We know there are studies (Competing in the Age of Talent) that correlate population diversity to a city’s economic growth; that young adults create jobs and are a key source of the creative class’ job base of designers, scientists, engineers and artists, and that nightlife is a key determinant in choosing a city…

So, what is an example of this nightlife that everyone’s talking about?  Washington Post writer Ellen McCarthy finds out what that means in Washington DC, providing a benchmark for

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We know there are studies that relate artists to economic impact, attracting other creatives in science, engineering and high tech that create jobs.  However, how can a city more formally utilize their talent, and how can artists more formally participate to more effectively enhance their impact?

In a Smart City Radio interview, Ann Daly of Ann Daly Arts Consulting provides some answers with a strategic vision.

She states while it may be difficult to account for artists’ economic impact on

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The TV set. Computer. Cell phone. Movie theater.  These are technologies that showcase art, but it’s hardly what you’d call immersive or remotely profound.  Enter the ZeroOne San Jose Festival, a biannual digital arts festival featuring 2000 of the world’s most innovative contemporary artists from 40 countries, focused on the intersection of art, culture, community and technology.

The purpose?  To celebrate Silicon Valley’s technology prowess through art, culture, community, thus attracting

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It depends on it. Especially if you feel your community is lacking in the kinds of events you want to attend.

In today’s experience economy and customer-made world, we are literally becoming the sum of what we individually create, rather than forced to accept what is mass-produced for us.  This means that instead of finding what’s on TV that night, you could be hosting your own event, experience, concert, fundraiser…

Of course it helps to have partners, which is why indie businesses are so

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As profiled this week, there are workplace-community centers for creatives and high-tech entrepreneurs, but what about arts groups?

That’s why Flashpoint (a fitting name) in Washington DC was created.

Like C3 and ATI, Flashpoint was created as a physical place and implementation of a larger organization’s vision, in this case, DC’s Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC), a nonprofit dedicated to developing affordable spaces for artists and cultural organizations.  With a contemporary art

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What good is a great theater or hall without events worth going to?  In the last of our three-part profile of C3 in Richmond, here’s a look at what goes on in one of the coolest destinations around.

Breakfast Club - Each month this morning meeting helps provide direction on how business and human resource leaders can instill more creativity in their own people.  Recent topics ranged from how creativity can assist problem solving to communications.

C3 Ed - These educational sessions feature

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When your theater has its own fan site, you know you’re cool.  That’s the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, Austin’s only independently-owned and operated movie theater, and yes, it was voted the by Entertainment Weekly.

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Check out Austin’s South by Southwest, better known as SXSW.  Is it a music and media conference and festival, an interactive technology festival or a film conference and festival?  Yes.  The music festival is one of the biggest in the U.S., and possibly the biggest in the heart of a city.

Much of it takes place on Sixth Street, one of Austin’s premiere entertainment districts and closed for pedestrians.  Ongoing since spring 1987, the event focuses on new and emerging talent.  What’s the big

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For the MidCity, Washington DC neighborhoods, it’s www.midcitylive.com, an updated version of the initial version I introduced half a year ago.

What is it?  We all have our TV guide for what entertainment is on TV each night, but what about what’s happening that night in your neighborhood downtown?  You know, the real world?  That’s what

Town Studios helped design, develop and manage for the 200 businesses that make up Washington DC’s largely independent-business neighborhood commercial

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That’s easy - Art Basel in Switzerland and Miami Beach are the largest and most significant art fairs in the world.

Rather than host the typical stuffy art fair in an enclosed convention center, Art Basel Miami Beach for instance, is regarded as a mulitmedia beachfront fiesta, with concerts, dancing, and food tasting, with exhibition sites located in the city’s beautiful Art Deco District - a vibrant creative haven unto itself.  Also, the art among the 195 galleries and 2000 artists isn’t

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While the last entry listed a series of neighborhood downtown events, the question is if there is a monthly event that stands out?  The First Thursdays block party in Austin, TX (no surprise) comes to mind.

Several thousand people, perusing art, listening to bands, shopping at sidewalk tables in front of dozens of unique stores, and taking advantage of drink and dining specials.  At least 44 venues open their doors late on the first Thursday of the month on Austin’s closed-down South Congress

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Just as a theater doesn’t come to life unless it has a show, a neighborhood downtown needs some fun, jazzy events to create some ongoing vibrancy, as well as economic growth.

So, since there isn’t a single resource that I know of listing such events, especially ones with an edge, here’s a start:

Food: Taste of ‘Insert Neighborhood Here’ events let people peruse a variety of booths representing local restaurants.  The Shaw neighborhood in DC has an Eat Out For Your Neighborhood, with 10% of

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What did it take to revive a neglected neighborhood with historic buildings slated for demolition?  The Podmajersky’s, three generations of one family that played a primary role since 1914 in establishing what is now known as the Chicago Arts District, 12 square blocks on Chicago’s near Southwest side that has been home to over 1500 artists over the last four decades.

