This one-hour online webinar is for people working within a local authority who are wondering how it’s possible to bring creativity into strategic planning in a meaningful way.

Taking place on Wednesday 27 October, 11am-12pm, our keynote speaker will be Charles Landry. Landry is an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change. He is currently a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. He invented the concept of the Creative City in the late 1980’s. Its focus is how cities can create the enabling conditions for people and organisations to think, plan and act with imagination to solve problems and develop opportunities.

Landry’s latest work, ‘The Creative Bureaucracy’ highlights the human perspective. It understands that people are at the heart of any bureaucratic system. It puts the lived experience of working within or with a bureaucracy centre-stage. A bureaucracy is not only a structure or ‘organigram’ with functional relationships and roles. It is a group of people with lives, emotions, aspirations, energy, passion and values. Landry believes that shifting thinking from a ‘no because’ culture to a ‘yes, if’ culture within a bureaucracy can be empowering, and that it is possible to achieve.

The Creative Ireland Programme supports Culture and Creativity teams in local authorities to deliver five-year Culture and Creativity Strategies which are unique to each locale. The cross-cutting expertise available in the Culture and Creativity Teams continuously demonstrate the flexible and agile approaches needed to implement long-term place making initiatives. Two exemplar projects will be presented as part of the webinar.

"Landry's latest work, ‘The Creative Bureaucracy’ highlights the human perspective, it understands that people are at the heart of any bureaucratic system"

RIOT: SLIGO – In March 2021 the Culture and Creativity Team in Sligo County Council asked the hard questions about how the values of culture, community and business can be mutually beneficial. In a series of curated conversations with a cross-section of experts and innovators, from places and projects that have been transformed through ground-breaking regenerational collaborations. RIOT: SLIGO looked at how to rethink Sligo Town, and design its potential future. A future that can be shaped by creativity, imagination, innovations, heritage, ability to work together  – and culture.  A number of recommendations from the conference have been taken on board by Sligo County Council to inform future strategies and Joeleen Lynch, Public Art Project Manager in Sligo County Council will present.

Ardú Cork – In 2020, under the Government’s July Stimulus Package, the Creative Ireland Programme also provided additional funding amounting to €1.75 million to local authorities designed to enable a broadening of the range of supported disciplines and genres and provide for additional opportunities for public participation in, or engagement with, artistic, cultural and creative activities and programmes. A wonderful example of the scale of what was achieved in 2020 is Ardú Cork, a Street Art Initiative celebrating Cork city’s traditions, history, resolution, and art. The project was designed as a means of re-invigorating Cork city in a safe space during COVID, whilst also exploring the phenomenal story that was Cork in 1920 and now. The murals received an overwhelming positive response from the public and have added vibrancy to the cultural landscape of Cork City centre by revitalising the areas of the city they inhabit. Michelle Carew, Arts Officer, Cork City Council will present.

To register your place at The Creative Bureaucrat Webinar, click here.