Just days after tossing his gold-tasseled cap into the air at the University of Central Florida’s 2000 graduation, 22-year-old Rodel Oiga packed his belongings, said his goodbyes and drove across the country to Vegas.
After a two-year stint in Sin City, he tried on L.A., West Palm Beach and New York for size. Why not? It’s the itinerant lifestyle of his generation.
As a self-starting creative type (think iPhone-toting, bald-headed, part hipster, part computer genius), he was in search of a city up to his standards: one with rich cultural vitality and diversity to stimulate his eclectic interests, one where he could easily geek out, hit the snowboarding slopes, catch a Korean indie flick or feed his passion for hiphop music.
With his new degree in management information systems, he could have easily snagged a job in Orlando, but instead he went on a quest to find the location that best fit him (which after a long search ended up being New York). The perfect job part came later (he now works for the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he handles all things digital in the graphics lab).
Clearly, metro Orlando has a lot going for it. In 2007, a Harris Poll ranked it as one of the “most desirable places to live”; it has a new medical school on the way, easy access to beaches, and it’s a place where a young worker can easily get connected.
This begs the question: Why was this young talent anxious to skip town?
For him, Oiga says, it was more than finding a good job — he wanted a life, too.
It’s the collective mindset of the Gen X and Gen Y crowd, asserts Lou Musante, CEO of Catalytix, a division of Richard Florida’s Creative Class Group, based in Pittsburgh. “Two out of three seniors graduating from college are making the decision on place over job,” he says. “That’s why a lot of regions have what we call a brain drain.”
Cities that don’t register on the hip-ometer tend to lose out on young workers like Oiga because, these days, deciding where to live ranks right up there with choosing a life partner or a career path, according to Richard Florida, professor of “business and creativity” at the University of Toronto and principal of the Creative Class Group.
Power of Knowledge
Florida, a guru of social theory and urban planning, explains in his latest book “Who’s Your City?” that 40 million people make up the creative class, including Oiga and anyone else who is paid to “think” for a living. The term can be difficult to define, says Musante: “It’s more than the arts and culture sector.” The creative class makes up 30 percent of the workforce and 50 percent, or $2.1 trillion, of the U.S. payroll.
In other words, if you categorize all the workers nationwide into groups, there are three main buckets: the service class (who provide services, such as cleaning a hotel room or waiting on tables); the working class (who perform labor functions like construction or plumbing); and the creative class (many of whom make a living by coming up with ideas).
The latter is a widespread group playing host to an amalgam of professionals, including architects, software engineers, designers and writers. It’s an expanded definition of what prolific management consultant Peter Drucker labeled the knowledge worker nearly 50 years ago.
The primary difference today — with the nation’s shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a more knowledge-oriented one — is that the creative class is on the rise. And to attract and retain the best and brightest, a community needs to foster creativity on all fronts.
“For the first time in human history,” Florida emphasizes, “the basic logic of our economy dictates that further economic development requires the further development and use of human creative capabilities.”
Brain Gain
Why the focus on young workers? The answer is fairly obvious. “People are most mobile in their 20s, with mobility decreasing after that until retirement,” explains Kevin Stolarick, associate director and research associate at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. “Families are generally a lot more ‘rooted’ to a place and aren’t as mobile.”
Musante, who has studied the Orlando area for the past five years, adds, “Growth for the sake of growth doesn’t help anybody. The question is, Can you attract more of the right type of worker?” As it stands, only about 25 percent of Orlando’s workers fall into the creative class.
The good news: That will likely all change in the next decade. Orlando is poised to become a top destination for creative types, according to a 2006 study conducted by Catalytix.
If this is the case, how does the city go about developing an atmosphere conducive to this sought-after demographic? According to Florida, the key is to focus on the four T’s — talent, technology, tolerance and territory assets.
Let’s take a look in the mirror. Talent? Metro Orlando has plenty. With UCF, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and Full Sail University as standout creative hubs, it’s no surprise that the area is producing more than a genius or two. Technology? Yes, but are we well known for it? Tolerance? We have a leg up on places like Memphis or Pittsburgh. Territory? The region is known for fun and sun, of course, but what specifically does downtown Orlando — the place that needs to appeal to the creative class — boast?
It’s All About the People
“When it comes to talent, [metro Orlando’s] brain drain is a little bit below the national average,” says Musante, who has lived in the North Allegheny suburb of Pittsburgh for 28 years. “But it’s not bad like it is in Pittsburgh. As you start to build the new infrastructure, it will entice people to stay a little bit longer.”
