How long Have I been thinking about Creative Scenes?

This is an article about my Sharpie Scribble Style artwork, in the local Kernersville, NC newspaper, from October of 2016.  As you can see, the idea of Creative Scenes was already on my mind then, six years ago.

I was trying seveal different blogs at the time, this was about 8 months before I started this blog (Steve Emig: The White Bear).  In some of those blogs, I wrote about the concept of  Creative Scenes, and the role they play in innovation, art, action sports, and even economic development.  I even published a blog called How to Make Your Lame City Better.  Really.  

Being stuck in North Carolina for ten years, unable to find ANY "real" job the whole time, I did a lot of thinking.  One big theme was "What would it take for area to NOT SUCK?"  Creative Scenes, inspired by what I had experienced in BMX freestyle and creative jobs (Wizard Publications, the AFA, Vision, TV crews, Cirque du Soleil), and also by Richard Florida's 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, was a big theme for me then.  Winston-Salem's Trade Street art scene actually grew, and was really cool when I left in 2018.  But there just weren't enough people buying art at any serious price to earn money from it.  You couldn't get past a hobby level, unless you sold a ton of art online.  I was selling more than most people, and I lived in a tent most of that time.  That meant a "real" job, and I couldn't get hired for anything there.  Except for about a year of driving a taxi while living in the cab, which was pointless.  

In any case, I've been thinking about Creative Scenes for a long time, and mentioned them to the reporter doing the interview.