British Council, BOP - Mapping the Creative Industries, A Toolkit

8/10/2019 British Council, BOP - Mapping the Creative Industries, A Toolkit

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Creative and Cultural Economy series 2

MAPPINGTHECREATIVEINDUSTRIES:A TOOLKIT


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2 3Creative and Cultural Economy series 2 Mapping the Creative Industries: A Toolkit


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Creative and Cultural Economy series 2

MAPPINGTHECREATIVEINDUSTRIES:A TOOLKITby BOP Consulting


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British Councils Creative And CulturalEconomy Series

Published by The British Council

0 Spring Gardens,London SW1A 2BN,England

www.britishcouncil.org

All rights reservedSBN 978-086355-640-1

Author: BOP Consulting

BOP Consulting is an independent research andtrategy consultancy specialising in culture andhe creative industries. They are based in London.

www.bop.co.uk

Editors

Pablo RossellShelagh Wright

Publication Design

YCE Brand guidelines by BB SaundersDesign by rika Muller

Photo Credits

Aldeguer, Jay: page 56a Burns, Josephine: page 26 DCMS/BIS: page 32 Gauteng Provincial Government: page 43 Noon, Frank: pages 56b, 57 Rossello, Pablo: pages 1, 2-3, 8, 12, 18, 20, 22,

31, 33, 35, 38, 48, 50, 54-55 Slade, Jon: page 42 Szynkarczuk, Olga: pages 60-61 Vaz, Gaurav Joshua: page 6

Zetu, Dragos: page 45

British Council 2010 Creative Economy Unit

The United Kingdoms international organisationor educational opportunities and culturalelations. We are registered in England as a charity.

CONTENTS

07 PREFACE

09 1 MAPPING THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

13 2 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

23 3 THE MAPPING TOOLKIT24 STEP 1 WHY DO MAPPING?28 STEP 2 WHICH POLICY QUESTIONS CAN MAPPING ADDRESS?36 STEP 3 HOW ARE THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES DEFINED?40 STEP 4 WHO IS IN CHARGE? WHO DOES THE WORK?41 STEP 5 WHICH RESEARCH APPROACH SHOULD BE ADOPTED?47 STEP 6 HOW CAN THE PROJECTS FINDINGS CONNECT WITH KEY AUDIENCES AND POLICY AGENDAS?50 STEP 7 HOW CAN MOMENTUM BE MAINTAINED?

52 4 WHERE NEXT?

56 APPENDIX 1 - THE BRITISH COUNCILS CREATIVE ECONOMY UNIT

58 APPENDIX 2 - CREATIVE INDUSTRY SIC CODES


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PREFACE

In our interdependent contemporaryworld at the start of the 21st century weface complex challenges, polarisationand inequality within and betweennations. Development strategiesare needed to unleash the creativepotential of all to respond to the far-reaching cultural, economic, socialand technological shifts that we areliving through. In this context theconcept of the creative and culturaleconomy is growing around the globeas the interface between culture,economics and technology. Our worldis increasingly dominated by images,sounds, symbols and ideas that arecreating new jobs, wealth and newculture. The UK has been a leaderin the development of this agenda,not just as a driver of the economybut also promoting social inclusion,diversity and development. No-onecan claim a monopoly on wisdom asinnovative creative people all over theworld are changing the way we makeand exchange goods, services andculture. This booklet (and the seriesit is part of) is a contribution to our

shared knowledge and expertise for thisemergent and valuable sector. We hopeyou find it both stimulating and useful.

Shelagh WrightAdvisor, Creative and Cultural EconomyProgramme

British CouncilThe British Council is committed toworking in partnership to help shapethe contours of our shared creative andcultural economy through its values ofequity, freedom of expression, mutualityand sustainability.


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The products of the creative industriespervade contemporary life. Watchingtelevision, going to the cinema, readingnewspapers, listening to music, playingcomputer games or socialising onlineoccupy many of the waking hours ofthe worlds citizens. This is not simplyconfined to the old industrial heartlandsof Europe and the United States: from

the telenovelas of Latin America andBollywood films to the design flair ofKoreas Samsung, the creative industriesare a global phenomenon. Yet 15 yearsago, the term creative industrieswas barely known. How, then, can thisphenomenon be understood and itseconomic value quantified?

