Speaker: Tyler Denmead, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Cities across the globe are motivated by the idea of creativity to reverse years of disinvestment, deterioration, and White flight. Youth are imagined as key protagonists in this creative city discourse. Precocious young creatives are expected to kickstart dynamic start-ups and revitalize faded neighborhoods through their innovation, entrepreneurship, and "hip" cultural tastes. In this talk, I will investigate how youth who are racialized and poor – those who reside in these “faded” neighborhoods – figure into the creative city. I seek to uncover a paradox: through their creative placemaking, youth are implicated in revitalizing the creative city at their expense.

Thursday, February 18. 2:30 – 3:30. Sullivant Hall Room 131A.

Tyler Denmead is an Assistant Professor at the School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Denmead has spent his career facilitating and researching highly collaborative arts and humanities programs for youth. His current research examines disparities facing youth in creative cities. He is the founder of New Urban Arts, a nationally recognized youth arts collective for high school students and artists based in Providence, Rhode Island. His publications can be read in Visual Arts Research, Art Education, Journal of Arts and Communities, International Journal of Education through Art, and the International Journal of Education and the Arts.