STAGING THE COMPETITIVE AND COLLABORATIVE CREATIVE CITY: L'OREAL LUMINATO HEATHER MCLEAN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, CANADA May 2,2012 © Heather McLean, 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-90361-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-90361-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada I! Abstract In 2007, Luminato, a new international festival of creativity and urban "revitalization," bursted on to the Toronto arts scene promising to "make over " the city with collaborative, contemporary art. The festival encouraged elite and grassroots arts organizations, Business Improvement Associations (BIAs), residents, and artists to animate the city's downtown core with artistic offerings. While some media pundits celebrated these moments of artistic cross-pollination, other artists and activists critiqued it; they thought it was another marketing spectacle that did little to support the city's artistic communities pressured by gentrification and diminishing access to public grants. This dissertation traces these tensions and argues that Luminato, a neoliberal urban development and arts policy and practice assemblage, thrived in a moment when public sector urban governance capacities as well as public sector arts funding organizations were cut back while new, entrepreneurial-oriented programs were "rolled out." Within these dynamics, an eclectic and multiscalar network of provincial and federal funders, corporate funders, banks, philanthropists, representatives of elite arts organizations, Business Improvement Association (BIA) organizations, and artists consolidated the power and reach of powerful creative industries and urban development professionals at the expense of grassroots and underrepresented artists. This dissertation also demonstrates how the diverse actors mobilized by the festival assemblage, as well as actors outside of the assemblage, created counter-spaces in which they sparked moments Ill of disruption, even resistance. Critical artists and activists ~ often overlooked and underestimated in critical writing about creative city policies — collectively created alternative creative city assemblages rather than merely normalizing a neoliberal script favouring consumption and individualistic competition. I contend that these feminist artistic and activist practices troubled narratives about the reach and strength of masculinist neoliberal urban policies and practices. IV Acknowledgments I would first like to thank all those who supported me throughout my dissertation journey. Without their encouragement, feedback, and care this work would not have been possible. My supervisor, Barbara Rahder, reminded me to value my diverse work experiences outside the academy and patiently read multiple drafts. Katharine Rankin helped me hone my research and writing skills. She applauded my interdisciplinary instincts throughout this process. Both of these women are important feminist mentors and I owe them deep thanks and gratitude. Laura Levin always asked challenging questions and provided thoughtful feedback as my PhD committee member. Wendy Larner, Alison Bain and Jennifer Foster served as my external examiners, and this dissertation has benefited from their generous and critical engagement. I especially appreciate Wendy for urging me to "be brave," reading my work closely, and accompanying her critical comments with clear and direct advice. A warm hug and thanks to the rowdy CUPE 3903 Northwest gate picket line crew: Jen Cypher, Joanna Adamiak, Maggie Hutcheson, Parastou Saberi and Megan Hilman. Thanks also to Colleen Bell, Peter Brogan, David Hugill, Katie Mazer, Claire Major and Jessica Wilczak. You have all taught me much, kept me sane, and made me laugh throughout this process. Thanks to my sister and brother in-law, Alison and Andrew, for emotional support and delicious Sunday night dinners; love to my brother David for his encouragement all the way from Haida Gwaii; and also thanks to my sweet little nieces and nephew - Iris, Amy and Emmett — for hang outs at the skating rink, park and splash pad. This dissertation is dedicated to my mom and dad, Dean and Wendy McLean, two generous, down-to-earth people who practice social justice and inclusive community building on a daily basis. V Table of Contents Introduction 1 Digging Into "World Class" Culture: My Focus and Objectives 3 Guiding Questions 7 Theoretical Frameworks 9 Methods 23 Chapter Summaries 39 Chapter One - Learning From Luminato 45 Neoliberal Policies, Boosters and the Creative City 49 Toronto City Summit to the Rescue 56 A Creative Facelift for Toronto 73 Conclusion 78 Chapter Two - Putting Make-up on a Corpse? The Neoliberalization of Canadian Arts Policies and the Creative City Species 81 The Exclusionary Politics of Creative City Culture Planning 85 Funding Cuts, Festivals and Culture Workers 92 Creativity, Exclusion and Precarity 103 Conclusion 110 Chapter Three - Staging Interactive Creativity 112 Assembling the "Creative City": Governmentality, Subjectivities and Performance 114 Free and Accessible Creativity? 122 Assembling the Interactive and Multicultural Creative City 128 each hand as they are called 132 Assembling, Reassembling, Rupture and Resistance 143 Conclusion 147 Chapter Four: Illuminating displacement 148 Interactive Art and Social Practice: Normalizing and Troubling Gentrification 151 Interactive Arts and the Regent Park Redevelopment 158 Exploration, Discovery and the Colonization of Regent Park 172 You're the People Tearing Down My Home! 178 Performing Dissent 183 Conclusion 186 VI Chapter Five: Taking Back the Streets With Culture: Feminist Art Practices and Alternative Creative City Assemblages 185 Neoliberal Culture Polices, Practices and Performances 190 Nuit Blanche: Illuminating the Streets with Participatory Art 199 Whose Streets? The Vine People Strike Back 201 Gendered Spaces, Erasure and Contestation 208 Emerging Spaces for Critique 213 Embodied Knowledge and Border Crossings 220 Conclusion 225 Conclusion 209 References 243 Appendices 256 VII List of Figures Figure 1. Tony Gagliano and David Pecaut discuss Luminato with journalist Murray Whyte 58 Figure 2. Daniel Libeskind's crystal housing design attached to the Royal Ontario Museum 61 Figure 3. How Luminato Failed Toronto 83 Figure 4. OPSEU/AGO workers demand better jobs 99 Figure 5. Luminato's outdoor dance party in Dundas Square 122 Figure 6. 1000 Tastes of Toronto 126 Figure 7. Toronto's Bustling Kensington Market 134 Figure 8. Cecilia Berkovic's poster reflecting each hand's three components 136 Figure 9. Curator Kim Simon and artist Reena Katz in Now Magazine 141 Figure 10. Artscape's proposed Regent Park Arts Centre 161 Figure 11. Dan Bergeron's wheat paste images of Luminato residents 166 Figure 12. AGO staff work collaborate with youth in the Streetscape workshop 168 Figure 13. Bloor Night participants in front of the House of Lancaster 205 Figure 14. Pamela Mathura, Uzma Shakir and Heather Haynes - the Tired of All This Creativity Blah, Blah panel, Toronto Free Gallery 217 Figure 15. Creative Class Struggle fliers demanding affordable housing and childcare distributed at the Toronto Free Gallery Town Hall 223 1 Introduction For ten days in June 2007, downtown Toronto's recently revitalized neighbourhood streets, art galleries and museums were a-buzz with interactive arts interventions and cultural offerings programmed by L 'Oreal Luminato, Toronto's new festival of arts and creativity. The festival appeared on Toronto's art scene in 2007; in 2010 Luminato's CEO Janice Price claimed that this festival was meant