He points out a new way of thinking in the arena of economic development: “It is as much about the attraction of people as it is about the attraction of businesses.”
Ben Noel, director of the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy — UCF’s graduate video game design school in downtown Orlando — couldn’t agree more. He scours top schools like Carnegie Mellon University, Ringling College of Art and Design, and UCF for the best and brightest students and shows them the ways of the gaming industry. Of the 34 UCF students who graduated from the 16-month program last semester, 95 percent were hired in the industry, many with a starting salary of more than $50,000. In five to 10 years, they will potentially be making $125,000 to $250,000.
About 80 percent stay in the area, while the remaining 20 percent head to Houston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Noel — a “boomeranger,” who grew up in Orlando, left for college and returned several years later — would like to see even more of his students stick around or return just as he did.
At least some of the students who do stay don’t regret the decision. Take Rogier van Etten, an FIEA graduate and Netherlands native. With the widespread nature of the gaming industry, he had endless options for where to live, and he chose Orlando. He was offered a job at 360Ed, a downtown Orlando educational game-making studio, which he found compelling, and he was lured by “the prospect of Orlando ramping up as a community for young creatives.” To top it off, Orlando’s relatively low cost of living, especially compared to other creative class hotbeds like New York or San Francisco, made it all the more attractive, he says.
It Takes a Village
To further entice young creative workers to stick around, as well as attract loads of top-notch businesses, Noel is working with the city to develop a 53-acre creative village, to be located where the Amway Arena now stands. The village will be stocked with restaurants and arthouse movie theaters, peppered with green space and two-person boutiques, and anchored by large-scale corporations and big-name branches like Apple and Microsoft. It will be the veritable picture of a well-oiled creative machine, allowing Orlando to further burnish its super-high-tech, digital-savvy, up-and-coming image. “It’s an opportunity for local companies to really leverage themselves,” says Noel. “And it’s where the high-wage workers are going to be.”
Noel believes the cluster of “creatives” forms not only a thick labor market, but a place to spawn great ideas and nurture professional camaraderie. And this giant mix of talented and productive people is what Florida points to as the real source of economic growth.
“More than ever before, creative types have the ability to choose a community where they want to live,” says Florida, “and regions must understand that if they want to be competitive in the global battle for talent.”
Technology and Tolerance
Orlando has been a high-tech hub dating back to the 1950s. And thanks to the development of the Florida High Tech Corridor, technology is a sector in which metro Orlando continues to thrive. Companies like Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp. prosper here, as do many smaller entities. Technology’s impact often relies on reputation, however.
“Being ‘known’ as a high-tech or specific technology hub is what helps to attract both people and businesses,” says Stolarick. “While Orlando has some tech strengths — gaming, other entertainment technologies — it doesn’t have a strong reputation. While UCF is a great school, it’s known for providing a good education, not for its research. Technology reputation often depends on/derives from a major research university with a high-tech reputation.”
With the new medical school and a recent surge in R&D funding, UCF is moving in the right direction.
When it comes to tolerance, Orlando does fairly well, which is a good sign since it can be the most difficult of the regional growth and prosperity drivers to boost.
Richard Florida’s research shows that members of the creative class prefer places that are tolerant and open to new ways of thinking. That’s why cities like Seattle, Boston and Portland do so well in attracting young people looking to work in creative fields. “It’s about being open,” says Musante, as he cites one of Orlando’s strong points. “It’s easy to get connected here,” he says. Unlike old-network towns like Memphis, where plugging in can be an uphill battle for newcomers.
Cultural Upgrade
The last T, territory assets — sometimes called quality of life — is a strong one for the region as a whole. The access to water and year-round sunshine has always made it a famously ideal climate. When you narrow in on downtown Orlando, though, what makes it unique?
To bump up the cool factor, Musante says, it’s about more than just adding new bars and restaurants. It’s about arts and entertainment, and it’s about adding the “street-corner strange,” the pleasantly quirky cultural elements.
To help downtown Orlando in its quest to lure the creative class, Musante and Stolarick conducted a study in 2006, surveying residents’ wants and identifying obstacles and opportunities. The results prompted the city to fund the new performing arts center, events center and upgraded stadium.
Furthermore, citing the fact that national studies show an investment in the arts is nearly always profitable to the community at large, Musante recommended an arts incubator, a sort of artist greenhouse providing affordable space and business development services.
“There’s an opportunity there to help the emerging artist,” says Musante. “It makes good business sense, and at the same time you are making it easier for them to start up and become a prosperous artist rather than a starving one.”
