Yesterday I had the exciting opportunity to attend a community luncheon in Kingston NY, hosted by an organization titled RUPCO. The event had several nonprofit and for profit businesses, most of which I would consider Social Entrepreneurs. The aim of the event was to take run down buildings in the town, renovate them and build affordable housing or artist creative space. This would all be done while emphasizing what the city of Kingston has to offer, that others do not. The organization operates not only in Kingston, but all of Ulster County. Hence the title of the community lunch, Creative Placemaking.

 

What is Creative Placemaking? It is the ability to hone in on specific arts a community has to offer (music, visual, etc.) and flaunt it to the rest of the world. As the keynote speaker at the luncheon stated, one should make sure to get the individuals in the town excited about where they live. Do this by provoking and enriching what they are good at. This will draw attention and draw attention fast, look at places like Silicone Valley and L.A.. There is a lot  to talk about; all of our local situations, and how we can foster business and jobs in those areas to help our family and friends, neighbors and community members can be helped by endorsing a model along the lines of Creative Placemaking. Instead of copying what others do and push your image into the world, focus on what you can do and  then pull people into see it. Marketers refer to this as switching from a push to pull strategy.

Now think about this philosophy, and expand outside the boundaries of a township. Think of what can be applied from this! This coincides extremely well with Francesco Rulli's advice on becoming a thought leader. You learn about something, see what is going on, and share your own opinion in the area and see what responses you get. If you seem to be doing things right, and have a decent interest factor, people will eventually draw themselves to you. For example, when I first started blogging everyone asked me why I would do that. Now the situation has changed to a few of my friends regularly asking me when a next blog will be up. In no time my buzz score climbs, because I am focusing on what I can do and pulling people in my direction to see what I am doing.

Now this idea of pull and creative placemaking is extremely succesful with projects such as Building Schools in Afghanistan. Francesco enables kids in Afghanistan to the internet and gives them the capability to share with the world wide web what they have to offer. Now his project has gained pull, and the kids riding off of that pull can gain interest. Like I stated before everyone has to be excited about what they are doing, before others get excited. So enjoyment in what one is doing is an extremely important factor before pulling people in.

Going back to a location basis for creative placemaking, and the ability to flaunt the culture and uniqueness of a specific area. The video above shows an example of how this can be done, New Herat by FIlmAnnex interchanges images of NYC and New Herat in Afghanistan showing similarities while showing flare as well. I know before seeing this video, if someone asked me about New Herat I would have oblique images of sand and similarity in buildings. However, now that it has been shown to me on what the area has to offer I am pulled in to see what this town ubiquitous with culture provides.

Now look at what Roya Mahboob is doing in Afghanistan. She is an amazing Social Entrepreneur promoting the advancement of women and children to new educational and entrepreneurial boundaries, by originally doing what she did well. She created a software programming firm Afghan Citadel  Software Company, and gained ground from there. I know my last meeting with both Francesco and Roya, Francesco was drawn to Roya because of what she was doing. He wanted to know more about her, and the aims her company planned to do. This is a prime example of the strategies I have stated above, and how the more time progresses coupled with increases in technology, people really have the ability to attract attention on what they can contribute to a global market.

I want to finish this blog by recapping. If you are interested in doing something, and know you want to be successful; focus on what you have to offer and make sure other people can see what you do. This type of ideology can help with local economies, global partnerships, thought leader recognition, job interviews, social media marketing, etc. Don't copy what others do, add to what others do by expanding their ideas with what you can do.