A speech by Andrew Taylor in Austin, Texas, on June 24, 2009, on 'creative ecology' and approaches to advancing Austin's creative life. The speech was invited and hosted by the Austin Circle of Theaters, the Create Austin committee, and the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.

1. Considering the Creative Ecology
Andrew Taylor | ataylor@bus.wisc.edu | www.artfulmanager.com
Austin, Texas | June 24, 2009

2. But first... about my yard...

4. The persistent visitor

5. Tending the garden
✤ Demands a (malleable) vision.
✤ Has a boundary
(stated or implied).
✤ Already in progress
(for thousands of years).
✤ Moves and grows in cycles.
✤ Subject to larger
(and smaller) cycles.
✤ Interconnected...you can’t just
change one thing.

6. The creative ecology...

7. Creative...
✤ expression
✤ experience
✤ insight
✤ innovation
✤ spark
✤ connection
✤ catalyst
SOURCE: Flickr user Martino!

8. Creative...
✤ expression
✤ experience
✤ insight
✤ innovation
✤ spark
✤ connection
✤ catalyst
SOURCE: Flickr user Martino!

9. ...Ecology
✤ living system
✤ environment
✤ complex
✤ interconnected
✤ interdependent
✤ balanced
✤ evolving

10. Tending your garden
✤ Demands a (malleable) vision.
✤ Has a boundary
(stated or implied).
✤ Already in progress
(for hundreds of years).
✤ Moves and grows in cycles.
✤ Subject to larger
(and smaller) cycles.
✤ Interconnected...you can’t just
change one thing.

11. SOURCE: Flickr user Cesar R.
A (malleable) vision...

12. Connecting, advancing, and
celebrating Austin’s creative life.

13. SOURCE: Flickr user Liv...
A boundary (stated or implied)...

14. “Art is limitation; the essence of
every picture is the frame.”
G.K. Chesterton

15. Who’s in?
Who’s out?
✤ Industry Lens
✤ For-profit / Nonprofit
✤ Organized / Informal
✤ Industry / Job Function
SOURCE: Creative Columbus report, June 2009

16. SOURCE: Creative Columbus report, June 2009

17. Who’s in?
Who’s out?
✤ Human Lens
✤ Amateur / Professional
(or “Pro-Am”)
✤ Creator / Observer
✤ Self-Description /
Observed Behavior
SOURCE: Flickr user garryknight

18. Who’s in?
Who’s out?
✤ Human Lens
✤ Amateur / Professional
(or “Pro-Am”)
✤ Creator / Observer
✤ Self-Description /
Observed Behavior
SOURCE: Flickr user garryknight

19. What I heard: “All In”
(Jo Anne said so with some conviction.)

20. SOURCE: Flickr user MR+G
Already in progress...

21. SOURCE: Flickr user mandus
Moves and grows in cycles...

22. Adaptive Cycle

23. SOURCE: Flickr user j u l i a n o
Subject to larger (and smaller) cycles...

24. Cycles
✤ Larger (STEEP)
✤ Sociological
✤ Technological
✤ Economic
✤ Environmental
✤ Political
✤ Smaller
✤ Local news cycle
✤ Trends, fads, etc.

25. SOURCE: Flickr user Toby Maloy
Interconnected...
(you can’t just change one thing)

26. “Side” effects
✤ Unintended consequence
✤ Frequent “surprises”
✤ Changing the players by
changing the game

27. Tending your garden
✤ Demands a (malleable) vision.
✤ Has a boundary
(stated or implied).
✤ Already in progress
(for hundreds of years).
✤ Moves and grows in cycles.
✤ Subject to larger
(and smaller) cycles.
✤ Interconnected...you can’t just
change one thing.

28. Back to “creator / observer”

29. ...so that means
we can’t do anything?

30. No, that means you must bring your
complex creativity to the task...
(And who better than a “creative alliance” to do just that?)

31. Four questions, four metaphors

32. “But doesn’t collaborating threaten our
individual impact and ideals?”

33. Meaning is always co-created.

34. How can we find common ground, when
we’re all so different in our creative work?

35. SOURCE: Flickr user Cayusa
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill.
They want a quarter-inch hole.”
Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School Marketing Professor

36. “I’m already overclocked. How can I take time
out to connect beyond my immediate need?”

37. The Honey Mushroom
Armillaria ostoyae

38. “Seems huge. Where can we begin?”

39. SOURCE: Flickr user Rodrigo Campos
Button by button, thread by thread

40. You’ve already begun, keep going...

41. Andrew Taylor
ataylor@bus.wisc.edu
www.artfulmanager.com
www.twitter.com/artfulmanager