The Creative Economy

exclusionary, we have sought to mitigate against this to some degree through the mechanism of the contract by addressing a source of exploitation: the lack of genuine learning outcomes (often as the work placement role itself is motivated by the avoidance of hiring a paid member of staff to fill a gap within the organisation’s operations). By making ‘learning’ the contractual aim of offering or undertaking a work placement, we seek to locate the conditions of agency. We ensure that the student is able to locate themselves in a situation of relative power, by ensuring that they are aware of the reasons why they are providing their labour for free, and they assess their own expectations of what the work placement will provide by way of adding to what they have gained in their studies. The contracts sought to challenge the current narrative of work placements as a form of free labour for organisations and recast the work placement as a process of critical reflection on the intellectual conditions of labour in the creative economy. Gaining work experience beneficial to their own personal circumstances, and enabling the student to develop their career, is freed from the instrumental conditions that require the student to undertake work of no benefit to themselves and at their own expenses.

Moving beyond the important work of enabling and promoting individual skills and careers are networks. The example of the Train the Trainers initiative provides a good link between individuals and networks, providing an example of the possibilities of not only networked training but the possibility of peer-to-peer learning. The notion of networking is a wide one, it includes linking individuals and communities, both in places and across places. Critically it is a process that is a pre-requisite of ‘scaling’ economic activities, that is growing and extending. This does not simply include identifying export markets but finding ways to enter them, and the means of developing demand for new, or unfamiliar products in those markets. It includes the way of doing business in the creative economy. A common characteristic of creative enterprises is their small size and hence in order to grow they must also use shared network resources. At a certain size it is possible that these can be internalised, but for the most smaller organisations this ‘middle’ organisational field, that of intermediaries, is the most important aspect of creative industry development in both the Global North and Global South. For clarity the activities that networking support entails can be subdivided into three sub-types.

In normative analyses a fundamental unit of economic analysis is the firm: however, the most common organisational unit in the creative economy is the project (which may last only weeks or months) (Grabher 2002). Standard data on firms is therefore of little help here. Likewise normative analyses that fail to explore the economic and social ecosystem (beyond the firm) leading to somewhat constrained insights that miss most of the economic action that takes place outside firm boundaries (not as trade, but as systems that firms are embedded within). Another characteristic of the creative economy is risk, although it varies by industry, a 10 per cent success rate of product is not unusual. Of course, the 10 per cent success has to recoup the losses of the other 90 per cent. This places unusual discipline on innovation and product development. That said, there are in many cases much lower start-up and early product/service development costs involved relative to other industries (such as manufacturing, which involves expensive prototype development and testing), owing to the low costs of experimentation associated with digital technologies, outsourcing, and the deployment of contingent labour. Moreover, the speed of new product development is perhaps greater than that for other industries. Added to which, and what is yet another organisational fix to these extreme problems, the creative economy, or critical parts of it, tend to hyper-clustering (Picard and Karlsson 2011). The clustering is not designed to minimise or economise on the movement of goods (many of which are virtual anyhow), but rather to filter and exchange fuzzy information, in a timely manner (Pratt 2006; Hutton 2008). Clustering in certain high-resonance districts of the city also reflect another urban advantage, as seen in the affinity of creative firms and labour for heritage structures, both in terms of representational and concrete building values (Helbrecht 2004, Hutton 2006). Finally, all of these factors combine to offer a premium for producers who are embedded in sites of consumption. In short, cities are the natural home of the creative economy.

 e results of this analysis suggest possible implications for policy initiatives that aim to identify triggers which may enhance urban resilience. Our paper provides in- dications that rising a ractiveness for the creative economy may act as a buff er to potential economic downturns. In the same time, developing specifi c instruments (e.g. fi nancing funds, learning and training programs, creative hubs initiatives) focused on key creative industries could compensate and sustain them in the recovery process. In order to do so, we consider that an important step further is defi ning a national strat- egy concerning the creative economy. A nationwide framework for addressing the creative sector is for a more comprehensive and homogenous look on the dimension, nature and domestic specifi cities of the sector (including disparities and threats). Al- though several researches were conducted on various themes related to the Romanian creative industries, defi ning the economic activities (using NACE codes) included in the sector varies, making the fi ndings and possible implications for the local agendas harder to implement and to integrate at strategic level. Also, it makes the comparison between the fi ndings of various researches more diffi cult.

identify the ‘interpretative repertoires’ that were being drawn upon; how language is: “put together, constructed, for purposes and to achieve particular consequences” (Wetherell and Potter, 1988: 171). The repertoires limit the possible ways that the speaker can talk about a subject but allow for variance: “repertoires can be seen as the building blocks speakers use for constructing versions of actions, cognitive processes and other phenomena” (1988: 172). We thus look back at university documentation for MA Awards to reflect on the context and case we made for their approval and our articulation of the value the awards would have to the creative economy. While such documentation offers a record of its instrumental function in pitching for course approval (in terms of market, recruitment, quality) it is also a means of understanding a particular moment in time where course design and rhetoric can be read for its response to particular demands across HE policies but also for its expression of abiding objectives of pedagogues and researchers.