Cities like Detroit are making it work. Its four-story 4731 Gallery, an old business storage building turned funky art studio, complete with tulip columns, gothic windows and terrazzo flooring, is home to furniture designers, along with painters and poets. It even fosters budding fashion designers. “You can go there with an idea for a new line of clothing,” says Musante. “The incubator can do everything from help you design it to manufacture it to market it, all under one roof.”
Some Cities Sizzle
Austin, Texas, has taken similar steps, fixing up and providing affordable housing to local rock bands and artists. Within its iCREATE arts incubator, you can find ceramic artists, international culinary chefs and creative writers, all in one place.
When it comes to drawing the creative class, consider what has put this diverse city on the map: high-tech jobs and its Texas-sized music and filmmaking scene. Just 40 years ago, it was a cow town. Now, it ranks No. 1 on Richard Florida’s Creativity Index and is considered by many people to be the “live music capital of the world.”
So, just how did Austin blossom into a mecca of international acclaim? It began by building up the University of Texas and boosting federal and state research dollars by the millions. With careful planning in the 1980s and 1990s and kicking the downtown culture into high gear, the city attracted businesses like IBM, Intel and Motorola. And right next to the high-tech industrial centers, a thriving arts and cultural scene pumps energy into every nook and cranny.
“The creative sector is very important to our identity and the economy,” says Vincent Kitch, cultural arts program manager for the city of Austin. What’s more, 2005 numbers estimated that the nonprofit arts, film and music industries in Austin accounted for more than $2.2 billion in annual activity and 44,000-plus jobs. Austin’s leadership has long embraced arts and culture. In fact, it was one of the first cities to house an economic development department, a trend that is more common now. “Annually, it is No. 1 or 2 on our list of places that the creative class wants to go,” says Musante. The key: The city has embraced the four T’s. Its broad creative ecosystem, combined with outdoor activities, a warehouse district and international gatherings like the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival, held every March, has transformed this once-bucolic setting by attracting all types, from high-tech geeks to budding musicians to recent graduates.
Who Makes Up the Creative Class?
If you categorize all the workers in the United States into groups, services, such as cleaning a hotel room or waiting on tables); the working class (who perform labor functions like construction or plumbing); and the creative class (who make a living by coming up withAustin is off the charts when it comes to the key factors of “creative” happiness — job, personal life and place. And Denver is following in its footsteps. The Mile High City is part of a giant economic powerhouse, or “mega region,” as Florida calls it in his book. Not to mention that it is home to 4 million people and ranks among the top 10 places for “young professionals.” Why? “Denver’s leadership and citizens are very open-minded when it comes to embracing the arts and culture,” says Ginger White, of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs.
White points to the success of a microlending tool that has distributed more than $100,000 in loans since mid-2005 to assist arts-related startups in Denver, with 100 percent repayment. “[It] provides start-up capital in the form of loans for … nonprofit creative enterprises — graphic design firms, galleries, musicians.”
Some Cities Fizzle
Caution: There is no perfect equation on which to build a creative community, and Pittsburgh can attest to that fact, Musante says. “We have an unbelievable cultural scene: symphony, opera, ballet and museums. That’s great for baby boomers, but not if you’re part of Gen X or Gen Y,” he notes. The city has made attempt after attempt to draw the creative class and to retain the coveted Carnegie Mellon grads. Yet, despite it all (even with its technology reservoirs, world-class universities and easy navigation), Pittsburgh still suffers one of the worst brain drains in the nation. Musante cites one of the chief problems: It is not an open or tolerant community.
Prepped and Ready
It all goes back to the all-important T’s. Each T must be strong and vibrant for a truly creative community to emerge. Metro Orlando is moving in the right direction. After all, it is a relatively young city, and with that, comes opportunity to build a thicker infrastructure. Better yet, metro Orlando is part of what Richard Florida has dubbed the So-Flo “mega region” of 15.1 million people in Orlando, Miami and Tampa, with a collective economic output of $430 billion. Metro Orlando’s proximity to Miami and Tampa means that, with some effort, the city could leverage the vast knowledge of the mega to its advantage. Even more encouraging is the simple fact that leaders and residents here actively want to make it happen. And for people who want to affect change, this is a place to be. It can happen here. “Orlando,” concludes Florida, “can follow suit — marketing itself as a great place to live and a desirable location for creative workers.”
Original Post by Sarah Sekula in FirstMonday Magazine