Fuse magazine hosts panel to demystify the "creative city" movement

Fuse magazine is launching its next issue and co-hosting a panel that will attempt to demystify the Creative City movement. Springing from the much quoted work of Richard Florida the movement has been adopted by many municipalities interested in attracting business by being home to the so-called "creative class" of urban professionals and cultural workers.

Co-hosted by Fuse and Creative Class Struggle, an activists collective, the panel will explore the impact of the creative city idea on planning trends, turning a sceptical eye on the use of "creativity" in economic development, land use planning, arts programming and community development. Quoting from a release about the event:

The Creative City logic, advertises places of innovation, style and interactivity as places that will attract both business and the “creative class” – urban professionals and culture workers. This perspective, critiqued by some academics and policy makers for its vagueness and others for privileging certain types of jobs, neighborhoods and lifestyles at the expense of others is increasingly controversial. In this Town Hall, artists, activist, community workers, teachers and professors will be brought together to examine the realities of living under this policy paradigm. We will ask: what are the effects of these policies on the livelihoods of ordinary people? Who benefits from creative city planning that is meant to build money making cities in a time of cuts to vital services such as schools and important social spaces for “ordinary” people such as community centres, and pools. What happens to the “non-creative” workers in this script?

The panel includes:

• Liette Gilbert - associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Her work focuses on policies, practices and ideologies of immigration, multiculturalism and citizenship.

• Uzma Shakir - community-based researcher, advocate, activist and the past Executive Director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) and the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO). Her work focuses on issues of race, erosion of civil liberties and critical multiculturalism.

• Pamila Matharu - a Toronto-based artist, educator and cultural organizer/ producer. An activist for over 15 years, currently focusing on youth, contemporary art, pedagogy and the "inner-city experience" in Parkdale.

The town hall is at the Toronto Free Gallery, 1277 Bloor Street West, Thursday, June 18. Doors open 6:30. Panel at 7. Fuse launch party 9 p.m. - 1 a.m. with Dj’s, Dancing and the Launch Party for Fuse Magazine’s newest issue, Goliath vs Goliath.