CREATIVE SPIRITS is a network of nine European cities, funded by the European Union in the frame of the URBACT III Programme.
The nine CREATIVE SPIRITS partner cities have a common need to improve the implementation of their existing integrated urban strategies/action plans by including novel approaches linked to creative and cultural industries (CCI) – creative places, people, and businesses.
The joint policy challenge for the network is to better facilitate the above “creative ecosystem” to be able to attract (more) creative entrepreneurs and boost creative entrepreneurship in dedicated urban areas. Creative industries comprise economic activities that create economic value through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.
A city is able to mobilise ideas, talents and creative organizations when it knows how to foster a creative milieu by identifying, nurturing, attracting and sustaining talent. Local governments all over the world are increasingly becoming aware of the CCI’s potential to generate jobs, wealth, and cultural engagement. With their diverse industries, variety of urban forms and as magnets of skilled workforce, and cultural diversity, cities and their emerging creative milieus (city centres, re-designed factories and brownfield areas, etc.) can be a supportive environment for the actors of the creative economy, ranging from arts and cultural institutions to vibrant start-up scenes.
This is especially important since dynamic, youthful companies tend to value a vibrant, open-minded community life and the availability of services (shopping, cafes, and entertainment) as key location factors. The nine partner cities in the CREATIVE SPIRITS network already have, to different extents, strategies to boost the creative ecosystems in their cities.
The central focus of the network is on how to implement these strategies. The partnership enables the partner cities to exchange knowledge and learn from each other to overcome the implementation challenges related to their creative urban strategies.
PARTNERS IN THE CREATIVE SPIRITS PROJECT