The leading global Conference on the creative economy and culture-led regeneration, runs 5th-8th November 2006 in Newcastle, Gateshead. The programme is packed with inspiring examples of culture and creativity as a force for mainstream economic development across the world:

• A pre-conference seminar ‘Introduction to UK Creative Industries’
• New York and London: what does it mean to be ‘world creative hubs’?
• Transforming Seoul: the extraordinary Cheonggyecheon restoration
• The culture-led regeneration of Old Havana
• Inclusion in media: films from Brazil, Australia, Bosnia, Slovakia and UK
• New cultural forms, new kinds of economy: the virtual world ‘Second Life’ and the massively multiplayer online game ‘Lineage’
• Major UK developments: the DCMS Creative Economy Programme, the new National Design Centre and ‘Design of the Times’ initiative.
• City policy in Amsterdam, Shanghai, Singapore, Washington and more
• Rural creativity in Poland, Maine and England
• Creativity and the Remaking of the Middle East
• ‘Creativity after Crisis’: reports from Bosnia, India and New Orleans
• Participative workshops on creative investment and online meetings
• Advice from London and Los Angeles about regional screen agencies
• Global cultural diversity: are we entering a golden age, or an era of mass extinctions? Discussants from Canada and India.

Creative Clusters 2006 takes place in Norman Foster’s world-famous Sage music venue in Newcastle Gateshead. For more programme information, to see who is coming and to register for the conference, go to www.creativeclusters.com.