The article discusses issues related to the spread of new trends in the labor market in post-industrial countries of the world, their connection with the creative economy, which is considered not only as a new model of economic growth, but also as a basis for building "new employment". The powerful experience of countries where the link bet- ween vocational education, the creative industries and 'new employment' is particularly concise is explored and new employment and vocational education practices triggered. Two of the most important trends in today's labor market, which correlate with the greatest impact on business per- formance, are embodied in the "Inclusion and Diversity" strategy. It is proven that companies that adhere to the prin- ciples of this strategy in all aspects of their business show better performance. The inclusion of this strategy in the procedures: recruitment, performance management, lead- ership development, training is substantiated. These changes in the labor market, and in general, in the field of employment, should be considered as part of larger-scale social transformations, as tightly interlocked elements of a single basic transformation that covers all aspects of life, thereby segregating not only the labor market in a new way, but also society in as a whole/. This transformation is a shift to an economic and social system based on creativ- ity.

Universities also intervene in the economy by offering start-up and innovation support. However, the assumptions underpinning university business support programmes are often inimical to the conditions of the creative economy. Such schemes are frequently run by university business development units, whose focus has traditionally be on tech-transfer and spin-out business models. These models assume a set of characteristics that are usually derived from, and dominated by, STEM subjects. Typically it is assumed that researchers in labs will create IP in the form of an algorithm, some bio-tech or a new materials application. Researchers or business managers then identify a market failure or a new market opportunity that this innovation might be able to answer. The innovation may then become subject to an incubator and spin- out process with links to investment from agencies like the TSB or university affiliated Venture Capital funds.

However, qualitative data present many challenges in terms of analyses. The problematic issue comes from the sampling where respondents are often selected on the basis of being well-positioned in relation to the theme that the research is investigating (B AXTER AND E YLES , 1997). Baxter and Eyles (1997) question the issues of representativeness and the extent to which findings from qualitative interviews can be generalised. Another problem experienced during interviews is how to assess embeddedness (O INAS , 1999). This is absolutely central in the investigation of the role played by the local and regional dimension in the creative economy and of the problem of ‘multivoiceness’. Interviewing a creative practitioner in a firm, instead of the managing director of the same company, may provide a completely different outcome in terms of the experiences and opinions collected. Furthermore, the importance of project- based and freelance work in the creative economy often leads to one person covering a variety of jobs and roles. The interviewee in this case might also “speak with many voices due to their multiple embeddedness in different social relations” (O INAS , 1999, p. 358).

The 1960s also saw the rise of Pop Art and the culture industry and art begins to converge with entertainment and mass con- sumer culture in which countercultural trends become appropriated (Adorno). Artists be- come cultural producers and ‘content crea- tors’ as the ‘long tail’ becomes an economic model of the digital age (Anderson). The top one percent of artists on the art market are valued exponentially more than the ninety-nine percent. The majority of artists rely on their abilities to be entrepreneurial and to market and promote themselves online. The creative economy is celebrated as a progression for advanced economies in contrast to manual industrialized labor. In careers where one is free to be creative and pursue one’s passions, knowledge work is considered desirable. However, it has also led to new forms of exploitation via low and unpaid labor, short-term contracts and pre- carious work conditions. As the self-realized entrepreneur becomes the ideal worker in the Post-Fordist economy, the ‘independent artist’ becomes ‘the precariat’. The self-fash- ioning and self-determined individual in the economy becomes the creative proletariat and the oppressed subject within neoliberal democracies. Freedom to be creative and the aestheticization of the political, despite a desire to operate beyond the terms of the market, now only perpetuates it (Rebentisch). The incorporation of critique by capitalism has been detailed in the early work of Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello in the The New Spirit Of Capitalism, from 2006, which in many ways still holds relevance today.

The growing importance of the creative economy can be seen analysing the following numbers; international trade in creative industries showed sustained growth in the last decade. The global market for traded creative goods and services totalled a record $547billion in 2012, as compared to $302 billion in 2003. Growth rates stood at 8.6 per cent annually from 2003 to 2012, showing the strength and resilience of the sector despite the economic deceleration of the world economy. Exports from developing countries, in particular in Asia, are growing faster than in the developed world.

