Our success depends on how well we exploit our most valuable assets: our knowledge, skills, and creativity. They are at the heart of a modern, knowledge driven economy.
(The Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister – 1998 Competitiveness White Paper)
The creative and cultural industries are now big business. Sources suggest that, creative industries in the UK are growing twice as fast as any other – at a rate of 8% per year. Back in 1950 the world’s biggest companies were all industrial and manufacturing types; today, in the more advanced world economies, publishers, broadcasters and entertainers join them – think Disney, Time Warner and News Corporation. It is these companies that manufacture information in our ‘knowledge driven economies’ but their key assets: reputation, skills and brands are difficult to define and fragile to maintain.
In a recent show of support of the creative industries, Chancellor Gordon Brown said that these industries are now key drivers of UK productivity and competitiveness. In the March 2005 budget he announced measures to support them through entrepreneur scholarships and enterprise education, tax relief for low budget and larger budget films and an extra £12 million for the Arts Council and other arts bodies.
However, despite the government’s optimistic rhetoric and countless ongoing initiatives for supporting creative businesses, there is still evidence to suggest that the UK creative industries are not fully achieving their potential.
Addressing some of the reasons for this and exploring possible solutions will be delegates at the 2005 Creative Clusters conference. This year it will be hosted in Belfast and will feature speakers and presentations on creative industry development from the UK and around the world, supported by a programme of networking and entertainment events.
Creative Clusters Ltd was founded by Simon Evans in 2001 and since that time they have used their newsletter and annual conferences to help people engaged in the development of creative industries, to communicate and share resources with one another.
So what is a creative cluster? The concept of companies clustering is not a new one; during the industrial revolution in the UK, centres of manufacturing clustered around the natural resources required to produce their product or around the population needed to produce it – ship building, coal mining, iron & steel production etc. Research has shown that whilst it is not essential for the creative and cultural industries to cluster together, they do reap economic benefits by being in proximity to allied industries – enjoying the easy access to networking, sharing of knowledge & resources and occasionally increasing their scope by joining forces.
In addition, the concentration of firms in a cluster allows an infrastructure of professional, legal, financial and other specialist support services to develop, along with a workforce whose skills are particularly suited to their needs. Silicon Valley is possibly the most famous example of a creative cluster.
In the US, people like Richard Florida further clarify the concept. In his controversial 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class he documents the rise of a ‘creative class’ which he defines as people, engaged in science and engineering, research and development, and the technology-based industries; in the arts, music, culture, aesthetic and design; or in the knowledge-based professions of health care, finance and law. In order to be assured of a thriving economic future, he and his supporters believe that cities must attract this creative class by cultivating an urban environment of diversity, openness and tolerance Human creativity he says, is the ultimate source of economic growth. Every single person is creative in some way. And to fully tap and harness that creativity we must be tolerant, diverse and inclusive.
The debate is by no means one-sided, Chicago based writer Paul Maliszewski is less supportive and feels that Florida has, “mistaken the side effects of a booming economy for the causes of growth.”
It is just one of the subjects which will be explored more fully at the Creative Clusters conference in October this year. The 4 key strands will be:
1. Investing in Creativity – research has shown that a lack of finance is inhibiting the growth of the sector. NESTA, (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), and one of the conference sponsors, has published a number of reports about the problems of creative industry investment. They identify issues of perception as being a barrier to investment. Investors have in the past seen the creative industries as somehow different from other companies – ‘lifestyle businesses’ that are unlikely to produce desirable financial returns. There has been also a lack of support and advice available to investors to help them select a creative business with the potential for high-growth.
Some of the blame lies with the creative industries in the way they present themselves to investors, ‘Claiming ‘exceptionalism’ is not the way to attract investment in creative businesses, demonstrating their commercial value is.’ (NESTA) They are advised to develop a clear and compelling message about the commercial value of their creative content. The establishment of creative clusters is cited as something that can help. This strand will examine what finance is available and ask how different types of finance affect the creative, social and business outcomes of creative enterprise.
2. Delivering Skills for Creativity – This is not an issue confined to the creative industries. Workers with a host of creative skills and abilities are in demand from businesses that are embracing a more flexible, knowledge driven style of management. How will our outmoded education and training infrastructure evolve into one that delivers these skills? This strand invites educators, policy-makers, creative entrepreneurs and producers to articulate and explore the challenges this presents.
3. Inclusion Through Creativity – Does the growth of the creative industries only benefit developed-world capital cities? Will this growth bring with it increased opportunity, empowerment and inclusion for marginalised groups? This strand will examine the policies, strategies and projects around these questions and challenge accusations that creative industries are elitist and exclusionist.
4. Open Strand – The Open Strand invites proposals for presentations on any area of creative industries activity from around the world, which are not covered by the other three strands.
Research and past experience has already unlocked some of the secrets to a creative economy. Creative clustering is just one of the many strategies available to achieving a successful knowledge-driven economy and it is interesting to note that in the 2001 www.dti.gov.uk/clusters/map/ a number of existing UK industry clusters were identified but the point was made that, this does not necessarily imply that the linkages are functioning or being exploited in a way that enhances the performance of the constituent industries. Support and education is required to change business management practises in order to facilitate the appealing creative cluster model outlined below.
A cluster of creative enterprises needs much more than the standard vision of a business park next to a technology campus. A creative cluster includes non-profit enterprises, cultural institutions, arts venues and individual artists alongside the science park and the media centre. Creative clusters are places to live as well as to work, places where cultural products are consumed as well as made. They are open round the clock, for work and play. They feed on diversity and change and so thrive in busy, multi-cultural urban settings that have their own local distinctiveness but are also connected to the world.(Creative Clusters Ltd)
The Creative Clusters 2005 Call for Presentations is now open. Proposals will are being accepted on the above themes until 23rd May. Visit their website for full details: www.creativeclusters.com
For sources and further reading:
www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce/002_016.pdf
