Photo of Bill Powell, Painting by Bill Powell
Last night I was invited by the Mayor to attend the meeting of the Stakeholders Group, City of Hamilton, Economic Development Strategy, Arts Cluster to look at the City of Hamilton Strategic Plan in reference to Economic Development’s Arts Planning. That may not have been the name but I never did get it right. This was an initial meeting of about 35 arts professionals representing the visual arts, music, dance and film, I guess, plus perhaps some other stuff as well. There were also some politicians and some city staff. We were in a long, thin room with lots of chairs and it was no way to have a meeting. The facilitator had his hands full because of the awkward setting. Besides, we had never been together before as a group.
The visual arts people all knew each other, and some of the others were known to me, but not all of them. We did go around the room and introduce ourselves, but it was a chore and thankfully we didn’t have a test at the end.
The money generator in the house was the film industry. However, the popular name to bandy about these days is Richard Florida, and his studies in urban populations show a very positive correlation between a flourishing arts community and a flourishing economy. So, suddenly, the arts in general look good to people who may have never considered their importance before.
Among the tasks presented to us were doing at a SWOT analysis; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to the Arts in Hamilton. Later, towards the end, after “blue skying”, dreaming etc., we had a chance to talk about where we expected to be in five years. Happily for me, sitting right across the table from me was Bill Powell, one of Hamilton’s “old guard” artists, and a very funny guy. Bill is older than me, and I think he may be 70 (but he doesn’t look it!). Bill said (privately),
“In five years I’d like to be able to pee in a straight line!”.
The visual arts people all knew each other, and some of the others were known to me, but not all of them. We did go around the room and introduce ourselves, but it was a chore and thankfully we didn’t have a test at the end.
The money generator in the house was the film industry. However, the popular name to bandy about these days is Richard Florida, and his studies in urban populations show a very positive correlation between a flourishing arts community and a flourishing economy. So, suddenly, the arts in general look good to people who may have never considered their importance before.
Among the tasks presented to us were doing at a SWOT analysis; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to the Arts in Hamilton. Later, towards the end, after “blue skying”, dreaming etc., we had a chance to talk about where we expected to be in five years. Happily for me, sitting right across the table from me was Bill Powell, one of Hamilton’s “old guard” artists, and a very funny guy. Bill is older than me, and I think he may be 70 (but he doesn’t look it!). Bill said (privately),
“In five years I’d like to be able to pee in a straight line!”.
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