Cultural Economy Policy - Case Study Example

ASSESSMENT 3: CULTURAL ECONOMY POLICY By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Table of Contents Assessment 3: Cultural Economy Policy 1.0 Introduction Culture involves a range of activities such as sport, arts, archaeology, heritage, and so forth. Services associated with these areas are normally provided by the local authorities, together with others in the private and voluntary sectors. Culture is about how people feel and think and how they entertain themselves as well as communicate with each other. Basically, culture is about stimulation of ideas and celebrating the past, current and future. In every society, culture impacts people’s quality of life. People normally respond positively to community activity ideas such as having swimming pools, cinemas, and green spaces. Therefore, culture often occurs organically since it is a fabric part of people’s everyday lives. To ensure equality of opportunity and access, a number of cities have started planning for a creative cultural development so as to improve the resident’s well-being and quality of life. The synergy issue between economic activities that have been amalgamated under the cultural industries rubric according to Griffiths et al. (1999, p.261) has ensued in the evolution of cities’ strategies. Basically, the ‘cultural economy’ has turned out to be more and more common term, both empirically and theoretically, in the human geography. Gibson and Kong (2005, p.541) asserts that cultural economy and related concepts like cultural industries and creative economy has supported a flourish of researchers’ activity in cultural and economic geography and also in communications and media studies, sociology, economics and urban planning. For decades, cities have been immigration centres, both internationally and domestically. O’Connor and Gibson (2014, p.8) the historic role of cities as cultural, political and economic drivers of change has indistinguishably been associated with cultural diversity and immigration. The urban cultures are nowadays hybrid cultures while the great artistic innovation centres are positioned in the cities, especially those experiencing rapid socio-cultural change and conflict. Arts and culture, which are normally recognised as creative industries are very important to the state economies: For instance, they create tax revenues, attract investments, create jobs, as well as improve local economies through consumer purchases and tourism. Creative industries as mentioned by Thomasian (2009, p.4) offers an array of other benefits, like permeating creative insight to other industries’ services and products in addition to getting employees ready to play a part in the modern-day workforce. This paper focuses on Creative Victoria by examining its overall objectives, how the objectives will be achieved, the probability of achieving such objectives, and whether the objectives are appropriate to Australia. 2.0 Scale of Creative Victoria Creative Victoria focuses on the state of Victoria, which is the second-smallest state in Australia with a population of 5.791 million as of 2013. Melbourne is Victoria’s capital city and has a wealth of diverse attractions and regions such as pristine beaches, sweeping coastlines, forests, national parks, wineries, mountains and lakes. Victoria's varied and unique landscapes attract a lot of tourists and investors every year. As a government body, Creative Victoria continues supporting, growing and championing the creative industries in Victoria such as culture, spanning arts, design, screen, and much more. The policy initiative invests in creativity, ideas as well as talent and different cultural and creative organisations, projects and events in Victoria. Creative Victoria aims at raising the profile and influences the state’s creative industries, support creative professionals and local artists’ career development as well as making sure all Victorians profit from the creative sector. Victoria is considered to be Australia creative capital, home of design, screen, culture, art, literature, digital games, performance and music (Creative Victoria, 2015, p.11). Besides that, culture and creativity are integral to the distinctive competitive advantages, underpinning the positioning of Victoria as a world’s leading creative and cultural hub. Furthermore, the state boasts successful creative communities with scores of them reaping global reputations. Almost 50% of Australia’s television dramas are produced in Victoria while it hosts half of the country’s digital games industry (Creative Victoria, 2015, p.11). Victoria’s Capital, Melbourne is acknowledged globally as a city with prodigious live music and UNESCO’s literature hub. Furthermore, Melbourne’s public gallery, library, and museum are the most visited in Australia. The state has unique art galleries, which includes nationwide important performance venues, art collections and a remarkable array of over 700 museums. The state also has the most established philanthropic sector in Australia, which normally involves experiences and activities that improve the lives of Victorians. Through government assistance and support, the creative advantages of Victoria have been harnessed. For instance, the live music venue