Value Construction In The Creative Economy

The book provides a critical and integrative analysis of value as it pertains to different aspects of creative and cultural industries. The notion of 'value' – a frequently used but rarely considered term – is deconstructed and considered as a spatial and structural impact, an active resource and process, and as soft institutions and embodied forms which collectively create a space through which value is constructed and negotiated. This book consists of three main sections: normative valuation, value and transformation from interactions and process, and embodied value. Together the contributions assess what value means in the creative and cultural industries, how it is constructed and added through process, and the way in which it is embodied in people and shaped through and by social space. Especially relevant for postgraduate study and research in the creative and cultural industries where critical studies are key, this book is also relevant for multiple disciplines which occupy the creative and cultural fields.

The book provides a critical and integrative analysis of value as it pertains to different aspects of creative and cultural industries. The notion of 'value' – a frequently used but rarely considered term – is deconstructed and considered as a spatial and structural impact, an active resource and process, and as soft institutions and embodied forms which collectively create a space through which value is constructed and negotiated. This book consists of three main sections: normative valuation, value and transformation from interactions and process, and embodied value. Together the contributions assess what value means in the creative and cultural industries, how it is constructed and added through process, and the way in which it is embodied in people and shaped through and by social space. Especially relevant for postgraduate study and research in the creative and cultural industries where critical studies are key, this book is also relevant for multiple disciplines which occupy the creative and cultural fields.

The creative economy permeates our everyday lives, shaping where we live, what we buy, and how we interact with others. Looking at dimensions of people, place, policy, and market forces, the book offers a comprehensive perspective on arts and culture, in both economic and social life. The book explores the multifaceted components that make up this complex field. Underlying this journey is the throughline of diversity, equity, and inclusion as watchwords of today’s global paradigm. Capital, gentrification, pay disparities, and the hegemonic confines of cultural production are a few of the key issues analyzed. Using case studies and stories of artists and creatives from the worlds of fashion, design, music, and the media arts, the book also delves into gastronomy, literature, architecture, and theatre—presenting a nuanced look at the ways in which the creative sector impacts the world today. Readers will benefit from features such as key takeaways, discussion questions, and activities, throughout the chapters. Students, scholars, policymakers, and the general public will find this a valuable resource. This book offers the reader a chance not only to understand the cultural and creative industries, but to internalize its elements and embrace the creative spirit that imbues the sector.

Creativity is at the vanguard of contemporary capitalism, valorised as a form of capital in its own right. It is the centrepiece of the vaunted 'creative economy', the creative industries, and is increasingly a focus of public policy. But what is economic about creativity? How can creative labour become the basis for a distinctive global industry? And how has the solitary artist, a figment of the romantic thought, become the creative entrepreneur of twenty-first century economic imagining? This book offers a fresh approach to this topic within the creative industries through a focus on intellectual property. It follows IP and its associated rights (IPR) through the creative economy, showing how it shapes creative products and configures the economic agency of creative producers. IP helps to manage risk, settle what is valuable, extract revenues, and protect future profits. It is the central mechanism in organising the market for creative goods. Most importantly, it shows that IP/IPR is crucial in the dialectic between symbolic and economic value on which the creative industries depend; IP/IPR hold the creative industries together. This book is based on a detailed empirical study of creative producers in the UK, extending the sociological studies of markets to an analysis of the UK's creative industries. In doing so, it makes an important, empirically grounded contribution to debates around creativity, entrepreneurship, and uncertainty in creative industries, and will be of interest to scholars and policymakers alike.

Creativity loosely refers to activities in the visual arts, music, design, film and performance that are primarily intended to produce forms of affect and social meaning. Yet, over the last few decades, creativity has also been explicitly mobilized by governments around the world as a ‘resource’ for achieving economic growth. The creative economy discourse emphasizes individuality, innovation, self-fulfillment, career advancement and the idea of leading exciting lives as remedies to social alienation. This book critically assesses that discourse, and explores how political shifts and new theoretical frameworks are affecting the creative economy in various parts of the world at a time when creative industries are becoming increasingly ‘industrialized.’ Further, it highlights how work inequalities, oligopolistic strategies, competitive logics and unsustainable models are inherent weaknesses of the industrial model of creativity. The interdisciplinary contributions presented here address the operationalization of creative practices in a variety of geographical contexts, ranging from the UK, France and Russia, to Greece, Argentina and Italy, and examine issues concerning art biennials, museums, DIY cultures, technologies, creative writing, copyright laws, ideological formations, craft production and creative co-ops.