One method that has been developedto help countries, regions or cities startthinking about the value of the creativeindustries is mapping. Pioneered inBritain in the late 1990s, mappingextends well beyond the productionof actual maps. It is shorthand for awhole series of analytic methods for

collecting and presenting informationon the range and scope of the creativeindustries. Mapping is intendedespecially to give an overview of theindustries economic value, par ticularlyin places where relatively little is knownabout them. This toolkit explores thepracticalities of using such methods.The toolkit draws on the experience ofthe British Council and its consultants toset out the seven steps of a successfulcreative industries mapping project.

1 MAPPING THE CREATIVEINDUSTRIES

Thinking the steps through at thisstage will help researchers and otherinterested parties understand thechallenges they are likely to face. Thisreport also briefly discusses the placeof the creative industries within broadereconomic and historical contexts.If you would like to explore thefeasibility of a mapping project in

more depth, lists of suggested furtherreading and organisations which canprovide more information are providedin section 4.

1.1 IntroductionThe desire to create things whosevalue is not purely practical thingsthat are beautiful, that communicatecultural value through music, drama,entertainment and the visual arts,or that communicate social positionthrough style and fashion is as old ashuman society itself. There have alwaysbeen, and always will be, people withthe imagination and talent to make anddo these things. Their products and

services are said to have an expressivevalue, a cultural significance that maybear little relationship to how much theycost to make.In the twentieth century, these ancienttraditions of cultural work designing,making, decorating and performing

began to be woven together with arange of modern economic activitiessuch as advertising, design, fashionand moving image media to createnew forms of commercial culture. In


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he first decade of this new centuryhese developments have been hugely

amplified by the power and reach ofdigital technology.The industries responsible for theseproducts are a varied bunch, yet theyhave certain things in common. Suchndustries earn their profits from thecreative skills of their workforce andhe generation of intellectual propertyIP), and collectively have come to be

known as the creative industries.ntellectual property law is the catalysthat transforms creative activity into

creative industry. It protects the

creators ownership of ideas in thesame way that other laws protect theight to the ownership of goods, land

or buildings. It allows the inventors ofnew products and processes to benefitrom their creativity by providing aramework within which they can work.t also enables them to make choicesabout what they protect and what theychoose to give away.The creative industries do not, however,operate in isolation. They sit at thecentre of a web of connections withother industrial sectors, and are asource of innovation for the widereconomy, particularly through design,branding and advertising. They also

have an important role to play in urbanegeneration and community cohesion.This wider web is often referred to ashe creative economy.

The terms creative industries andcreative economy are both relativelynew and do not yet have fully settleddefinitions. Sometimes they are usednterchangeably, sometimes they refero related but separate concepts.

This toolkit uses the term creativendustries for the sake of simplicity,

as it is the activity of these industrieswhich is being measured here. Thesedays, though, creative economy isprobably the more widely used term. Inany case it is likely that each country orregion will adapt the creative industries/economy concept to suit its own needs.It should also be noted that someorganisations, such as the EuropeanUnion and UNESCO, have generallyfavoured an older term, the culturalindustries. There is a substantialacademic literature debating thefiner points of these distinctions1,and people should be aware that the

terminology used in this toolkit is notuncontroversial.However, this toolkit is intended to be apractical guide to mapping one thatexplores how to do it, which approachwould be best in any given context, andhow to maximise the policy impact ofthe work. It aims to help researchers,policymakers and creative practitionersto understand the creative industriesbetter by setting out ways in whichevidence can be gathered. It draws onboth the UKs experience and a numberof mapping projects from around theworld that have been supported by theBritish Councils Creative Economy Unit.To help make sense of the process of

running a successful creative industriesproject, the toolkit sets out seven stepswhich need to be considered.

Section 3 of the toolkit addresseseach of these seven steps in turn,illustrated by case studies.

Notes 1. See, for instance, Flew, T. and Cunningham, S. (2010)Creative Industries After the First Decade of Debate, TheInformation Society, 26(2).

WHY DO MAPPING?WHO IS IT FOR?

Those who will be organising the mapping need to startby clearly thinking through why they want to do it andwho they want to persuade.

Creative industries mapping is rarely undertaken simply outof intellectual curiosity: it is intended to have an impact onpolicy. Which areas is it likely to have most effect on?

Deciding what is included in the study and what is not iscentral to a successful mapping. A project may choose toassess all the creative industries or concentrate on just a

few sub-sectors.

Who will manage the mapping project and ensure the workis of high quality? There are a number of distinct roles thathave to be filled.

There are a range of approaches available to the researchteam. Thought needs to be given to which would be mostappropriate in the circumstances.

How can the research team increase the likelihood of themapping findings being noticed and acted upon? How dothey connect with key audiences and affect policy agendas?