regulation reforms have improved the state’s music industry while the regulation of street art has resulted in the creation of Melbourne’s cultural brand, which is recognised internationally. Still, other cities pose a threat to the distinctive advantages of Victoria. For instance, recognition of Melbourne as a cultural city faces a stiff competition nationally, regionally as well as globally. Furthermore, Melbourne is somewhat small and isolated market than North American and European cities; for that reason, Creative Victoria works determinedly to ensure the city is attractive globally. Still, the majority of businesses in Victoria, especially in the cultural and creative industries are exceedingly small and they focus more on print media, performing arts and design. Still, the state plays a pre-eminent role in the country’s creative landscape. The creative industries in Victoria are thriving and they mostly focus on different disciplines such as fashion, art and craft, graphic design, games development, filmmaking, literature and publishing, performing arts, music, architecture, visual and many others. Most of the activities in the Victoria’s creative industries are community-based and commercially driven. The state is the home of Australia’s orchestra; the country’s finest and historic public gallery and library; regional art galleries and a professional theatre company; as well as a national ballet. Melbourne wherein Creative Victoria operates hosts at least three world’s comedy festivals every year. Some of the television dramas that have been produced in Victoria and are successful worldwide include The Slap, Wentworth, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries as well as Nowhere Boys. This proves that the economic benefits and cultural impact are not limited. The state’s Indigenous art has been exhibited in respected international and Australian contemporary and historical art collections. For instance, the Koorie Heritage Trust has a number of collections, which are solely dedicated to Victorian Indigenous communities’ material culture and art. Creative and cultural industries have mutually defined the Victoria’s cultural landscape and offer the state a profile, personality and brand that may easily be acknowledged, appreciated and endorsed. Akin to other places, the identity of Victoria owes its distinctiveness and evolution to the expressions as well as ideas of its creative and cultural industries in addition to reactions they kindle. Therefore, having these industries is very important to the modern-day Victoria. Victoria State is well-known for its relatively high wages, living standard as well as skills; therefore, the creative and cultural industries act as a basis for new means of economic growth. 3.0 Industry/sub-sector The policy initiative is within the art and culture industry, which has generated predominant economic benefits and other benefits like improving Victoria’s liveability, promoting creativity, cultural experiences, and innovation. According to Creative Victoria (2013), the art and culture industry injected $6.1 billion between 2010 and 2011 to the Australian economy and has employed close to 68,000 full-time employees. In the same duration, this industry contributed to $11.4 billion of annual gross state product (GSP) in Victoria. Furthermore, the industry attracted approximately 400,000 international and domestic cultural tourists in 2011 alone. The expenditure of the cultural tourists has significantly improved Victoria’s economy (Creative Victoria, 2013). The arts and culture industry has offered a lot of benefits to the Victorian economy; for instance, the creative industries has enabled the state to generate tax revenues, attract investments, and create jobs. Besides integrating the arts and culture sector into its economic strategies, Victoria continues to support art inclusion into the strategies of community development through provisions of grants as well as other support for people of Victoria seeking to establish cultural enterprise zones and generating a public art space. Victoria has also espoused strategies for state tourism, which utilises distinctive arts and cultural attractions so as to attract tourism and support the arts businesses. Given that the state has invested the art and culture industry, Victoria is presently reaping economic, cultural, civic, and social benefits, and has consequently generated new tourism, well-established creative labour force and livable communities. The art and culture industry according to KPMG (2013, p.2) offers an innovation wellspring for the Victoria’s wider economy as well as creative industries. Basically, creating a creative through cultural and creative assets’ investment can result in the social development and economic growth. The art and culture sector has promoted job creation, income generation as well as export earnings. It has also facilitated human development, cultural diversity and social inclusion. The industry that Creative Victoria operates in has been recognised as the cornerstone of the Victorian economy. Consequently, the industry has made Victoria the most desired hub for creative and artists practitioners. The demand for products from the creative industry has increased tremendously; therefore, there