Last night Jon and I attended the “Working in a Creative Economy” event that was put on by the University of Oregon. (I am a Beaver, so it was a bit hard to step inside the White Stag building (which I admit is beautiful) and be immersed in Duck land… but I survived.)
The event was a panel discussion on how those in the creative industry can/should deal with the current economic situation on a personal and business level. The panelists included Jolie Giese from Nau/Horny Toad, Randy Higgins from Vizwerks, Steve Potestio from 52 Limited, and Susan Hoffman from W+K.
Overall, it was actually a really inspiring event. The attendance was huge (over 100 people) which is telling of how relevant the topic was. What I took away from it is a reminder that we all need to come together as a creative community and work with each other to help strengthen the industry as a whole. There was also a lot of great discussion about Oregon Creative Industries (OCI) and the work they are doing to try and unify the voice for the creative economy (creative services is one player) and give us a seat at the table. It’s tough times for a lot of people and agencies, but it’s also helping our industry realize that we need to support each other to remain a viable part of the economy.
Plus there were also some good laughs…Susan Hoffman threw out the F’bomb a few times and got the crowd energized.
-Erin
I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.