others. Communities willing to give and receive truly have creative capital. Individuals willing to give and receive truly build creative capital.
Building Your Creative Capital
We are just starting in Brookings, but we know what we are and what we can be: the creative capital of South Dakota. From there, a creative capital in the region and country.
All of this is a long-term strategy. Brad Feld notes in Startup Communities that it took Boulder 40 years to build its creative capital. Now it is one of the most innovative and financially successful areas of the country.
The beauty of creative capital is that every community has some level of it. Just like financial resources, some communities have more, others have less. Fortunately it can be developed. Just as you work harder to increase your financial resources, so too can you work to build your creative capital.
We’re doing our best locally and invite you to join our efforts Likewise, we are standing by and ready to join your efforts. Creative capital is not a zero-sum game. Every community can and should build it to succeed in the networked age.
Photo: Scott Meier at 1 Million Cups Brookings, SD
