{"id":10118,"date":"2023-08-02T16:54:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T14:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/?p=10118"},"modified":"2023-08-28T15:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T13:16:28","slug":"urban-spaces-creative-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/en\/urban-spaces-creative-spirits\/","title":{"rendered":"From workshop to industrial wasteland, urban spaces by and for creative spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nApart from the much-vaunted creative hubs where they do not always feel welcome, caught between financial obstacles and a lack of representativeness, creatives are at times unsure of where they should set up shop to develop their commercial activity or their art. Yet temporary occupancies and other collective initiatives are adding to a fabric of spaces conducive to creativity.\r\n<\/p>\n\n\n

In our recent June case file<\/a>, the kingkong editorial team addressed the major issues surrounding creative hubs, these sites half-way between a cultural space and a business incubator. A close look at the timeline reveals that entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative industries (CCI) emerged in the 2010s. It is the cultural counterpart of the start-up movement. The Belgian public authorities began to invest more in CCI around 2014. Thanks to structural support provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), hubs began popping up all over Belgium. The country is following a European trend which is gaining increasing traction in the cultural entrepreneurship sector.
In parallel with that, there is much talk about the theory of the \u2018creative city,\u2019 particularly in works such as The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators<\/em><\/a>, written by Charles Landry and first published in 2000. The British consultant, a specialist in urban creativity and innovation, explores the issues and challenges faced by cities in a context of globalisation. Advocating the use of art, culture and creativity as a means of ensuring the long-term economic sustainability of their metropolises, governments have swiftly adopted the creative city theory as a template to be implemented. But its detractors have instead perceived it, not altogether wrongly, as a pure urban utopia. Indeed, the creative city has also spawned the emergence of standardised urban cultural neighbourhoods. Today, the Global Cultural Districts Network<\/a> acts as an umbrella organisation for some sixty neighbourhoods of this type the world over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban concentrations of creative energies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As Basile Michel, a lecturer in geography at the CY Cergy Paris Universit\u00e9, explains in an analysis for The Conversation<\/em><\/a> media platform, the creative city theory promised a significant economic upswing for ailing cities. \u2018This revitalisation of areas in crisis sparked the interest of public authorities, which since then have looked to label with an official seal of approval cultural and creative districts which had emerged spontaneously, and even to manufacture them entirely by artificially concentrating cultural facilities, business premises and places of entertainment, as was the case with the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong<\/a>.\u2019\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quartier de la cr\u00e9ation, Nantes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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West Kowloon Cultural District, Hongkong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Quartier de la cr\u00e9ation, Nantes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Quartier des Spectacles, Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Quartier de la cr\u00e9ation, Nantes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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MuseumsQuartier, Vienne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Events Quarter in Montreal<\/a>, the Museums Quarter in Vienna or the Creation Quarter in Nantes<\/a>; these districts dedicated to art and culture bring in large crowds, but they are also often used for marketing purposes to restore the attractiveness of these large cities to tourists, with the aim of extending their appeal far and wide. But does the pre-planning of culture and creativity as part and parcel of urban development schemes actually work? You are doubtless wondering where we are going with this long introduction to the subject, aren\u2019t you? What we wanted to address by introducing you to these in-depth (or tedious, it depends) urban theories, is that the implementing of these large cultural districts and the business rationale behind creative hubs can at times prove counter-productive to artistic creation itself. For example, when the Creation Quarter in Nantes was established, it was met with rejection by several artists and key actors on the local culture scene, who developed their own project in the Olivettes district, on the opposite bank of the Loire river flowing through the French city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Is an artist a project owner? Not necessarily.<\/p>\nVincent Lepage, Director of the Economic Policy Directorate at the Public Service of Wallonia<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In artistic and cultural circles, rather attached to the freedom of their creative fields, a certain defiance as regards political institutions prevails amongst a section of those active within them. Consequently, certain creative spirits (an expression we will favour wherever possible, because not everybody calls themselves an artist) do not feel involved, and may even feel excluded by these premises ostensibly dedicated to them. For those in the most precarious financial circumstances, the increase in rent imposed by the property market and gentrification quite simply make it impossible to move into the artist workshops available for rent in these creative districts. \u2018Shortly after the emergence of the first Walloon hubs, criticisms were levelled against the support policy for CCI in the Walloon Region,\u2019 recalls Vincent Lepage, Director of the Economic Policy Directorate at the Public Service of Wallonia (PSW). \u2018From the get-go, these policies have focused on the economic development of the zones in which these hubs are established, and haven\u2019t always included artistic endeavours in their aims. The question which needs to be asked in this case is, \u201cis an artist a project owner?\u201d Not necessarily. But creative hubs do have goals other than business ones, and can develop other synergies, such as setting about building bridges with non-profit associations and other local creative third-places.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a creative wishes to develop a project, the hub can thus be the site of economic roll-out, and the third place, the space of artistic experimentation. A type of co-operation which has already been implemented at CLICK, the Mons creative hub very rooted in its local creative ecosystem, but also in Namur. The TRAKK<\/a> regularly works with the Wallonia capital city\u2019s Comptoir des Ressources Cr\u00e9atives<\/a> (CRC), established within the non-profit association, Hang’ART<\/a>, in the Saint-Servais district. Like the creative hubs, a number of CRCs have been set up throughout the Walloon territory. These spaces are intended for everyone, with no restrictive conditions as regards status, sphere of activity or experience. The goal? To offer exceptional support for every stage of a creative or artistic journey, from workshops to storage spaces, from recording studios to help with distribution. With a common philosophy: \u2018Artists share similar needs and problems,\u2019 a CRC spokesperson explains. \u2018When you pool human energies, we are there to provide support with the difficulties faced along creative and artistic professional pathways. And these sites, where interaction takes place and resources are available, are not restricted merely to the opportunity to occupy the premises at affordable prices. Exchanges of services, tools, skills and know-how boost a spirit of collaboration that is invaluable to each person within the community.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving aside any clear distinction between creative hubs and co-working spaces on the one hand, and alternative sites on the other, we quickly realised that artists\u2019 requirements in terms of work areas have nonetheless sparked the emergence of alternative spaces. Occasionally formed on the initiative of one or several creative spirits, occasionally more collectively. So, before heading off to discuss the subject with several of the actors operating on these sites, we thought that bringing them together on an (admittedly non-exhaustive) interactive map might help some creative souls searching for a place to try things out, express themselves or branch out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n