Art of the Creative Economy

Conference Overview

New Thinking

• The Creative Economy– A more inclusive approach to thinking about the

sectors– An approach to development focused on

innovation and creativity– Centrality of skills development and education as

drivers of innovation and creativity– Importance of collaboration, effective corporate

governance and long range planning

Current Issues• Lack of integration between and within sectors and

competition for space and attention• Challenges with regard to funding – both the level and the

nature of funding instruments• Sluggish and inaccessible administration and policy

environment• Lack of inclusiveness in policy, planning and process• Inequality and contestations of place, space and discipline• Growth in infrastructure, but declining audiences• Concerns regarding the quality of the aesthetic and the

“dumbing” down of products and artists

Success Factors• “Friend-raising” and not fundraising• Managing expectations, rights and creating lasting relations based on

mutually beneficial relations that support both parties• The importance of education, both formal and informal, and an

openness to teaching and learning yourself by experiencing it• Importance of ambition, the ability to be flexible, identify and take

opportunities, accept constructive feedback and on the job training• Understanding the principles of business that you are in, standard

business tools and your market through trends and research if that is what you are wanting to do

• Understand new marketing techniques e.g. database management and social media

• Be a decision-maker• Long term investment and be a visionary• Importance of multiple income streams

Working for the Future• City Regions as a new way of thinking of the

world– Drivers of innovation and creativity– Creators of a sense of space and place– Linking urban and rural

• Digital innovation as a new way of reaching audiences and driving creativity and innovation

New Questions

• Doing things better– How can we better utilise our resource base?– How can we improve arts education?– How can we occupy “soulless spaces”?– Involve and develop young people?

New Questions

• Doing this differently– How can we build resilience in the arts sector?– How can we retain our audiences and create new

audiences?– Building on African heritage and linkages with the

continent, and with new trading partners such as India, China, Brazil and Russia?

– How can we promote equality in the sector and in the country?

New Questions

• Doing different things– How to support innovation and experimentation?– How to build and protect content and repertoire?– Creating spaces for artists to intervene in urban

planning frameworks?– How can artists lead the vision of the country?– How do we find new markets in the African middle

class over the next 10 years?– How to effectively use new platforms for arts support

and development e.g. crowd funding?– How can we continue the conversation

Going Forward

• Visioning and scenario planning exercises for disciplines and the sector

• Platforms for further discussion e.g. NAC and KKN, DfL• Engagement with all stakeholders, including

government on creative economy matters at every level

• Annual conference continue the conversation on a larger scale

• Individual commitments remain important