Tourism and government need local cultural strategy
The best destination work does not reveal a city to outsiders. It helps outsiders understand how to arrive with attention and how to leave value behind.
Do not start with the brochure
A tourism campaign usually begins with a desired story: creative city, hidden gem, cultural capital. Local cultural strategy begins earlier. Who lives here? Which spaces are under pressure? What do visitors misunderstand? Which artists and organizers should be paid for their knowledge?
Design participation, not consumption
Tourism can support independent culture when it directs attention and money toward local people without turning them into scenery. Governments can help by funding access, fair compensation, small spaces, cultural mapping, and long-term partnerships rather than only buying promotional moments.
Berlin, NYC, and the global question
Berlin and New York have distinct scenes, histories, and pressures. A useful method can travel globally, but the answer must be rebuilt locally. Cultural intelligence is the discipline of knowing when a format should not be copied.
Developing a destination or public cultural strategy?
Contact Shona about local research, artist-led tourism, place narrative, cultural mapping, and community partnerships.
A service insight based on Shona’s public writing and the Countercult approach to independent culture; it is not a claim that Countercult represents every local community.
This piece was informed by Shona Neary’s writing, conversations, and thinking around independent culture, artists, and place.
editorial process: Our Journals are pulled from our writings over the years to get information out as quickly and as widely as possible, and to get to what matters: finding each other and claiming our seat in the circular economy. Some ideas overlap between Shona Neary's work on cultural infrastructure and their artist practice as Sketchy Shona. AI is a tool for infrastructure, not for creating Journal writing or artists' work. We welcome original reporting and pitches from journalists and independent publishers.