Creative Communities is pleased to offer an article by guest blogger Petra Cooper, founder and owner of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. in Prince Edward County.

On December 18th, 2009, the Financial Times of London published "Britain is Now the Big Cheese in Europe," an article celebrating the revival of cheese making in the UK.  It told a surprising tale.

Creative Communities is pleased to present the second in a two-part series on the Creative Economy for small cities.

Part One of this series, explored how livability and sustainability foster the Creative Economy in small cities as much as the traditional “3 T’s”: tolerance, technology, and talent.  It is equally important to note that many of the growth strategies associated with the creative model have been perceived as less successful in smaller Canadian cities than in their metropolitan counterparts.

Creative Communities is pleased to present the first in a two-part series on the Creative Economy for small cities.

In the creative attraction model of urban development popularized by the University of Toronto’s Richard Florida, Canada’s small cities sometimes seem like losers by default. In a version of creativity measured by technology parks, numbers of immigrants, and so-called “bohemian” occupations, cities like Sudbury, Moncton and Kingston routinely appear at the bottom of both real and imagined hierarchies of city success. How, then, should smaller Canadian communities—ones that are often grappling with de-industrialization and population decline—go about attracting educated, diverse individuals and building a foundation for a future in the creative economy?

On February 16th, Dr. Kevin Stolarick, Research Director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, visited the Monieson Centre to discuss issues and challenges with the rural Creativity Economy (CE).  My own research has given me the opportunity to study the CE in smaller cities in Northern Ontario.