One way in which they are able to do this is by utilising information and commu- nication technologies to extend their ‘reach’ and work across broader geographies (Herslund 2012). Increasingly, new digital technologies are understood as an essen- tial, interconnected part of creative practice, with creative economy work being defined as ‘the conceptual and practical convergence of the creative arts (individual talent) with cultural industries (mass scale) in the context of new media technologies (ICTs)’ (Hartley 2005, p. 5). European down to UK policy seeks to join up creative and digital sectors, developing supportive digital infrastructures for creative work as well as viewing creative sectors as driving digital inclusion (Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS] 2008; European Commission 2010; Scottish Government 2011). Implicit in the literature on rural creatives is their capacity to access regional and global networks through Internet-enabled communication technologies. Though lit- erature exists on the benefits of the Internet and digital tools for rural businesses, few have gone into detail about the role of digital technologies specifically for rural creative economies (Bowles 2008; Burns and Kirkpatrick 2008; Bell and Jayne 2010; Duxbury and Campbell 2011). This may be because many rural areas continue to face poor broadband connectivity, and even when access is adequate adoption has often been lower than in urban areas (Farrington et al. 2013; Townsend et al. 2013).

It   is   too   early   to   make   a   final   judgement   on   the   recession,   as   it   is   clearly   not   over   yet.   However,   what   is   striking   is   that   the   cultural   sector  has  not  collapsed  as  was  expected.  Consumer  spending,  whilst   not   at   previous   levels,   has   survived.     A   much-­‐noted   decline   in   advertising   at   the   start   of   the   recession   was   in   no   small   part   anticipatory;   it   is   notable   that   advertising   has   begun   to   rally.   Film   going   has   not   collapsed,   people   are   still   consuming   music,   TV   and   visiting   the   theatre;   they   are   also   going   to   museums   and   galleries   (British   Film   Institute,   2011).   As   suggested   above,   there   are   two   linked   explanations   at   play:   first,   the   cultural   ‘mixed   economy’;   second,   people   are   assigning   greater   value   to   ‘discretionary   purchases’  as  well  as,  or  sometimes  in  preference  to,  basics.  This  may   surprise  economic  ideologues,  but  it  has  a  strongly  rooted  empirical   history,   as   reported   in   the   US   Great   depression.   Taking   such   an   outcome   seriously   means   that   we   are   required   to   reconsider   the   normative  assumed  relationship  between  culture  and  economic  life.   Some  people  certainly  behave  as  if  culture  (like  sport)  is  a  basic  good,   not  discretionary,  one  which  some  are  prepared  to  give  up  food  and   other  comforts  to  consume,  participate,  or  excel  in.  

This paper considers under what circumstances place-based and creative-oriented economic development strategies like STARworks accomplish the desired outcomes of prosperity and stability at the local scale. How important are the characteristics and the steps STARworks took to develop its place-based strategy? How much impact can its narrow focus on creative enterprises contribute to a local economy? While it would be impossible to definitively answer such questions on the basis of a single case study, this paper describes the conditions and the results to date of pursuing local growth in this way. Documented here are the lessons emerging from STARworks' experience in the heart of a region still reeling from industrial dislocation. Although traditional economic development efforts to attract large industrial employers are still being pursued locally, STARworks represents an alternative, and opportunistic, path that has united many stakeholders and has begun to turn around a region ravaged by the loss of thousands of jobs -- and the

A key cultural corollary of the exhibition lies in the ‘shock’ advertising techniques beloved of certain practitioners of second-wave advertising. Focusing on more closely defined niche- markets, ‘second-wave’ advertising marked its difference from previous advertising techniques by not so much dwelling on a product’s unique selling point in adverts as marketing it through association with lifestyle aesthetics and cinematic or innovative visual effects. The clothing company Benetton became the arch example of a company using these shock techniques: shifting its advertising strategy in 1991 from one of multi-sweatered multiculturalism, its creative director and photographer Oliviero Toscani began to use a campaign based around controversial photographs, including images of a nun kissing a priest, a new-born baby covered in blood, a man who had been shot, black and white hands in handcuffs, and, perhaps most notoriously, an image of a man dying from AIDS.

” that fuel the creative economy, creating convergences that the project aims to fos- ter. The idea emerged from a multi-year university-community partnership that originated in the Graduate Programme in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis among a group of students that developed a plan designed to promote neighbourhood revitalization through targeted housing programmes for artists; place-based amenities; and community enrichment programmes. The Memphis Symphony Orchestra is engaged in a year-long residency with programming that includes a series of unique musical collaborations performed in vacant community spaces, mentoring programmes for youth and seniors and leadership training for area neighbourhood associations. To host the concerts and other activities, a vacant grocery store has been repurposed as a temporary performing venue. The kick-off event at the venue featured Soulsville native and soul legend Booker T. Jones alongside the symphony and young performers from the Stax Music Academy. Renovation is also underway at the former home of Memphis Slim, a legendary blues musician. The property is being converted into “Memphis Slim’s Collaboratory” – a music-centred community space for artistic collaboration, music training and storytelling. The space will include video-casting rooms to record oral histories, and will be anchored by a music studio run on a cooperative basis to support emerging artists, as well as apprentices learning the production business. Through these activities, music is acting as a magnet by connecting neighbours, bringing back former residents and attracting new visitors.