On its own, the project is unlikely to achieve all its goals itneeds to be part of an ongoing effor t to raise the profile ofthe creative industries.

WHICH POLICY QUESTIONSCAN MAPPING BE USED TO

ADDRESS?

WHICH RESEARCHAPPROACH SHOULD BE

ADOPTED?

HOW CAN THE PROJECTSFINDINGS CONNECT WITH

KEY AUDIENCES AND POLICY

AGENDAS?

HOW CAN MOMENTUM BEMAINTAINED?

HOW ARE THE CREATIVEINDUSTRIES DEFINED?

WHO IS IN CHARGE?WHO DOES THE WORK?


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Before exploring the toolkit in detail, thecreative industries/creative economyconcept will be discussed, and thereasons why it has become increasinglyprominent in economic debatesexamined.

2.1 The Creative Industries in BritainThe term creative industries originated

in the mid-to-late 1990s and wasfirst taken up at a national level bythe UKs government. The conceptwas an attempt to change the termsof the debate about the value ofarts and culture. While the arts weresupported to some degree or otherby most governments, they tendedto be seen as marginal to economiclife and dependent on public subsidy.Advocates of the creative industriesidea believed that this was too narrowa view the totality of economicactivity stemming from creativity andculture, including their commercialforms, needed to be considered tounderstand their true contribution. This

activity included not just the traditionalart forms, such as theatre, music andfilm, but service businesses such asadvertising (which sell their creativeskills mostly to other businesses),manufacturing processes that feedinto cultural production, and the retailof creative goods. It was argued thatthe industries with their roots in cultureand creativity were an important andgrowing source of jobs and wealthcreation.

2 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

The adoption of the creativeindustries concept was very muchassociated with the election of theNew Labour government in 1997 andthe creation of the, then Departmentfor Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS),now Department for Culture, Olympics,Media and Sport (DCOMS), whichbuilt upon the functions of the earlier

Department of National Heritage. Oneof the new departments first acts wasto set up the Creative Industries TaskForce, which was responsible for thelandmark Creative Industries MappingDocument in 1998 and a follow-upreport in 2001.

The 1998 mapping documentwas the first systematic attempt todefine and measure the creativeindustries. It was designed both tocollect data on the industries and topromote a deeper understanding ofthe sector by telling its story in a waythat politicians, journalists, investors,academics and government officialscould immediately understand. It

revealed, to the surprise of some,just how economically significant thecreative industries were. It calculatedthat they accounted for almost a million

jobs and 4 per cent of GDP in Britain,and earned 7.5bn from exports. Italso showed, though, that the sectorwas polarised between a myriad ofvery small firms and sole traders and ahandful of very large, often multinationalcompanies.


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The idea of the creativendustries soon started to catch on as itwas seen as encapsulating a truth aboutBritains changing economic landscape.n particular, the definition adoptedby the DCMS and the list of creativendustries derived from it soon becamenfluential.

The DCMS regards the creativendustries as: those activities whichhave their origin in individual creativity,skill and talent and which have apotential for wealth and job creationhrough the generation and exploitation

of intellectual property1.

In its first mapping document in998, the DCMS went on to define the

ollowing industries as creative: Advertisingn Britain, employment in advertising,which includes marketing and somepublic relations activities, is dominatedby multinational agencies, and is heavilycentred on London: it and New York arewidely regarded as the capitals of theadvertising world. The London-basedcommunications group, WPP, is theworlds largest by revenue, employingalmost 140,000 people in more than

00 countries.

Like many creative industries, the

architecture sub-sector is made up ofa handful of big firms and a very largenumber of small ones. The sub-sectorsortunes are closely linked to those ofhe construction industry. A number

of British architects have achievednternational reputations, includingNorman Foster, Richard Rogers andDavid Chipperfield. Art and antiques marketThis sub-sector includes dealersand auctioneers of antique jewellery,

paintings, sculpture, furniture, maps,drawings and prints. In Britain, mostsuch businesses are small but some,notably Sothebys and Christies, areinternationally important. CraftsThe DCMS includes textiles, ceramics,wood, metal, glass, graphic and leathercrafts in this category. Businessesin this field are mostly tiny: 75 percent are sole traders. The majority ofcraftworkers are women and, perhapssurprisingly, are mainly based in urbanareas. Design

This sub-sector is hard to assessas much of it is hidden within otherindustries. The DCMS therefore lookedat design consultancies and designersworking in industry. It found that 70 percent of British design companies wereactive abroad. London in particular hasa strong reputation in this field, basedon its excellent design schools. Designer FashionFashion design is a relatively smallsub-sector, but is highly integrated intothe international market even smallfashion businesses look to export theirproducts. Britains fashion schools havehelped train numerous internationallyrenowned designers, from John Galliano

to Stella McCartney. Film and videoThis sub-sector includes filmproduction, distribution and exhibition.Although the UK has a number ofsuccessful home-grown producers,such as Working Title, the Hollywoodstudios dominate the British market.The number of films produced in Britain,and their box-office returns, fluctuatesconsiderably from year to year.

Interactive leisure softwareThis sub-sector principally consistsof computer and video games, butalso includes some educational andreference material. British gamingfirms have a reputation for innovation,but many of the games they developare sold by foreign-owned softwarepublishers. DMA Design, a Scottish firmresponsible for the initial developmentof the Grand Theft Auto series ofgames, is now ultimately owned byTake-Two, an American publisher. MusicThis includes both live and recorded

music, music publishing and theadministration of music copyright.Britain excels in most forms of music,from rock and pop to classical, and itsconsumers spend more per head onmusic than almost any other country.EMI, one of the music industrys majors,is based in London. Performing ArtsTheatre, dance, ballet, musicals andopera performances all fall into thiscategory. These art forms usuallydepend on a mix of public subsidy andprivate ticket sales and funding. Someparts of the sub-sector are nonethelessbig revenue earners: Londons West Endtheatre, with its wide variety of musicals

and plays, is a major tourist attraction. PublishingThe publishing of books, newspapers,magazines and electronic informationis one of the largest employers amongthe creative industries. The widespreaduse of English internationally meansthat book publishing in particular is aglobally connected industry. Software and Computer ServicesThe biggest creative industry of allin the UK is software and computer

services. It covers the creation,production and supply of toolsand applications and of softwareproducts, including web design. Thelarge majority of employment in thissub-sector is based outside London.American multinationals tend todominate in this field, but some Britishcompanies do well in niche markets,including Autonomy and Sage inbusiness software. Television and radioThis sub-sector covers all publicservice, commercial, cable and satelliteTV and radio, including the production

and broadcasting of programmes. TheBBC dominates the British market, butmany independent companies havedevised formats which have beensuccessfully sold abroad. Who Wantsto Be A Millionaire?, which has beenshown in more than 100 countries,was developed by the independentcompany, Celador.

The DCMSs definition and list ofthe creative industries both provokedconsiderable debate. It has beenargued, for example, that almost all newproducts have elements of creativityand intellectual property embeddedwithin them. Separating off a handful

of industries and labelling them ascreative is, according to this view,rather arbitrary.

More specific criticisms of thelist have also been made. The inclusionof the computer software sub-sectorhas often been questioned. It is a largeemployer in many parts of Britain, yetmuch of it consists of conventionalbusiness software and consultancyrather than the more creative elementssuch as computer games development


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or interactive media. The presence ofhe antiques trade on the DCMS list has

also been challenged, on the groundshat there is no fresh act of creationnvolved, merely the retail of pre-existing ones.

Although some minoradjustments have been made to thest in response to these and other

criticisms, the 1998 definition isstill essentially the one used by theDCMS today. It is often used by othercountries as the basis for developingheir own definition.

The idea of the creative

ndustries as set out in the DCMSmapping documents was quicklyembraced not just by Britains nationalgovernment but also by its cities,egions and local government, partly

encouraged by the work of the DCMSsRegional Issues Working Group3. Ahost of initiatives and programmes wasaunched by many public bodies, andcreative became a new economicdevelopment buzzword. At one time orother in the last decade, for instance,he creative industries have been

a priority sector for all of Englandsegions. This enthusiasm coincided

with sharp rises in employment in thecreative industries in Britain in the late

990s, which lent weight to the newmodel.As time has gone on, however, it

has increasingly been recognised thathe creative industries cannot be seenn isolation. They have a number ofmportant, wider dimensions, including: adding value to other industries,notably through design, advertising andbranding being major employers of highlyskilled people, thus being part of the

knowledge economy that part ofthe economy which employs graduatetalent contributing to the regeneration oftowns and cities connecting and working with furtherand higher education bringing communities and peopletogether through shared experiences.

In 2006, the UK governmentformally adopted the term creativeeconomy to capture this sense ofthe wider contribution of the creativeindustries to economic and social life.

This toolkit is concerned with mappingthe creative industries themselves, somany of these broader connectionsand relationships fall outside its scope.Nevertheless, these connections aresignificant, and might well be thesubject of further research once aninitial mapping exercise is complete4.

The timeline on the right gives asense of the way in which the creativeindustries concept has developed andbeen translated into evidence andpolicy in the UK since 1997.

The decision to produce the firstCreative Industries Mapping Documentin 1998 turned out to be a momentous

one. It was the first systematic attemptanywhere to measure the creativeindustries on a national scale. It drewattention to a sector which, with its mixof technology and a long and complexcultural heritage, is unlike any othersector of the economy.

Although the mapping documentfocused just on the creative industries,it was the trigger for a series ofdevelopments which have rippled outacross the British economy, leading to

Department for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (previously DCMS)

Since the publication of the mapping documents in 1998 and 2001, theDepartment for Culture has continued to carry out research into the creativeindustries. From 2002 onwards it has produced annual Creative IndustriesEconomic Estimates bulletins, which provide a detailed analysis of the creativeindustries in Britain and are available online. The most recent figures show thatthe creative industries in Britain employed more than 1.1 million people (in2008), and accounted for 16.6bn of exports and 6.2% of GVA (in 2007). TheDCOMS has built up considerable expertise in mapping, and is happy to shareits knowledge with other countries. It is particularly interested in encouragingmore accurate comparisons between countries. If you want to learn more aboutthe DCOMSs work, or wish to explore the idea of collaborating on developingcomparative data, the British Council can help facilitate such discussions.

1997 DCMS established

1st DCMS CreativeIndustries MappingDocument 1998Establishment ofCreative Industries TaskForce 1998

2nd DCMS CreativeIndustries MappingDocument 2001

DCMS Regional IssuesWorking Group set up1999

(London) MayorsCommission on CreativeIndustries 2002

WIPO establishesCreative IndustriesDivision 2005

Creative EconomyProgramme 2005-07

Creative IndustriesEconomic Estimates firstpublished 2002

Creative economy termformally adopted by UKgovernment 2006

UNs Creative EconomyReport 2008

2001 2005

British Councils CreativeIndustries (now Economy)Unit set up 1999

Creative Londonlaunched 2004

Creative Britainreport 2008

Digital Britainreport 2009

Key events in the evolution of the creative industries concept and policies


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a greater recognition of the importance

of creativity across the economy andsociety as a whole. It has led to a richerunderstanding of the creative sectorand has helped to shape policy both inhe UK and internationally.

The work of the Regional IssuesWorking Group helped encourageower-level tiers of government inBritain to take up the idea early on.n 2002 Londons then mayor, KenLivingstone, established a Commissionon the creative industries, to assessheir value and potential contributiono the citys economy. As a world

city, Londons creative industries areunusually strong; in 2001 they wereound to be second only to the financial

sector in importance to Londonseconomy. The Commission led to theestablishment of Creative London,which aimed both to promote the cityscreative industries and to use them topursue the mayors broader ambitionsof regenerating some of the more run-down parts of the city and enhancingLondons brand.

More recently, governmentstrategies have increasingly beenconcerned with strengthening the

economic performance of the creative

industries. Between 2005 and 2007the DCMS launched a major researchproject, the Creative EconomyProgramme, which resulted in 2008 inCreative Britain5, a report which set outa support programme for the creativesector that touched on education, skills,innovation and intellectual property. Afurther landmark was the publication ofDigital Britain6in 2009, which sets outthe countrys ambitions for the digitalage. One striking aspect of the DigitalBritainreport is its focus on the creativeindustries: it is evidence of the extentto which the digital and creative sectorsare merging due to technologicalchange. Indeed, many public bodies

in Britain now refer to these two as asingle economic grouping.Britains example, then, as the

first country to take up the idea of thecreative industries, is a helpful one toexplore. It has a wealth of experienceon which to draw. However, it is byno means the only country to haveadopted the concept. The followingsection discusses the creative industriesin their international context.

2.2 The Creative Industries:International ContextThe UKs decision to produce the firstCreative Industry Mapping Documentin 1998 turned out to be an importantmilestone internationally too. Thedefinition and list of industries itcontained were soon noticed and takenup, particularly in East Asia. Hong Kong,Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and China alldeveloped analyses of their creativeindustries, based to a greater or lesserextent on the UK model. In most cases,the model has been adapted to fit localneeds. Singapore, for instance, has

produced a classification frameworkwhich groups the creative industriesunder three broad headings: arts andculture, design, and media.

