The Role of Montréals Underground in the Creative Process
A pervasive creative milieu generates the kind of connections that make Montréal a must-be place to do business, in part by enabling the spill-acrosses that create innovation within and across businesses in a region. The Montréal underground helps catalyze these connections and is major talent magnet.
The challenge is that most employers, especially those from outside the region, dont fully understand what the underground is or how it actually adds value to their business. Discreet, an entertainment technology software developer, recognizes that value. It cultivates a bottom-up
engineering development environment through academic internships and uses the soft cultural aspects of the Montréal regions clubs and art scene to get potential employees stuck in the region. In this way, the
underground scene helps attract and retain these highly sought after employees. Diesel, a local marketing company goes so far as to give its own employees grants of up to $50,000 to develop and pursue their own creative/artistic opportunities after hours. The company produces the events and items, but the individuals profi t from them.
A new rhythm or sound from a local techno band can become part of a video game. In many instances, an artist having an opening at a local gallery is the graphic designer of product packaging, and the DJ is doing
sound design for the video game. The underground also serves as a viral, word-of-mouth, and very low cost communications and distribution
channel for emerging artists and designers. Its barriers to entry are low almost non-existent which provides the techie-by-day; artist-by-night with a channel to perform and exhibit. The general climate of the
underground is edgy and experimental. The underground creates connections and provides stickiness and
magnetism for Montréal.
Of the 33 interviews completed during this project, 22 were with individuals from fi rms. The fi rm size ranged from 3 to over 6,000, with an average of 555 and a median fi rm size of 83. Among all 22 fi rms, respondents
estimated that 49% of their employees a remarkably high number had an [outside] part-time job, hobby or passion related to arts, design, or culture. Although creative and design fi rms were included in the sample,
so were the major aerospace technology manufacturing companies in the Montréal region (Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney), along with consulting, IT development, architecture, design, and other company types.
Reaching outside the fi rm to establish connections is an important option for employees to have. Equally important are the ability of a fi rm to tap into its own employees creative energies and having a region with
the creative milieu to allow employees such pursuits. Occasionally, a fi rm will lose an employee when her outside job becomes successful enough that the day job is no longer needed. Rather than being perceived as
a negative by the fi rm, several fi rms mentioned that they use success stories like these as a recruiting tool to help attract new talent to the fi rm.
http://www.creativeclass.org/acrobat/Catalytix_Montreal_020405.pdf
Please note that this report was writtent by NYers
A pervasive creative milieu generates the kind of connections that make Montréal a must-be place to do business, in part by enabling the spill-acrosses that create innovation within and across businesses in a region. The Montréal underground helps catalyze these connections and is major talent magnet.
The challenge is that most employers, especially those from outside the region, dont fully understand what the underground is or how it actually adds value to their business. Discreet, an entertainment technology software developer, recognizes that value. It cultivates a bottom-up
engineering development environment through academic internships and uses the soft cultural aspects of the Montréal regions clubs and art scene to get potential employees stuck in the region. In this way, the
underground scene helps attract and retain these highly sought after employees. Diesel, a local marketing company goes so far as to give its own employees grants of up to $50,000 to develop and pursue their own creative/artistic opportunities after hours. The company produces the events and items, but the individuals profi t from them.
A new rhythm or sound from a local techno band can become part of a video game. In many instances, an artist having an opening at a local gallery is the graphic designer of product packaging, and the DJ is doing
sound design for the video game. The underground also serves as a viral, word-of-mouth, and very low cost communications and distribution
channel for emerging artists and designers. Its barriers to entry are low almost non-existent which provides the techie-by-day; artist-by-night with a channel to perform and exhibit. The general climate of the
underground is edgy and experimental. The underground creates connections and provides stickiness and
magnetism for Montréal.
Of the 33 interviews completed during this project, 22 were with individuals from fi rms. The fi rm size ranged from 3 to over 6,000, with an average of 555 and a median fi rm size of 83. Among all 22 fi rms, respondents
estimated that 49% of their employees a remarkably high number had an [outside] part-time job, hobby or passion related to arts, design, or culture. Although creative and design fi rms were included in the sample,
so were the major aerospace technology manufacturing companies in the Montréal region (Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney), along with consulting, IT development, architecture, design, and other company types.
Reaching outside the fi rm to establish connections is an important option for employees to have. Equally important are the ability of a fi rm to tap into its own employees creative energies and having a region with
the creative milieu to allow employees such pursuits. Occasionally, a fi rm will lose an employee when her outside job becomes successful enough that the day job is no longer needed. Rather than being perceived as
a negative by the fi rm, several fi rms mentioned that they use success stories like these as a recruiting tool to help attract new talent to the fi rm.
http://www.creativeclass.org/acrobat/Catalytix_Montreal_020405.pdf
Please note that this report was writtent by NYers