is a likelihood that the sector will expand. As Victoria continues to attract more and more people; the state’s creative industries will possibly expand further in a near future. In the last decade, the Victoria’s art and culture industry has concentrated more on the refurbishments and development of the cultural infrastructure within the state and has offered persistent support for government and NGOs’ operations in the arts as well as cultural institutions. A number of industries like the communications, tourism, education and construction are benefiting from the art and culture industry. Basically, the arts and culture industry entails performing and visual arts organisations, which have positively impacted the Victorian economy. According to KPMG (2013, p.3), the arts and culture industry has advanced recently and has resulted in ‘creative enterprises’ that utilises both technology and creative human capital for wealth generation, especially in areas like multi-media or ‘new media’. Some of the activities in this industry include television and film, music, computer animation, broadcasting and web design. Furthermore, the industry involves a number of ‘knowledge based’ activities such as industrial and urban design, writing and publishing, architecture and designer fashion. Therefore, heritage organisations as well as libraries institutions are considered to be ‘knowledge based’ organisations since they offer knowledge collation service and also participate in the exhibition and preservation of Victoria’s social, physical and natural heritage. In addition, the arts and culture industry largely involve SMEs and micro businesses, which concentrate on international, regional, national, and local markets. 4.0 Objective The relevant, accurate and well-timed intelligence and knowledge are important to the key objectives of Creative Victoria in promoting comprehension of creative industries in Victoria. Some of Creative Victoria’s objectives include attracting a high number of visitors from Australia and other countries and improving the prestige and image of the state (Scott, 2004, p.464). 4.1 To improve the economy of the state The policy seeks to improve the number of employment and also increase the domestic product of the state. Besides contributing directly to the economy, Creative Victoria supports indirect economic activities such as cultural tourism within Victoria. The tourists who have been attracted to Victoria by the creative industries have consequently generated high demand for products and services for the creative and other industries like accommodation as well as transport. A number of cultural goods and services offered by the creative industries in Victoria have tangible artistic or creative elements, like the publications or artwork, but others such as visits to museum or musical performance are considered to have intangible value. Without a doubt, the sector has improved Victoria’s economy through wealth generation and jobs creation through the commercialisation as well as the use of their intellectual property. The value of products promoted by Creative Victoria has consequently added value to the state’s economy. Creative Victoria has successfully improved the state’s liveability and has helped improve the transfer of knowledge and skills transfers. As a result, the education outcomes have been improved while the state’s reputation is continually improving globally (KPMG, 2013, p.5). In 2013, the Creative Victoria initiative resulted in returns worth $22.7 billion, which is approximately 8 per cent of the State’s whole economy. The revenue generated is very close to that of the manufacturing ($26.3) industry but more than that of the construction ($19.8 billion) industry (Creative Victoria, 2015, p.7). Furthermore, close to 220,000 persons have been employed by Victoria’s creative industries, which is 8 per cent of total Victoria’s employment. Besides that, exports from the cultural and creative economy were approximately $1.4 billion in 2013 while cultural tourism led to $1 billion revenue. This proves that Creative Victoria has facilitated economic growth. 4.2 To build markets and audiences Most of the cities across the globe are becoming more competitive; therefore, Creative Victorian seeks to connect Victoria with audiences and markets so as to ensure creative businesses and practitioners within the state are successful. Such connections have generated revenue and have strengthened creative businesses’ practices within the state. The competition and markets for creative industries’ products and services are global and local; therefore, Creative Victorian promotes collaboration so as to ensure the growth of the markets and audiences. Collaboration and technology have facilitated the repurposing of the current creative and cultural products for the new audiences. Creative Victorian is still exploring novel ways of reaching and attracting audiences everywhere, regardless of their ages, ability, skills or backgrounds. 