Nancy Duxbury is a global leader in building out the potential of Cultural and Creative Industries.(CCIs).
Based out of Portugal, she is a member of the European Expert Network on Culture, and is almost a year into a 4-year, 13 country, $6 million project to advance the ability of non-urban CCIs to act as drivers of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability.
Nancy was generous with a few hours of her time the other day so I could explain our efforts here to prioritize creative economic development.
I was floating on a cloud by the time we ended our zoom call. Nancy confirms we are on the right track, and was impressed with the work we have already accomplished to start filling gaps in physical and digital supports for the arts and culture sector.
Nancy's resume is jam-packed with incredible accomplishments. Here are three highlights immediately relevant to our work:
Founder of the Creative City Network of Canada (2003) and recipient of their 2017 award of honour
Lead researcher on Portugal's CREATOUR (2016-2022) project - Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas
Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and Thompson Rivers University (this one matters because it brings her back to BC every now and then)
CREATOUR is such an amazing project that it deserves its own blog post (coming soon!)
Here is an award-winning, 40-minute documentary about the CREATOUR project.