This year we are celebrating the seventh anniversary of our activity. We are concerned chiefly with entrepreneurship in culture as well as with creative industry; therefore, I would like to discuss with you the latter issue. What is the city's role in the development of creative industry in 2012? Last year was abundant in many technical activities – strategy, logo and slogan were created. Which main tasks would you like to set the City Council and your workers for 2012 regarding the development of creative industry in Łódź?

The Development Strategy of Łódź, as the center of creative industries, is not an initiative of a company that prepared the strategy, but it is a reflection of the city's character, our heritage and achievements. In 2012 I will focus primarily on the implementation of its objectives. People in creative industries need special conditions at the onset of their business activities. I would like to facilitate it through the creation of space on preferential terms in which they could start developing their passions. We will look for ways of attracting small developing creative companies and in the future maybe also bigger companies. 



Will you also include opening new companies?

Yes, this is the basic step. As you may know, we run the project "The Young in Łódź" („Młodzi w Łodzi”). In my opinion, this is one of the initiatives which are really successful. We want to continue its development and offer new kind of scholarships for up to three years for starting and running a company in creative industry. 


Do you consider representational Piotrkowska Street as a suitable place where such people should be attracted to and where they could rent office spaces?

We definitely want to do it on Piotrkowska Street. In Łódź, we have some places with great atmosphere but we need young and creative people on Piotrkowska Street to bring it back to life. Now, we would like to breathe fresh life into this street; therefore, we will not privatize villas and palaces which the Council owns. We will give this space back to young people. I would also like the "Priest’s Mill" ("Księży Młyn") to become a creative quarter. It could be Łódź Greenville with open work spaces. We would like to locate there, for instance, dormitories for art students.



"Księży Młyn" could be the place for young people with questing minds and who are starting-up, while Piotrkowska Street could be the place for entrepreneurs.

There are no strict rules when it comes down to creativity.

The problem is mostly with management bodies of properties owned by the Council and with the Department of Buildings of Łódź City Council (Wydział Budynków i Lokali UMŁ). Clearly, you have a lot of hard work to do – in the Council – to change the clerks’ habits and regulations which are unprofitable for entrepreneurs.

These are local regulations, which we want to change now. New strategy is being created, which generally will deal with council properties. 



Are these changes for 2012?



When the strategy is ready – I hope it will be in the first quarter of 2012 – we will propose new legal solutions enabling its implementation to the City of Łódź Office. According to the law, it is prohibited to treat some groups on preferential terms which activity is particularly important for us. 

Last year we finished the project for Łódź City Council which included a weekly newsletter devoted to creative industries. We were meeting with entrepreneurs from this industry in Łódź – we are also such an entrepreneur – and the main problem, which is clear both from our and their experience, is that the City Council gives no chance to locate businesses on Piotrkowska Street. What exactly are you going to do to improve both the law and the development of companies in Łódź? I know a case of a girl who wanted to open her creative business on Piotrkowska Street but she could not since for a year and a half she was deluded. In the meantime, she moved to another city. It is a pity that such people leave Łódź.

Providing working conditions for young, talented and ambitious people is essential to me. You are the future of this city. I do not create environment just for myself but, in reality, for you, for the next generation. It is you who are to take over the reins.



How would you like to increase the awareness of creative industry among clerks from different departments? I do not mean the people from your environment, since they clearly have vast knowledge, but the people who are further away. Recently, on Toya TV there was a program in which the presenter asked clerks if they knew what creative industry is. The majority answered they did not know. Clerks received our newsletter but they did not read it. 

We are creating the strategy so that clerks know it at any time of the day or night and could recite its major points from memory. The council will not be able to progress unless all clerks understand the objectives of the strategy and unless they want to pursue the direction it is pointing to.



Should there be some forms of penalties introduced?

If the clerks are not going to understand and internalize this document as their own, I will not be able to change the city on my own. I need a team, and this team is clerks – regardless of the place at the hierarchy level.

Hanna Zdanowska, Major of Łódź

 

It is because they are the first who have contact with the entrepreneurs.

The Council's image is created everyday during interactions with the residents of Łódź. Those little, tiny things say a lot about the quality of life in the city. Those are: abilities, short time of response and enabling smooth communication between the council and the citizens. 



The change of attitudes among citizens is the most important since they are the ones who, speaking about the city, are the best medium of the city's promotion.

A normal person, a citizen satisfied with life in his own city, is always the best promotion of the city. Much of the citizens' respect can be lost as a result of the lack of a simple decision or a badly made decision. Consequently, we are put off and not attracted to ourselves. The Council is for the citizens of Łódź and not the other way round. 



What should be done to encourage inhabitants to pay taxes?

If they identify with the city, paying taxes is not so burdensome. 



And which tasks are going to be your priorities in 2012?

The strategy is a tool with which I will be able to implement these tasks. Without the strategy it would be very difficult. The strategy is going to be reflected in the budget – in money spent on investments which are the most important for the city. 

Equally essential is creating new job opportunities. I need to keep young, creative and talented people in Łódź. Regeneration, both social and structural, is necessary. 



As you have already mentioned, the strategy will be drown up in the first quarter of 2012. We hope it will be devised and that it could be implemented, fulfilling all the tasks it includes. How about the New Center of Łódź?

This is a long term project. How long will it take?

I do not want the situation when only the train station is created with nothing around it. On the contrary, the train station is to start regeneration – the sewing of the city torn apart by railways. In connection with this, we need to draw up guidelines for the development of this area – as functional as to all activities be funded from private money. The city is not as rich as to develop 90 hectares. Such conditions should be created as to enable investors to create the New Center of Łódź. In my opinion, this project will take 12-15 years. This time is necessary to develop the whole area. 



To sum up, is Łódź going to be the city of creative industries?

Everything is in your hands. I can only say one thing – Łódź will definitely create conditions for the development of this industry. Everything will be up to the people directly concerned. With your creativity, youthful enthusiasm, optimism and especially your knowledge, which is completely different from ours due to its modern perspective, you can do a lot for Łódź – for Łódź the promised land, not the industrial and textile city but for Łódź of creative industries. 



The interview took place on 16th December 2011 in Łódź. The interview was authorized for publication.

With Hanna Zdanowska, the Mayor of Łódź, talked Maja Ruszkowska-Mazerant