4.3 To enhance creative places and spaces According to Creative Victoria (2015, p.14), the diversity as well as depth of Victoria’s creative spaces, is the state’s main competitive strengths. These creative spaces nurture connections between place and people as well as between artists and audiences. They promote the state’s reputation by attracting cultural tourists and investors. The Creative Victoria has been successful because it is sustained by Victoria’s inspiring, connected and accessible places, which enable the creative business to develop as well as present work. Still, industries and communities growing cultural assets in Victoria are being supported by Creative Victoria so as to be able to maximise their assets value and generate adequate revenue capable of sustaining their physical spaces. A number of iconic buildings in Victoria have aged and need maintenance so as to be operational. Creative Victoria ensures that the funding capacity is not outweighed by the cumulative so as to prevent any tension that could arise between the need for upgrading and maintaining the existing facilities and demand for new facilities. 4.4 To nurture skills, innovation and entrepreneurship Creative Victoria understands that important role played by entrepreneurship in the revival of an economy. Therefore, Creative Victoria seeks to grow entrepreneurial capacity at Victoria by looking for new ways of generating wealth. In order to promote creative skills, Creative Victoria promotes communication, critical thinking and ability to embrace novel ideas. Creative thinking together with creativity is considered to be the core skills in the creative industries. Therefore, Creative Victoria brings together different people and practices so as to promote innovation in Victoria. As a result, creative and cultural entrepreneurs have been able to identify opportunities and understand the importance of risk taking (Creative Victoria, 2015, p.15). 4.5 To increase social impact and support Aboriginal arts and culture Creative Victoria has successfully contributed to the wellbeing of Victorians. Creative industries do not provide a panacea for multifaceted issues which normally result in social exclusion; instead, they have constantly delivered important social outcomes. Therefore, these industries’ social impact value is deep and has led to strong partnerships with social services providers such as NGOs. The goal of these partnerships is addressing the serious community and social issues facing the people of Victoria and improving outcomes in areas like justice, disability, health and education. This has successfully happened through digital games, design-thinking, music, and also art. 4.6 Other Objectives Other objectives of Creative Victoria include harnessing the digital technology opportunities so as to facilitate content creation, improve creative businesses operation, and improve ability to access broader markets. Technology has become creatively enabling and deeply disruptive and has enabled Creative Victoria to create new streams of revenue and grow the audiences. Besides that, Creative Victoria seeks to enhance international engagement so as to make the State a destination that is attractive for new global investment and talent (Creative Victoria, 2015, p.15). The role played by Creative Victoria is very important, especially in terms of improving the diplomatic and cultural engagement with global partners as well as solidifying the trade relationships. Creative Victoria also seeks to increase tourism by using creative industries so as to enhance the State’s attractiveness and competitiveness. The goal of Creative Victoria is to generate cultural strengths so as to increase the number of visitors. 5.0 History The creative industries initiative according to O'Connor et al. (2011, p.4) was introduced in 1998 in European countries like Britain. In Australia, the creative industries concept documented first in 1994 after ‘Creative Nation’, a new cultural policy was introduced by government with the goal of helping Australians to exemplify the new IT opportunities as well as the wave of global culture, which was growing globally. Although Creative Nation was introduced as a cultural policy, it is also considered to be an economic policy. The cultural policy was developed during Paul Keating regime and whereby cultural institutions were offered A$250 million (Moore, 2014, p.739). The government understood the value of culture in promoting national identity and economic development (Moore, 2014, p.739). The cultural industries concept was initially utilised by Theodor W. Adorno in 1940s to critique the culture industry because control was exercised by the corporate producers from top to down; he argued that, culture should arise from the amasses themselves. In spite of originating from critical theory, cultural industries offer an enigmatic connection between industry and culture. It illuminates the concept of cultural creation within a capitalistic society (Moore, 2014, p.741). Urban rejuvenation is a crucial creative industries’ pre-history, where the role played by art is the rebranding one. Scores of industrial production facilities were closed because of post-industrial development, which left the majority of urban areas with many dilapidated industrial plants as well as contaminated spaces, which were less attractive for survival. The advocacy within the public realm changed totally in the 1980s. Public art turned out to be more and more acceptable, not in terms of aesthetics, but instead based on its alleged contribution