Creative Kenosha? Measuring Community Tolerance through Alternative Methods — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Creative Kenosha? Measuring Community Tolerance through Alternative Methods

Name: Adam Larson
Major: Biology
Hometown: Kenosha, Wisconsin
Faculty Sponsor: Katharine Keenan
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project

Abstract

Several arts-based projects are underway in downtown Kenosha with hopes of revitalizing downtown and building an arts community. While these efforts are to be commended, it is not currently known if Kenosha could support a larger arts community, or sustain what sociologist Richard Florida would call a large creative class. Florida outlines that a city requires technology, talent, and tolerance to become home to a large creative class, and these requirements have not been applied to Kenosha to see if it could host a large creative class. This research seeks to address the third criteria through an individual qualitative lens separate from Florida’s methodology. Several informal interviews were conducted with people active in the downtown revitalization efforts, and one formal interview with Mike Bjorn, owner of Mike Bjorn’s Fine Clothing. The existence and continued success of Mike Bjorn’s Fine Clothing in a suboptimal location and in a highly competitive industry suggests that Kenosha has some degree of tolerance not shown in statistics.

Poster file