The story so far...

... 

After a month of overtime work, and a few weeks of relax, it's dissertation mode on full.


I have received a feedback from my proposal, and this is the main things I need to put my thoughts on:

# Research objectives need to be put in the broader sense, which makes more sense, as it is an academic piece of work;
# Decide whether I want to look at creativity in tourism or creative tourism. There is a fine difference. 

Also I have to decide on the word limits on each of my components for the dissertation.

At the moment what I believe is the generic structure of a dissertation is this:

1) Title page;
2) Abstract;
3) Introduction;
4) Literature review;
5) Methodology;
6) Findings and Discussion;
7) Conclusion;
8) References;
9) Appendices.


For Lit review and Methodology I believe will have to do at least 3500-4000 words on each section; Introduction + Conclusion will be around the 1000 mark; Findings and Discussions will have to be around 5000-6000 as well, all in all rounding to 16 000 words. 

Scary......

                                                       ...... Even more scarier thought


Next time - more thoughts on this! =]

Dissertation topic

After long and thorough discussions, a topic was born.

The role of creativity in cultural regeneration. A case study of Folkestone.

And a presentation was delivered in late March, a link for which you can see below:

The role of creativity in cultural regeneration from Simeon Katsarov

In the next few posts I'll start discussing my literature review development and other points of view.

Creativity in Folkestone. . .

I believe that creativity and seaside goes hand-by-hand. There is not a single seaside town I have been that is not somehow influenced by a creative notion here and there. It is probably the liminal sense of living beside the seaside, I do not think there is one answer.

Creativity in Folkestone is everywhere in the town, from the permanent works of the Folkestone Triennial, to the community involved events of Strange Cargo (an arts organisation, born and based in Folkestone).
From the small businesses in the Creative Foundation's Creative Quarter to the fascinating ever-changing exhibitions at Georges House Gallery.

And yet, if I talk to people that haven't got interests in art, somehow they don't appreciate the amount of work it is thrown from the creative industries in this town.
Personally for me the town is divided in four types of Folkestoners:
1) London-working (or other bigger town), which we rarely see in town;
2) Low-income workers - predominantly carers of various kinds, retail, etc.;
3) Middle-income workers - estate agents, bank workers, etc.;
4) Creative industries - galleries, photo studios, art shops, independent artists, even hairdressers and florists (I would think of them as people that make products with a creative touch).

Does everybody gets why there is a Creative Quarter? Or is it just where the 'arty-farty' people reside?


Today I'll be visiting Brighton and will be looking at their creative scene and will try to talk with people to see if they feel there is a segregation as I feel there is in Folkestone.

Creativity

CREATIVITY:

Combining

Relations with

Each

Artistic

Thread of

Ingenuity.

Various

Innovations

Transformed by

You

History has shown us that creativity is the key factor in producing authentic products that can last.

Whether it's a painting, an architectural piece of work, or even the knitted piece that you have in your house from your grandmother's mother, it is important for everybody to be able to recognise creativity and encourage it.

This is the main reason I wanted to do my master's dissertation on creativity and Folkestone! To be able to foresee something, you have to find its true foundations in the past!

Folkestone

The town of Folkestone is located on the South East coast, very close to Dover, and is the link to Europe, as the EuroTunnel to France was built next to the town.

This is the town where many famous Brits have lived (briefly or all their lives):

• William Harvey (the discoverer of blood circulation) was born;
• HG Wells (the author of many science fiction novels) lived in the area of Folkestone and Sandgate;
• Audrey Hepburn lived some of her childhood in Elham (near Folkestone);
• Charles Dickens wrote 'Little Dorrit';

and many more. (if you know of some, please do leave a comment).

Folkestone has many hotels and B&Bs as any other seaside town.

Also is linked very much with both World Wars, as it was the exit point of many troops. This is why there is a remembrance road (the actual road where the troops will travel up to the harbour to get on the boats).

Every year there is a service in honour of the fallen heroes, and a local crochet group 'Purl Queens' crochet poppies to put on the Remembrance road.

The next post will be about Creative and Cultural events that have shaped the face of the town of Folkestone. Stay tuned.

As always, please do comment with suggestions, criticisms, etc. :)

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, that will revolve around my dissertation for my MA in International Tourism Management at the University of Greenwich, London.

My research areas for my dissertation will be around the ideas of Creative Tourism and the seaside town of Folkestone.

In here I will comment on my progress on getting the whole thing together! :)

And here is a lovely pic I took during the snow days

Please read, comment and have fun,

Simeon