in what Moore (2014, p.741) refers as urban regeneration. Basically, the creative industries concept has been utilised since 1990, at the time when the digital epoch was being ushered. Economies development in the present century is rooted in innovation, wherein creativity is placed on a new post-industrial service economy viewpoint. The policies of ‘arts and cultural’ were generated in North America, Europe, Australia and the UK between 1980s and 1990s and have remained beneficial hitherto (O'Connor et al., 2011, p.97). Recently, the decisions by most companies about where their businesses should be located often depend on factors like accessibility of creative workforce as well as location’s quality of life. Without a doubt, creative industries play an important role in community development through job creation and promoting amenities and environment capable of attracting young talented workers (O'Connor et al., 2011, p.98). In Victoria, creative industries have been beneficial to the state economy, and have offered the residents of the Victoria state an opportunity to boost and improve their livability through arts and culture. In the contemporary economy: new media and creative industries have improved the product’s market value due to the product’s aesthetic appeal, performance and rareness. The creative economy consists of physical, organisational, and human assets and also involves different forms of artistic disciplines, cultural institutions, as well as business pursuits. According to Pratt (2012, p.318), the creative and cultural industries have a different geography, which is dynamic, under-explained and poorly documented. Pratt (2015, p.63) asserts that the influence of cultural on cultural policy is very strong. 6.0 Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has focused on Creative Victoria, whereby the initiative’s overall objectives, how the objectives will be achieved, the probability of achieving such objectives, and whether the objectives are appropriate to Australia have been examined. As mentioned earlier, creativity and culture are the main driving force of Victoria economies. Cultural industries have improved the image of Victoria and have diversified its economic functions. The creative industries have enormously contributed to Victoria’s common culture; Creative Victoria considers the commercial culture central role in people’s everyday lives. Since arts and culture enhance quality of life, they are important in stirring local amenities, promoting community development and attracting young specialists to a specific field. The value of creative sector is widely recognised by leaders, especially in terms of promoting the cities or states’ economy as well as ability to become competitive in the global marketplace. As mentioned in this paper, there are numerous factors that underline the relationship between creativity and economic competitiveness. For instance: the new media and creative industries have increased tremendously and they play a crucial role in the social and economic development. References Creative Victoria, 2013. Economic Impact of Arts and Culture in Victoria. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "creative.vic.gov.au/Research_Resources/Research_Reports/Economic_Impact_of_Arts_and_Culture_in_Victoria" creative.vic.gov.au/Research_Resources/Research_Reports/Economic_Impact_of_Arts_and_Culture_in_Victoria [Accessed 28 May 2016]. Creative Victoria, 2015. Creative State Victoria's First Creative Industries Strategy 2016–2020. Strategy Paper. Melbourne: Creative Victoria. Creative Victoria, 2015. Let’s get creative about Victoria’s future Developing Victoria’s first creative industries strategy. Discussion Paper. Melbourne: Creative Victoria. Gibson, C. & Kong, L., 2005. Cultural economy: a critical review. Progress in Human Geography, vol. 29, no. 5, pp.541–61. Griffiths, R., Bassett, K. & Smith, I., 1999. Cultural policy and the cultural economy in Bristol. LOCAL ECONOMY, pp. 257 - 264. KPMG, 2013. Economic Impact of the Victorian Arts and Cultural Sector. Research Paper. Melbourne: KPMG. Moore, I., 2014. Cultural and Creative Industries concept – a historical perspective. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 110, pp.738 – 746. O’Connor, J. & Gibson, M., 2014. Culture, Creativity, Cultural Economy: A Review. Working Paper. Melbourne: ACOLA Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. O'Connor, J., Cunningham, S. & Jaaniste, L., 2011. Arts and creative industries A historical overview; and An Australian conversation. Working Paper. Brisbane: Australia Council for the Arts Queensland University of Technology. Pratt, A.C., 2012. The Cultural and Creative Industries: Organisational and Spatial Challenges to their Governance. Governance of Creative Industries, vol. 143, no. 4, pp.317-34. Pratt, A.C., 2015. Resilience, locality and the cultural economy. City, Culture and Society, 6, pp.61-67. Scott, A.J., 2004. Cultural-Products Industries and Urban Economic Development: Prospects for Growth and Market Contestation in Global Context. Urban Affairs Review, vol. 39, no. 4, pp.461-90. Thomasian, J., 2009. Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development. Research Paper. Washington, DC: National Governors Association. Read More