Alf Rehn, Nina Kivinen, Astrid Huopalainen, Jutta Tailas & Mika Mård Åbo Akademi University

1. Cultural Capitals and Expectation management - Solution To A Crisis Or A Crisis In Itself?– The Case of Turku2011 Alf Rehn, Nina Kivinen, Astrid Huopalainen, Jutta Tailas & Mika Mård Åbo Akademi University

2. The Case • How does a city become “creative”? • the process through which the city of Turku establishes itself as a European Capital of Culture (ECOC) in 2011 • the manner in which specific things are invoked, repeated, and woven together into a narrative that the city was supposed to adopt as the story of itself. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

3. Studying a Capital of Culture • a longitudinal study of the events before, during and after the cultural capital year of 2011, running from 2009 to 2012 • a large empirical data set of interviews, observations, notes, documents, photographs and media outputs • Three different, yet complementary approaches: formal interviews and archival studies of documents & media coverage, numerous informal discussions and an ethnographical approach, aiming to live and experience the year 2011 by taking part in both official and in-official events in and around the city of Turku during the actual cultural capital year The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

4. Theoretical assumptions.. • Creativity must be ”performed”, creativity has an ideological component • performativity as the “reiterative power of discourse to produce the phenomena that it regulates and constrains” (Butler 1993), and the manner in which this plays out in the attempts to establish a city as something new • “the creative city” and the ECOC as something that needs to be performed rather than achieved. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

5. The Great Fire – Establishing the platform “Turku has been on fire dozens of times over the centuries. Now we burn again – with excitement and desire to make Turku an unforgettable experience for everyone” The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

6. Turku on Fire The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

7. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

8. ”The Creative City”and its Expectations • Florida, Landry & Bianchini • Regions are expected to flourish by embracing issues of creativity and culture. (Cultural initiatives will have a positive impact.)  • “The creative city” is mystified to an “utopia-like” ideology  • The expectations on cultural initiatives increases • E.g. events like ECC is seen as a steppingstone for developing cities (in this case Turku) into a future “creative city”. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

9. The Role of Expectations • The role of Expectations is important here, as is the management of the same, not only due to the possibility of fulfilling the same (or not), but actually work as a more complex network of emotions, projected ideas and envisioned futures. • Our interest lies in (Turku2011): • what form of expectations might occur? • Will the expectations for culture’s effect on the city be exaggerated or restrained? • And how are the recent boom in cultural initiatives’ role for regional economies affecting the expectations related to this specific mega-event in Turku? The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

10. The Opening January 2011 The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

11. EU’s expectations • “To highlight the richness and diversity of European cultures, and (…), foster a feeling of European citizenship”. (European Commission 2010) • Palmer-research (between 1995 and 2004) underpin expectations by showing that previous ECC cities have received a boost in cultural diversity and contributed to a positive changes in the city. • The concept of ECC is not limited to showcasing established cultural capitals, but a platform that enables chosen cities to become a cultural capital The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

12. Organizer’s expectations • "Turku 2011 is more than one year. It is a process through which Turku emerges as a pioneer and a creative centre of the Baltic Sea region cooperation, a city that produces and mediates arts and science” • “As Capital of Culture, Turku makes the year 2011 unforgettable for all Europe. Turku 2011 provides experiences and encounters that cross borders, renew everyday life and live on.” (Helander et al, 2007, 8) The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

13. ”With good culture we´ll get over this one as well” ”Lets stay on the culture line Åbo-Föri-Turku” The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

14. Either way there´s culture” ”Where culture is at home” The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

15. The projects’ expectations • ”I just hope that it (ECC Turku 2011) would be more visible and would wake up the whole of Finland and would get the decision-makers of Turku to commit and as far as I’ve understood they still haven’t realized what a great thing it is.” • “we can hope that the culture gets an extra...I mean...boost... “ • “I just hope that it gets the honor, space and attention that it deserves” • “One would hope that, that also…that something in the structure, not among the doers, would change permanently, and the meaning of it would be realized.” The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

16. Expectations in media • Imaginative expectations: • a fundamental change in Turku’s identity and major uplift in the image of Turku, both nationally and abroad’ • Increased interest in Culture • Restricted expectations: • Culture does good, but at this prize? • ECC a single event, how will 2012 look like? • Critical: • big price tag of the event • Cultural iniatives from outside Turku The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

17. Discussion • A diverse community will awaken diverse expectation to a fluidly defined “ECC” • The idea of ECC, to highlight the diversity in European cultures, can partly also explain the diversity of expectations • Carrying the name European Capital of Culture will establish a city’s view and perception of the concept of culture in itself • Critique The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

18. Summary • A diversity of expectations surface when a city markets itself as cultural, when it for a year carries the “flag of culture”, and claims to use the power of culture to become a creative city • Grandiose expectations by organizers (and in literature) on cultural initiatives are being felt as distant from the grass-root level • I.e. the promising, mystified and “utopia-like” concept of a “creative city” vs. those who try to eke out a living in the cultural sector. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

19. Conclusion • The discourse, mythology and ideology of the notion of “creative city” is important for creating the expected effects of cultural initiatives like ECC • But…. • At the same time, without an understanding of how expectations are created and managed, we run the risk of making grander and grander promises regarding the power of culture, and thus invite an almost inevitable backlash. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

20. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

21. This has been a presentation by the research group CREATIN´, Åbo Akademi University SPECIAL ISSUE IN SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: "Managing the Creative City” Guest editors:  Professor Alf Rehn Doctor Ann Rippin Professor Jussi Jauhiainen jtailas@abo.fi, mmard@abo.fi The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University

22. The Creatin-group, Åbo Akademi University