It is a good question. Why come out to Florida Creatives networking events?
Well…..to borrow the words of Richard Florida, author of the ‘Rise of the Creative Class‘, “Paradigm-busting creative industries could single-handedly change the ways cities flourish and drive dynamic, widespread economic change.”
After living abroad and traveling our country over the last 3 ½ months I can tell you that, in my humble opinion, Florida is a real sweet spot. I’m obviously geographically biased towards Orlando, but in general the state’s creative future is the talk of the proverbial town.
For instance: Florida politicians recently toured a handful of Dubai execs around Tampa as possible venue for their foreign investment in new media production; The House Bill 1325 went into effect offering multi-year tax credits, making Florida among the most competitive states for new television and motion picture production; and as the recent host to the TechEd 2007 conference Orlando was essentially given a nod as a tech/web city of note.
Creative industries are the future of America’s economy and our state in particular. Richard Florida again chimes in saying “cities from Sydney to Brussels to Dublin to Vancouver are fast becoming creative-class centers to rival Boston, Seattle, and Austin. They’re doing it through a variety of means–from government-subsidized labs to partnerships between top local universities and industry.”
We have so much creative potential in Florida. In Orlando we have both industry and university support for creative development and with government subsidies coming in the form of tax breaks for media development we also have a competitive playing field. But as creatives we often suffer from isolationism. The purpose of Florida Creatives, therefore, is to draw us out of our home offices and studios and into the fellowship of like minded individuals. The goal of these networking events is to foster creative collaboration, new employment opportunities and to offer a venue where we can become inspired to further the “Rise of the Creative Class” in Florida.
I hope that you will consider joining the ranks of those concerned about Florida’s creative future and make an effort to attend a Florida Creatives event near you. Subscribe to the feed on the site here to stay abreast of what we see as important development to the Creative Class in Florida. Additionally if there is anything of note in your city which could have statewide significance please write to us and share your insight with the other Florida Creatives. See you at the next happy hour.
John Rife
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