Context
Poster
The 2009 Festival on Creativity, Socio-Economic Development and the Wellbeing of People (Mar del Plata, Argentina) is part of a series of activities held in different parts of the world and developed by an international network of academics, artists, business people and policy makers. These activities include the Festival Biennale Internazionale su Creativitá e Sviluppo Economico (see video) (Gambettola, Italy, May 2007 and April 2009) and the Mar del Plata Festival on Creativity and Economic Development, which took place at Centro Cultural Victoria Ocampo in August 2008.
The context for these activities is the action research carried out by Silvia Sacchetti and Roger Sugden (Stirling Management School, University of Stirling). They reason that the exclusion of a large number of people from socio-economic processes is reflected in a widespread loss of creativity and critical thinking with respect to what is happening in society. This in turn produces a decline of democracy. People lose interest in participation. Artistic activities can be a means for people to find their voice, and for those who experience art to reflect and in turn find their own voice.
The aim of the 2009 Festival in Mar del Plata is to explore both the role of creativity, including art, in social, economic and political processes, and the importance of critical thinking in the development of a locality.
The 2009 Festival features presentations, exhibitions and performances by local and international “practitioners” and “thinkers” in different disciplines: photography, music, painting …; socio-economics, history, education, business, policy ...
Aims and Vision
The Festival represents the second stage in developing in Mar del Plata an innovative approach to territorial economic policy; this perspective focuses on the impact of peoples imagination, critical thinking and creativity. A particular theme is the stimulation and nurturing of economic democracy.
The first Mar del Plata Festival on Creativity and Economic Development was held in Mar del Plata in August 2008 . The objectives of the 2009 Festival are to build and learn from the 2008 experience by focusing on specific audiences and nurturing their engagement.
contribute to
economic development in Mar del Plata by adding to its
cultural activities and by stimulating imagination and critical
thinking amongst its peoples, catalysing their entrepreneurship and
innovation
feature
experiences and perceptions from Mar del Plata, linking into
projects in which art is identified as a crucial influence on
development
involve school
children, offering special activities that enable
them to express themselves around the topics of the Festival and to
feel they are participants in the development of their city
link the Festival
with similar activities elsewhere in Argentina and indeed beyond
(Italy, Scotland, Africa)
Context
Firms (Cowling and Sugden, 1998) Economic development (Sugden and Wilson, 2002).
The aims of economic development are chosen without taking into account the interest of the different publics.
This brings about severe consequences (Hymer, 1972).
Development and underdevelopment are inevitable Wealth and poverty are inevitable.
Exclusion is reflected in a widespread loss of creativity and critical thinking with respect to what is happening in society.
This in turn produces a decline of democracy. People lose interest in participation.
Artistic activities can be a means for people to find their voice.
It is from this context that we identify a vision that requires immediate action:
