Arctic Yearbook 2014 | Page 162

162 Arctic Yearbook 2014 Contrary to the metropolitan bias, our results indicate that northern communities are not ‘hopeless places’ fully deprived of the creative capital. Creative ‘hot spots’ in the North exist, and could become the centers of regional reinvention. The analysis shows that the creative class in northern regions is diverse (represented by four major groups) and the groups are clustered (as expected). However, there is a considerable (and systematic) difference among various types of communities. For example, Aboriginal communities are strong on bohemia (cultural creative capital), but typically are weak on entrepreneurial capital (this mismatch points to a fundamental impediment to developing profitmaking cultural economies in Aboriginal communities). Overall, Aboriginality appears to be positively related to creativity. In respect to the conceptual discussions, it is important to point out that our findings, while being in line with the overall “creative capital theory,” counter some stylized representations and illuminate peculiar role, structure and geography of the CC in remote, peripheral areas. Arctic regions demonstrate the associations among CC indices closely resembling national patterns (thus indicating that the creative capital ‘logic’ is applicable in the peripheral context). The coincidence of statistical associations indicates that the major relationships are upheld, and the behavior of the creative class metrics is very much alike the rest of the country. At the same time, there are important differences, which emphasize the unique place of the Arctic in the creative capital theory. The following emerging theoretical themes define the conceptual and empirical substance of CC research in rural and remote areas. Increasing role of CC (and demand for CC) for economic well-being, fate control and human development in general. Although by a standard definition CC in the Arctic is underdeveloped, it could be argued that this representation no longer reflects the variability and diversity of Arctic regions, some of which demonstrate substantial levels of creativity that is based on non-codified informal knowledge and therefore might not conform to the stylized notion of CC. On the other hand, there is a strong theoretical argument that CC is critical for economic development and socio-economic transformation in the Arctic as it often becomes the engine of economic reinvention and revitalization of a region. Clustering and synergy of CC in the periphery: Correlation coefficients illustrate close associations among different creative class indices. Different groups of the creative capital are clustered in space. Applied Sciences (ASI), Bohemian (BI), Leadership (LI) and Entrepreneurship (EI) indices are strongly correlated. Different types of CC attract each other and reinforce region’s innovative potential. Separated or disjoined, these components are much less powerful. It is likely that a local synergy between CC and social capital (contrary to the metropolitan notion of the “weakness of strong ties”) is an important component of economic success. In addition, a strong creative capital coincides with top levels of attractiveness. The idea here is that ‘creative synergy’ is a critical condition for utilizing local creative capacities. Persistence of education and CC gaps: In terms of educational attainment (Talent Index) we observe the following persisting gaps (1) between most Arctic and southern metropolitan regions; (2) between urban/industrial Arctic territories and the rest of the Arctic; and (3) between Indigenous and nonIndigenous population in the Arctic. Petrov