A measure for the creative economy

Andy C PrattCulture, Media and Creative Industries

Andy.pratt@kcl.ac.ukhttp://web.me.com/andycpratt/andy_c_pratt/

Welcome.htm

• Policy making based upon transparency• Critical in policy process, terms of evaluation

considered at the start.• Possibility of learning• Key is identification of processes, not indicators

– Understand what is happening

Evidence Based Policy

Which term: Culture industry Cultural industries Creative industries Creative and cultural industries Creative economy

Is it: For profit/ not Public subsidy/not Art/culture / not Formal/ informal

What’s in a name?

• In the past– Data was collected for advocacy purposes

– It was not used for evaluation

• What we need– Core concepts and theories

– Information (quantitative and qualitative)

– Comparative information

– Policy development

Data for the creative economy

What we don’t know In the dark

Invisible We don’t know how much of what We don’t know what causes what

What we do know Data on the sector – external analysis (usually collected for other

purposes) Data of the sector – internal needs Data for governance of the sector (collected for purpose)

Why we don’t know Concepts and definitions

Unstable, or inappropriate Rapidity of change It’s new It’s in the informal economy How it’s organised

Creative economy data: characteristics

• Descriptive models of relationship of creative economy to the rest– Or

• Value chain – maximising value

• Production chain – organisation of cultural production– Or,

• No concept, but various indicators

Concepts

The creative economy production cycle

Particular characteristics need attention

The production chain Inter-relationship of production processes (vertically and horizontally)

Scale(s) of operation

• Definitions– Concept driven– Search for data to describe the process– Necessarily, absences and presences– Some data does not exist– Definitions can be refined, or locally

specific• But concept is stable

Definitions

• Employment– Occupation

– Industry

– Location

• Time Use• Spending/ Consumption• Trade

What to measure?

E.g. Employment Which industries (use of SIC codes) Which occupations (use of SOC codes)

Trade Which classifications (product classification CPC, EBOPS)

Fix other parameters (firm sizes, turnover etc.)

Spatial units Time periods

Operationalise the concept

References

Cultural Trade

• Ideal• Material/Goods

– By weight and value– Traditional goods

• Services• Immaterial

– Value?– Royalties?

• Pragmatism– Disaggregation of

classification– Missing

• New goods• Non discernable

– Missing

– Value to whom?– Disaggregate– Still invisible– Reliability

Cultural goods: a pragmatic solution used by UNCTAD

Organization of production

Organization of

Original Mass Distribution Exclusive 1 2 7a

Use of Materials Dual 3 4 7b Multi 5 6 8

1 - A fine art painting2 - A newspaper or book3 - Designer furniture4 - Designed furniture (high design content, mass produced)5 - Industrial design6 - Mass production of most other products7a/7b - Distribution of cultural products (distinction not possible 7a-7b

with current industrial taxonomies)8 - Distribution of all other products

Understanding processes, and organisation Different business models/ objectives

Resources (new collection, survey instruments, analytic skills, interpretive)

Legitimacy (no estimates, public data)

Comparative data/ benchmarking Observatories/ Laboratories

Next steps?

Role of intelligent agents Knowledge brokers Information dissemination Cultural practice mentors Management / organisational skills Strategic development Third sector (beyond ‘Silo’ mentality) Governance, not simply regulation nor policy

objectives

Possibilities: for policy making and governance

Creative economy audits are simply a start They must be more differentiated

They must be adaptable to change

They must to comparable

We need to examine process, and context

The future may not be like the past Business models

Policy based on ‘how it is’, not ‘how it should be’, nor ‘is supposed to be’.

Governance actually about governing (and transforming/ developing)

Beyond the creative economy audit

Resources for institution building Collection/Distribution of royalties

Development of audiences/markets Alliances between Northern markets and South

‘Correspondences’ between (regional) government agencies in measurement Data for different purposes : not ONE definition

Capacity building