Creative and Cultural Industries

The term ‘Creative Industries’ was established in 1998 the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) the term was to acknowledge the contribution that creative content made to the economy. The standard classification of the creative industries used by the DCMS Contains 13 industries:

* Advertising
* Architecture
* Art and antiques
* Computer games
* Crafts
* Design
* Designer fashion
* Film and video
* Music
* Performing arts
* Publishing
* Software
* TV and radio.
*

Cardiff has a high level of employment in the creative industries, this is about 3.7and the national average is about 3.5. This is mostly due to major organisations, such as the BBC and HTV. Roath Lock studios open this year in the bay area. It is a 175,000 square HD ready studio that will produce four major BBc dramers Casualty, Pobol y Cwm, Doctor Who and Upstairs Downstairs. There is also TV. Production Company’s like Boomerang that creates entertainment for TV, Radio and the web. Smaller transaction particularly in publishing and media who provided to these key organisations. Cardiff also is preferred by companies in the sector for several reasons. Cardiff has a good image and a good work pool. Wales as a holl has a week proportion of people working in the creative industries and has just 0.52 of the pollution working in these industries. A league table of UK cites based on Ricard Floorida creative index 12 shows Cardiff in ninth position (www.cardiff.gov. 2010)

The UK’s 10 most creative cities

1. Manchester
2. London
3 . Leicester
4. Nottingham
5. Bristol
6. Brighton and Hove
7. Birmingham
8. Coventry
9. Cardiff
10. Edinburgh

It is challenging to accurately classify the creative industries because this list because it does not take into consideration its contribution to ideas in other industries. The small business sector is also mostly over looked. Any businesses below the £64,000 or has less than ten people employed mean that official data all too often not captured.

The smaller indepent art based projects are crucial. You can see how healthy the creativeness of the city and it can be measured by the verity and diversity of these projects. Milgi’s gallery on City road is a platform for local artist. Made in Roath is an art festival, work is displayed in public, commercial and domestic. The Cardiff arts institute was established in 2009. The concept was take the collective experience of all involved and create a venue to reflect this. The used shop project is not just Cardiff based but right across the UK, but it has been adopted in Cardiff.

* Photography does play a part in all these industries, they all need promotional material and photography is the obvious answer. All these industries have web sites and to display what they are creating or doing and photography plays an integral part. Photography also can stand alone as a fine art subject. In Penarth we have the only Photo gallery in Wales and even though this is not in Cardiff it is very close by and accessible from Cardiff. We have the ffotogallery based in Chapter Arts centre and Third Floor Gallery an independent gallery.

There have been various photospheres/ thinkers on the subject of the creative city I have chosen Richard Florida and Charles Landry. Florida has a much more humanistic approach to his wright compared to Landry. He talks much more about the individual and why they are drawn to one place compared to another. He tells a storey in his writing The Rise of Creative Class about a young man he had meet with spiked hair and tattoo’s. He was a talented student who had been offered a well-paid job. He was leaving Pittsburgh to go to Austin Texas and he wondered why? Pittsburgh was bigger it has a world leading center for research in information technology. The city is home to three major sports stadiums, museums and cultural venues. The young told him “It’s in Austin! There are lots of young people and a tremendous amount to do: a thriving music scene, ethnic and cultural diversity, fabulous outdoor recreation, and great nightlife.”

He felt Pittsburgh didn’t have a cultural diversity or a tolerant attitude. Florida regarded the young man as a member of the creative class: highly educated, and well-paid member of the workforce. The creative class does a wide variety of jobs in a wide variety of areas from economic to cultural. Technology to entertainment, journalism to finance, high-end manufacturing and the arts. Florida also talks about “Plug-and-Play Communities “a place where newcomers are accepted quickly into all sorts of social and economic arrangements. Florida concluded by this it’s not about the amount of things a city has but more about the diversity of things. He believes “location choices of the creative class are based to a large degree on their lifestyle interests”. (Florid, 2001)

Charles Landry book The Creative city differs quite signicutly from Florida wring. Landry book is more of how to create a creative city or what should should be present. He does not talk much about the individual but more about the building blocks of the creative city. Landry thinks that there should be at least seven factors that should be present but can operate with less. But not at there full potential. These are the seven factors.

1 Personal qualities.
2 Will and leadership.
3 Human diversity.
4 Organizational culture.
5 Local identity.
6 Urban space and facilities.
7 Networking dynamics.

1. Personal qualities. Not everyone needs to be creative just a hand full of people of people in strategic places can make a difference. He references Barcelona and Glasgow. 2. Will and leadership. The key role for local government and agencies is to creat a vision for the city which can be achieved and not peruse personal interests. 3. Human diversity. Can be brought by different types of immigrants. They bring with them different cultures and skills, which can bring new ideas and different approaches to problem solving. 4. Organizational culture. Over deptmentalized organizations need to innovate. Places that think the end result is not impotent only the procedure is. 5. Local identity. A city can have different characteristics in different parts of the city. But if the overall identity of the city is strong it will have a posite impact. 6. Urban space and facilities. Public places are impotent because it is more of a melting pot. It allows people from different walks of life to meet and exchge ideas. Accessibility and variety to the amenities are crucial. 7. Networking dynamics. Networking and communication have always been part of the city, but with new technology we have to find new and different ways to exploit networking. (Landry, 2007)

I believe Cardiff is a creative city but still has a long way to go to chive its full potential. We have vists by doctor who and the milliam centre has hosted the royal verity per formance (the first time very it was held outside London). Cardiff employs more people in the creative industres compared to the national average but the grwoth has been behind the natioal average. It has a stong tv. presence the biggest out side London. With roath lock studio this should remain so. Looking at what Floida and Landry wrights cardiff does not have a true vistion on how flurish as a creative city. Its immigrants are not heverly involved in the creative industres but more the hospitaity industries, the food culture of Cardiff. It has only a small visible gay comuity. The music scene has significulty been reduced. Cardiff has a strong identy and with mases of investment and redelopment it has a bright future.

References

Landry, C. (2007) The Creative city, London : Earthscan
Hooper, A. Hunter,J. (2007) Capital Cardiff 1975-2020, Wilts: University of Wales Press Florida,R. (2001) http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html Accessed on the 15/11/2011

Pageupdated 2009(Unknown)http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=11136366 Accessed on the 15/11/2010
www.cardiff.gov.uk/objview.asp?Object_ID=6967& Cardiff’s Creative Industries Sector Accessed on the 15/11/2011