The Creative Underclass

Reviews / Votes

"Tyler Denmead offers a far-reaching look into the complexities of creative communities, implicating factors involving labor, economics, race, the arts, education, urban planning, and politics, all while joyfully, lovingly, and thoughtfully describing stories from young people's lives. Denmead describes these multiple perspectives and what young people taught him and his change of perception with humility. His book's credibility and power are even more compelling because of his capacity to comprehend and critique an institution he himself constructed. I'm in awe of all the intricacies and implications that Denmead has revealed." - Rebekah Modrak, author of (Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice) "Since the early 2000s we have regarded the creative class as those with the greatest access to capital, technology, and robust economic environments. Tyler Denmead reveals a portion of the creative class that is dynamic and generative and forgotten-low-income youth in underserved communities. This is a must-read for reimagining the creative talents of today's urban youth." - Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison "[This] book is written in a personal, engaging style and peppered with conversations between Denmead and the youth who offer a sense of hope through their clever, observant and deeply cognizant understandings of structural injustice. . . . It is important reading for those working with youth, in urban centers and within the context of the 'creative industry.'" - Darlene E. Clover (International Review of Education) "For those who are interested in cultural policy and youth programmes, this book is an important awakening for those who uncritically accept the discourse of creativity as a force for good. This study destabilizes the taken-for-granted assumption about arts activities as 'positive activities' through which young people can 'better themselves'. This book is a timely reminder that youth development programmes do not solve economic problems."

- Frances Howard (Cultural Sociology) "The Creative Underclass is a compelling example of how we can write about recent educational history without a detachment from the struggles of an author's conscience.... For historians of education this book reminds us of the tensions and contradictions of philanthropic work across the past two centuries."

- Lottie Hoare (History of Education) "The relationship between gentrification and culture is a fraught and complicated one, and there is no easy path. But through engaging with the creative strategies of the youth that Denmead profiles in The Creative Underclass, we might begin to envision a future city that enables the creativity of all, not 'creativity' as a luxury consumer product. This volume highlights the lived experiences of youth living through the challenges of gentrification. Planners and policymakers may find it to be an important corollary to more revenue-oriented visions of the 'creative city', exposing a deep rift between the experiences of Florida's 'creative class' and Denmead's 'creative underclass'. Those in the education sector, too, will find its exploration of inequality valuable, especially in considering the ways that even well-meaning arts programmes can replicate systems of race- and class-based inequalities in the face of gentrification."
- Kevin Ritter (LSE Review of Books) "The Creative Underclass is appropriate reading for undergraduate courses in Sociology, Geography, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, and Political Science.... The book is well organized and easy to follow." - Evelyn Ravuri (Journal of Urban Affairs) "Within the literature on urban renewal and gentrification, Denmead's contribution is important for the personal dimension of his analysis as well as for its consideration of how creativity, a perceived innately human ability, can be channeled and managed by economic elites to serve the end goal of gentrification." - Arthur Ivan Bravo (Exertions)