Our New Cultural Revolution

September 24, 2010

Interview with Patricia Martin, author of the book Rengen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer - and What It Means to Your Business

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Mike Carruthers:
Even though the economy continues to struggle a bit there is a cultural and creative renaissance going on in this country.

Patricia Martin:
Let's look at the enrollments in art school, up twenty-five to forty percent depending upon the school - and that's compared to ten years ago. More students are applying to art schools than they are business schools, today.
 

Patricia Martin, author of the book Rengen... 

More consumers attend museums, historical sites, zoos and aquariums than they do all of the professional sports combined - including auto racing.

Now we've heard that we spend way too much time vegging out in front of the TV or in front of the computer screen, however…

Sixty-three percent of the American public say that their number one leisure activity is reading for pleasure. There are over a million informal book clubs that meet in people's homes and share ideas about books.

The business opportunities created by this cultural renaissance, says Patricia, are staggering.

What's different now is that people are not only consuming, they're producing. So when you look at U-Tube you have over twenty million videographers around the world contributing creative output. Anytime you can sort of invite the consumer to co-create with you, you're going to have a winner.