Does innovation in culture and commerce mean the same thing?

April 7th, 2016

This past weekend I was honored to be an invited guest at the Canadian Arts Summit hosted in collaboration between Business for the Arts and the Banff Center. The weekend was quite an incredible assembly of cultural leaders, insightful keynote speakers, with senior leaders sharing their depth of experience and a powerful range of emerging leaders presenting their models of working to some of the most important cultural institutions in the country. It was a pleasure to be around such a rich depth of thinking about cultural leadership, and I have returned from their with many critical and insightful thoughts. What follows here is one of set of thoughts about the relationship between the idea of innovation in art and innovation in business … or perhaps better said between the meaning of innovation in culture and commerce.

We are not a creative city!

July 27th, 2012

A great conversation is unfolding in the city of Ottawa. The municipal government, local bloggers, culture institutions like Galerie SAW Gallery, social innovation centers and even major media outlets have all endeavoured to help weather a perceived cultural adolescence in the city. What are we? and what can we become? are key questions in growth and development, and we are hoping to add our voice to the dynamic conversation.