This book nuances our understanding of the contemporary creative economy by engaging with a set of three key tensions which emerged over the course of eight European Colloquiums on Culture, Creativity and Economy (CCE): 1) the tension between individual and collaborative creative practices, 2) the tension between tradition and innovation, and 3) the tension between isolated and interconnected spaces of creativity. Rather than focusing on specific processes, such as production, industries or locations, the tensions acknowledge and engage with the messy and restless nature of the creative economy. Individual chapters offer insights into poorly understood practices, locations and contexts such as co-working spaces in Berlin and rural Spain, creative businesses in Leicester and the role and importance of cultural intermediaries in creative economies within Africa. Others examine the nature of trans-local cultural flows, the evolving "field" of fashion, and the implications of social media and crowdfunding platforms. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and professionals researching the creative economy, as well as specific cultural and creative industries, across the humanities and social sciences.

There has been much written on the new creative economy, but most work focuses on the so-called 'creative class,' with lifestyle preferences that favor trendy new restaurants, mountain biking, and late night clubbing. This 'creative class,' flagship cultural destinations, and other forms of commodity-driven cultural production, now occupy a relatively uncritical place in the revitalization schemes of most cities up and down the urban hierarchy. In contrast, this book focuses on small- to medium-size post-industrial cities in the US, Canada, and Europe that are trying to redress the effects of deindustrialization and economic decline through cultural economic regeneration. It examines how culture-infused economic opportunities are being incorporated into planning in distinct ways, largely under the radar, in many working class communities and considers to what extent places rooted in an industrial past are able to envisage a different economic future for themselves. It questions whether these visions replicate strategies employed in larger cities or put forth plans that better suit the unique histories and challenges of places that remain outside the global limelight. Exploring the intersection between a cultural and sustainable economy raises issues that are central to how urban regeneration is approached and neighborhood needs and assets are understood. Case studies in this book examine spaces and planning processes that hold the possibility of addressing inequality by forging new economic and social relationships and by embarking on more inclusive and collaborative experiments in culture-based economic development. These examples often focus on building upon the assets of existing residents and broadly define creativity and talent. They also acknowledge both the economic and non-monetary value of cultural practices. This book maintains a critical edge, incorporating left critiques of mainstream creative economy theories and practices into empirical case studies that depart from standard cultural economy discourse. Structural barriers and unequal distributions of power make the search for viable urban development alternatives especially difficult for smaller post-industrial cities and risk derailing even creative grassroots initiatives. While acknowledging these obstacles, this book moves beyond critique and focuses on how the growing economy surrounding culture, the arts, and ecological design can be harnessed and transformed to best benefit such cities and improve the quality of life for its residents.

This book explores the role of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) as drivers of local economic development. More specifically, it builds on two novel perspectives in order to interpret the phenomenon. First, despite the general recognition that CCIs are innovative economic actors, their creative output is heterogeneous, as CCIs consist of extremely diverse industries, and the concept of innovation differs from sector to sector. Second, CCIs’ creativity is locally rooted, as the context provides innovative inputs for the development of creative ideas, binding creativity with well-established theories of the regional innovation literature. The book explores these new perspectives through a novel database on CCIs’ innovation at a fine industrial and regional scale. Building on these two ideas, the book is subdivided into three parts. In the first, a novel definition of creativity in CCIs is developed in which its heterogeneity and place-based nature are at the core. In turn, the second part addresses the phenomenon of localization choices in CCIs, highlighting their heterogeneous innovativeness and the filière which they belong to as key dimensions for the analysis. In the third part, the impact of CCIs on economic growth is explored. This book offers new evidence on the conditions under which CCIs cluster in space and stimulate development. It appeals to scholars in regional science, cultural economics and related fields, as well as policymakers and practitioners working in the cultural and creative industries.