The creative industries are at the heart of the creative economy, and an important means for the promotion of cultural diversity and the key for countries to claim their own history and to imagine their own future. The emergence of the creative class as a new social class is the dominant class in society that add economic value through their creativity. Creative class theory believes that people, not just the technology and capacity of the organisation as a key asset of economic growth. The main core of this new creative class includes scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and novelists, artists, entertainers, actors, designers and architects, as well as thought leadership of modern society. Creativity is also closely linked with cities and regions. The development of creative industries and withdrawal of members of the creative class has been the key for cities, regions and organisations for economic growth and to participate in the era of globalisation and information. According to Landry (2000), there are more than 60 cities around the world who refer to themselves as a creative city.

To conclude, the paradox of the local appears in a region of the cultural industries so globally huge and yet so marginal in cultural policy research – contemporary art. While it is obvious that terms of value routinely ascribed to the creative economy (expression, imagination, ideas, the creative process) have their origins in the philosophical-historical emergence of Western art, they so presuppose a subjectivity already colonized by western economy and its concepts of indi- vidual identity, private property and rights. In turn this makes for categorical distinctions between arts, design, craft, fashion, all of whose production presupposes a radical separation from local “communal” norms and the collective bases of shared

The creative industries are at the heart of the creative economy, and an important means for the promotion of cultural diversity and the key for countries to claim their own history and to imagine their own future. The emergence of the creative class as a new social class is the dominant class in society that add economic value through their creativity. Creative class theory believes that people, not just the technology and capacity of the organisation as a key asset of economic growth. The main core of this new creative class includes scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and novelists, artists, entertainers, actors, designers and architects, as well as thought leadership of modern society. Creativity is also closely linked with cities and regions. The development of creative industries and withdrawal of members of the creative class has been the key for cities, regions and organisations for economic growth and to participate in the era of globalisation and information. According to Landry (2000), there are more than 60 cities around the world who refer to themselves as a creative city.

An emerging (Grounded Theory) line of enquiry conflated a number of enduring research questions around the notion of post-industrial economic cluster theories: why/where firms choose to locate and operate; how innovation and tacit knowledge is exchanged; and what are the conditions that best support firm growth in new economic clusters such as creative and digital sectors. The latter has a clear public policy and investment imperative, which has heightened since Richard Florida’s concept of the creative city (2005) raised the prospect of a range of amenity and other factors (‘3 Ts’ - Tolerance, Talent, Technology) which if well placed, can attract and retain the creative class, as eponymous drivers of the creative economy (sic - Evans 2011).

Creative economy and culture cannot be considered main issues in the political proposals of Brazil’s 2018 presidential candidates. Some candidates such as Fernando Haddad, Marina Silva and Ciro Gomes dedicated whole sections of their political programs to these issues, while Geraldo Alckmin dedicates only two topics, even though his proposals are more precise than many other candidates. It is possible to say that general sentences including “stimulate”, “democratize” and “enhance access to” culture and creative economy predominate. Haddad, Gomes, Silva and Alckmin consider the role of culture in economic development, but the issue is mentioned mainly in a superficial way. In Bolsonaro’s political program, the word “culture” only appears when it deals with foreign relations, more specifically the approximation with countries that were abandoned by previous Brazilian administrations because of “ideological reasons”. The program indicates that these countries can contribute in terms of commerce, science, technology, innovation, education and culture, but there are no specific aims regarding creative economy or cultural activities (ColigaçãoBrasilAcima de Tudo, Deus Acima de Todos, 2018; Rocha, 2018). The candidates Henrique Meirelles, Cabo Dacioloand Vera Lúciado not mention cultural policies or initiatives regarding creative economy in their political programs. In this sense, it is possible to say that the creative economy’s potential to generate income and employment, as pointed out by authors such as Reis (2006) and Jesus (2013), and its capacity to expand access to culture, also pointed out by Reis (2006), were not enough to turn creative economy into a priority issue in the proposals for Brazil’s 2018 presidential elections. The themes that dominated the political debates at that time focused mainly on the fight against corruption – especially in the light of the accusations made by Operation Lava Jato– and urban violence, which had reached alarming levels in several Brazilian cities. Bolsonaro won both rounds of the 2018 presidential election, without assigning, on his political platform, a great