For Immediate Release
Contact: Catherine Hedgeman 518-708-6350
CEO@TheStakeholdersFoundation.org

GROUP TAPS ALBANY’S “CREATIVE CLASS” TO BRING RICHARD FLORIDA TO TOWN

The Stakeholders Hires Duncan Crary to Promote Best-Selling Author’s Talk at Palace, Sept. 24

ALBANY, NY (7-15-09)—A local nonprofit has engaged Albany’s “creative class” to promote an upcoming talk by global best-selling author Richard Florida.

On Sept. 24, at the Palace Theatre, Florida will speak about the concepts in his latest book, “Who’s Your City? – How the Creative Economy is Making the Place Where You Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life.” Florida’s earlier books explored the importance of the creative class, an emergent class of independent intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs.

The presentation is co-hosted by The Stakeholders, Inc., and The Center for Economic Growth. General Electric is the presenting sponsor.

To promote the event, The Stakeholders, Inc., has hired independent creative consultant Duncan Crary, of Duncan Crary Communications.

“The Stakeholders is bringing Richard Florida to our Capital City to start the discussion about how and why the people of our region should invest in a creative economy,” said Catherine Hedgeman, president & CEO of The Stakeholders, Inc. “We’re proud to have hired Duncan to promote this event, because he is a member of our region’s growing creative class who has chosen to make this area his home.”

This February, Crary, 30, founded his own new media and creative consulting business in Troy. In May, he partnered with Dutch Apple Cruises to host a successful riverboat commute to work between Albany and Troy. A former newspaper reporter and magazine editor, Crary now hosts and produces “The KunstlerCast,” a weekly audio podcast featuring urban planning author James Howard Kunstler.

“Many young creative professionals like me are happily choosing to make the Capital Region our home,” Crary said. “Richard Florida’s talk will help the community-at-large to better understand the vital role that the creative class will play in our region’s new economy. I hope that it will also inspire young professionals to stake a claim in the places we have chosen to live, because these are our cities.”

The mission of The Stakeholders is to cultivate an informed and active creative class dedicated to building diverse and sustainable communities throughout New York’s Capital Region.

Though Crary is the first paid consultant on the team, more than a dozen creative class professionals are serving as volunteers for the Stakeholders to orchestrate the Richard Florida event. More than a dozen local businesses and organizations have signed on to sponsor the talk.

Richard Florida is director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. His other books include “The Rise of the Creative Class,” “Cities and the Creative Class” and “The Flight of the Creative Class.”

For information about the Sept. 24 presentation by Richard Florida, visit: http://www.yourcitycapregion.com.

For information about The Center for Economic Growth, visit: http://www.ceg.org.

For information about The Stakeholders, visit: http://www.thestakeholdersfoundation.org and
http://www.thestakeholders.org.

For information about Duncan Crary Communications, visit: http://DuncanCrary.com.

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