From the UMass Lowell Public Affairs Office: UMass Lowell strengthened its reputation as a hot-spot for creative economy research in the state when all of its proposals seeking funding from the UMass President’s Creative Economy Initiative were approved this spring. Faculty from UMass Lowell scored big in the 2011 round of Creative Economy…
Read More »
Bootstrap Productions and the Cultural Organization of Lowell have teamed up to produce an anthology of creative work by younger artists in Lowell: writers, musicians, visual artists, and others. The publication is set for release later this year. If you are (or know of) a creator no more than 40…
Read More »
NYTimes columnist David Brooks today says it’s imperative that 21st-century America be a talent magnet to stay at the front of the pack in the global economic and social long-distance race. For our purposes on this blog, substitute Lowell and/or Merrimack Valley every time he mentions America, and think about…
Read More »
LZ Nunn of the City’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Special Events reports that the art market in Lowell is surprisingly strong even as the Great Recession holds back the economy in general. Lowell has hundreds of artists of all kinds. Each one is a small business even if that’s…
Read More »
Creativity isn’t confined to the arts. The arts are a proven means to cultivate creativity, but the creative impulse shows up everywhere in life—and we need it across all disciplines. The city of Lowell is here because someone imagined industry on a larger scale. People moved here because they imagined…
Read More »
I grabbed this from the City Manager’s website. My definition of the creative economy is broader than some other people’s. This survey is aimed particularly at the cultural community because COOL wants to document that sector as thoroughly as possible. But if you consider yourself part of the creative-innovative-imaginative sector,…
Read More »
James Sullivan writes about the economic impact of Jack Kerouac’s legacy in Lowell in the Business section of the Boston Globe, posted tonight on boston.com for tomorrow’s paper. Read the article here, and get the Globe if you appreciate the reporting.
Read More »
Following is a quote from a former director of Canada’s national arts agency. I would differ slightly in saying what he did because artists don’t have a monopoly on dreaming or creativity. Engineers, scientists, teachers, nurses, detectives, parents, soldiers, public administrators—people in all positions in life, old and young, are capable of…
Read More »
“Dear Friends, “Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to adopt the Creative Challenge Index proposal – an initiative to raise the priority of creative work in our schools – when Governor Deval Patrick signed the Economic Development Reorganization bill into law this morning. We thank Governor Patrick for…
Read More »
Why are we starting to talk about a Kerouac Center for Creativity in Lowell? Aside from the facts that Lowell was founded by inventors and entrepreneurs, that the city is a contemporary hub of the creative economy, and that higher education institutions like UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College demonstrate the positive results…
Read More »