What, when and how to build a culturally relevant structure has been the great debate for many years. It possibly hit its high point with the construction of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao launching the great Bilbao effect theories. With a global recession slowing development plans and foundations cutting back on capital funding a...
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Author Archive
The Debate on Cultural Infrastructure
A South African Perspective
The creative industry debate is raging in South Africa. Here’s a quick glimpse: ” This sector is serious business. Recent developments could mean the South African creative or cultural sector is finally on the path to getting rid of its image as an industry with no significant economic contribution to make in the country...
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Business Models Based on Collaboration
I’m working on a article for the American Arts community that highlights, among other factors, the need for more cross sectoral collaboration. The arts advocacy infrastructure needs to reach across to the music advocacy groups and the design advocacy groups for example. I hope someone will pick up on the idea. Out in LA...
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Redefining the Creative Industries
Here’s an interesting piece from Graham Hitchem on CreativeIndustriesi.net suggesting it may be time to redefine the Creative Industry concept in the UK. He argues that although it was effective in the 90s it no longer fits the bill in the current UK policy debates. Times and technology evolve he says and so too...
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Workshops to Galvanize Creative Communities
Berkshire Creative, possibly one of the America’s leading advocates of the creative economy, is organizing a series of workshops to bring to life the best practice models of the creative industries. This is the second series of such workshops. “Building upon last year’s Connecting Creative Communities summit in Providence, RI, co-sponsored by NEFA and...
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What Business Can Learn from Art
The Economist is running a great opinion piece on the effects of art and artists on business. It’s a great read given the current debates on funding for the arts. The quote to note? This one: ” If businesspeople should take art more seriously, artists too should take business more seriously. Commerce is a...
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Milwaukee has Got it Right
There is great news today coming from Milwaukee. Not only has the city launched a region wide creative economy initiative, Creativity Works!, which is intended to “to define, inventory, and measure the economic contribution of the region’s creative industries and to link and leverage them into a cohesive economic cluster.” But they have also...
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Broadband, Investment and a New Legal Structure at the Heart of UK Creative Industry Drive
In a speech to the Oxford Media Convention the UK Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt gave details on how his office will accompany the growth of the UK creative sector. He says the “creative industries are on track to grow at double the rate of the wider economy in the years ahead.” And to keep...
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Creative Economy and Cultural Industry Shift
The once yearly American for the Arts talkfest is now in preparation scheduled for June 16-18, 2011 in San Diego. These conferences bring together over 1,200 of the movers and shakers of the American arts movement to discuss the future of arts management in America. As an advocate of defining this movement more broadly it’s heartening...
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A Creative Industry Primer
The creative economy movement started in the UK in 1994. Follow the links to understand how national cultural policy became creative industry policy and how it's now changing the world.