Creative City How creative is Munich?
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Where does Munich rank in international comparison? How relevant are the concepts of "creative city" and "creative class" today? And how creative is Munich? These questions were discussed at the Munich Urban Colab as part of the munich creative business week 2023.
Munich Urban Colab was official partner of this year's munich creative business week (mcbw) and as such hosted several workshops, panels and talk formats with international guests. On May 9th, 2023, Germany's largest design event featured the "Creative City" event, curated and moderated by Sabine Hansky, Director Program & Expert for Urban Development, and Professor Alexander Gutzmer, author and architecture publicist.
Compared to Milan and London, I feel there is great potential here. Munich has all the requirements to be a Creative City.Andrea Lissoni, Director of Haus der Kunst
Dr. Olaf Kranz, Head of the Competence Team Cultural and Creative Industries of the City of Munich, kicked off the evening with a keynote in which he presented, among other things, the concepts of the "Creative Class" (Richard Florida) and the "Creative City" (Charles Landry), demonstrating implications for the following debate. In addition to Dr. Olaf Kranz, Andrea Lissoni, Director of Haus der Kunst, and the artist Tamiko Thiel shared their personal experiences on stage. It turned out: audience and panel often see the same problems and opportunities for the creative scene in Munich.
Key Insights:
- Munich needs to risk more: the state capital has all the requirements to be a Creative City. What is missing is the willingness of gallery owners to go new ways, to take risks and to be more provocative. Andrea Lissoni sees great potential in Munich and mentioned, among other things, the experimental, interdisciplinary cooperation between the Haus der Kunst and the Bavarian State Opera.
- Artists and creative people need more visibility: There are excellent exhibitions in Munich, but they are hardly reported on and therefore get too little attention - Tamiko Thiel in particular urged this. Another point of criticism from the panel discussion: There are too few galleries in the city, which means that artists lack a platform for their work.
- The exchange between technology, science, creative and start-up scene must be strengthened: Munich is a startup and technology location, but the cooperation with the creative scene must be intensified and promoted. Here, the Munich Urban Colab, the Competence Team Cultural and Creative Industries and the Haus der Kunst can play an important role.
- More events are needed at which artists can network with collectors, gallery owners and museums - as it is already the case at VARIOUS OTHERS.
Afterwards, the participants had the opportunity to network and continue the thoughts from the panel discussion. Now it is up to all of us to implement the ideas from this inspiring evening and create new synergies.
Impressions (photo credit: Bert Willer)