Artists, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers, performance artists as well as individuals teaching in the arts live and work

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So you like shopping.  You enjoy the buzz of downtown nightlife.  You miss pajama parties.  Ok, so this is assuming you’re on the feminine side…

Melody Biringer does as well, and she’s done something extraordinary about it, turning a small pajama party at a spa into 50 shopping pajama parties (and growing like wild) at avant garde hotels (like the Jupiter Hotel profiled yesterday) in major cities across the U.S.  These

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Why should a city invest in the arts?  While artists have no shortage of reasons why, there’s often little economic evidence of their impact.  That’s the focus of Dr. Stephen Sheppard, an economist at Williams College who has been working with MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) to calculate the real value of arts to communities.

There are three ‘pathways’ that lead from the arts to economic growth that he measured and analyzed:

Direct employment and income from the arts and

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So you’re young and can’t afford gallery art just yet.  Or you’re a young artist and looking for exposure.  Or you’re just someone looking for something a bit more fulfilling to do on a Saturday night.

Scott Fraser has quite the remedy.  He hosts an art auction dance party at popular nightclub venues. Why?  As he says, “Not enough young people are buying original artwork,“ especially at gallery prices. “It’s just expensive, they don’t have the disposable income.“

So, because he has many

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Connect Four, Trivial Pursuit, Backgammon… the games you played as a kid… or as an adult.  As stated in a previous article, Next gen housing for changing households, the urban crowd stays home less, goes out more.  So, some venues are bringing the living room to them.

Pharoah’s Rock & Blues (pictured) in Adams Morgan has a ‘living room’ on their second floor that provides the aforementioned ‘board games’ for their patrons to use.  The best part is that you don’t have to put it away when

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If there’s one thing that appeals to our audience, it’s planned spontaneity - making spontaneous decisions to go somewhere or do something”, aided by the web’s “physical and virtual web of no-frills airlines, always-on phones and PDAs, affordable hotels, last-minute/find-and-seek websites” as described by Trendwatching.com.

Well, here’s a CoolTown tool to plan some spontaneity in your neighborhood or favorite district - via our urban vitality engine.  I’ve hinted at it for quite a while now,

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Corporate funding for the arts dropped 48% in the last 15 years; local government support declined 49% in the last your years - yet downtown arts are thriving.  What gives?  Apparently, the neighborhoods are.

In Philadelphia, city center art galleries, musuems, performing arts, and theaters as well as artist-inspired nightclubs and downtown restaurants have helped establish a downtown population of 88,000.  In downtown Wilmington, DE, performing arts theatres, opera, contemporary arts and the

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An abstract depiction of a proposed place can often capture its emotion, mood and life more effectively than any computer rendering, or even an existing place compared to a photo.

In this piece, Beaver Street at Twilight by City Art Studio Gallery president and curator, Brenda Wintermyer, York, PA, one may get a vibrant sense of warmth, that this is a place for people, with musicians, sidewalk vendors, bicyclists, shoppers, artists and casual strollers a part of the everyday scene, with an

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While there’s a movement afoot to preserve the 300-400 historic theaters that bring vitality to downtowns across the country, another inspiring trend is taking shape - new theaters are also being being built in urban areas, and pretty snazzy ones at that.

Last night thanks to a friend, I had the pleasure of experiencing the new E Street Cinema theaters in downtown Washington DC, featuring only foreign and independent films (i.e. more authentic), one block from the subway entry. Not only that,

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Ever feel so good about a song or two that you wished you could play it for a crowd?  Ever had a desire to be the DJ at a nightclub, even for just 15 minutes?

Well, since you can mass customize your new car, new home, and even your restaurant dinner or your shoes, you can do the same for your night out.  In this Washington Post article, iPod Nights Turn Amateurs Into Digital DJs at D.C. Club (expires Mar. 10), you can get your 15 minutes of fame by bringing in your iPod and playing your

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Main streets are no longer the department-store-oriented retail districts they used to be.  Now they must be entertainment retail districts to survive and thrive, which is consistent with our shift to an experience economy.  Here are the new retail categories as the industry resource Urban Land Institute sees them.

Fun and leisure - interactive sports, sports bar, coffee bar, outdoor cafe, billiards/bowling/games;
Nesting - home entertainment, furnishings, and electronics;
Health and beauty -

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Just a few banners applied here to a restored historic building help bring it to life.  SOHO in Manhattan, NY utilizes them more effectively than any place I’ve seen - you could just feel the creativity in the air (the neighborhood’s rep) as you walked through a parade of them, flapping casually and colorfully with the breeze.

...and as mentioned in yesterday’s blog, they bring some cold hard cash and identity to the downtown as well.  It also helps give the impression that the area is

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There’s more to nightlife than restaurants and bars, and one of the fastest growing recreations that fit into that timeslot is dodgeball.  In fact, the International Dodgeball Federation (yes, there is such a thing) says the 25-35-year demographic is the fastest growing in the country.

Where do you find them?  In cities, even smaller ones like Richmond, VA, that cater to the creative class.  Here’s a rather interesting quote, “It has become an ‘in thing’ to play childhood sports again

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