Other parts of the world, notablyAustralia, New Zealand and Scandinavia,took up the notion too, thoughsometimes with significant differencesfrom the UKs approach. Sweden, forexample, talks about the experienceeconomy which, while including thecreative industries, also embraces thelikes of the restaurant business. In India,the definition includes lifestyle productsand services, like yoga and Ayurvedicmedicine.

Creative industries mappingexercises have now been carried outin many parts of the world. The BritishCouncil has been involved in such workin Colombia, Estonia, Indonesia andSouth Africa, among others.

International agencies,too, have adopted the idea of thecreative industries or the creativeeconomy. UNCTAD (the UNs trade anddevelopment body) has led the way,being the lead agency responsiblefor the UNs Creative Economy Report20087.

UNCTAD notes in its report that

the creative economy has becomea topical issue of the internationaleconomic and development agenda,calling for informed policy responsesin both developed and developingcountries 8 . UNCTAD statistics reveal itaccounts for a significant and growingslice of the worlds economy. TheCreative Economy Report 2008 quotessome impressive figures for the size ofthe creative industries. It calculates theyaccount for: 3.4 per cent of world trade (in 2005) $424 billion of exports (in 2005),growing at an average annual rate of8.7 per cent between 2000 and 2005.Source: UN Creative Economy Report 2008, p5

Singapores classification framework for the creative industries

Photography Visual arts Performing arts Arts and antiques trade, Crafts

Software Advertising Architecture Interior design Graphic design Industrial design Fashion

Publishing TV & radio Digital media Film and video

Arts and culture Design Media


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The creative industries aremportant both to developed nationsand developing ones. They matter toricher countries because they dependor their success on the creativity ofheir workforces and, as such, their

competitiveness relies less on pricehan on the quality and imagination ofheir work. In turn, this suggests thathey are less likely to lose out to the

price-led competition which has causedmany manufacturing and service jobs tobe outsourced to emerging economies.

However, the creative industriesalso offer potential benefits to emerging

economies. These countries also oftenwish to move away from competingsolely on price, and are looking todentify new sources of competitiveadvantage and cultural recognition.Creative businesses, driven as theyare by ideas and creativity, do notnecessarily need access to largesums of capital or natural resources.For countries with rich cultures anda pool of local creative talent, thecreative economy offers a way to buildeconomic value. The Commonwealth

Foundation argues that for many of itssmaller members in particular, whichlack the capacity to exploit economiesof scale, the creative industries offerbetter prospects for growth than manyother sectors 9.

UNESCO, the UNs cultural arm,has taken a more cautious approach tothe idea of the creative industries, butthe most recent revision of its culturalstatistics framework in 2009 has takenmore account of them10.

Other organisations have putforward alternative models of thecreative industries. Perhaps the mostinteresting of these is one producedby the World Intellectual Property

Notes 2. DCMS (1998) Creative Industries Mapping Document1998, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, p3.

3. DCMS (2000) Creative Industries: The RegionalDimension, The Report of the Regional Issues WorkingGroup, DCMS, London

4. For an interesting attempt at measuring the creativeeconomy in Britain, see Higgs, P., Cunningham, S., andBakhshi, H. (2009) Beyond the creative industries:mapping the creative economy in the United Kingdom,NESTA, London.

5. DCMS (2008), Creative Britain: New Talents for theNew Economy, DCMS/BERR/DIUS, London.

6. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (2009),Digital Britain, Norwich, TSO.

7. United Nations (2008) Creative Economy Report2008: The Challenge of Assessing the Creative Economy:towards Informed Policy-making, United Nations, Geneva.

8. Ibid., p4.

9. Commonwealth Foundation (2008) Putting CultureFirst: Commonwealth perspectives on culture anddevelopment

10. UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2009), 2009 UNESCOFramework for Cultural Statistics, UNESCO Institute ofStatistics, Montreal.

Organisation (WIPO), which has deviseda copyright model that divides thecreative industries up into threecategories: core, interdependent andpartial copyright industries. This modelseeks to include all the industriesinvolved in the creation, manufacture,production, broadcast and distributionand consumption of copyrighted works,and thus results in a rather different listfrom the DCMSs.

Initiatives like these have helpedmake governments more aware ofthe value of the creative industriesand intellectual property to the global

economy.

For more general information on the creativeindustries and creative economy, please referto the British Councils Creative and CulturalEconomy series/1 publication.

WIPOs copyright model of the creative industries

Advertising Collecting societies Film and video Music Performing arts Publishing Software TV and radio Visual and graphic art

Blank recording material Consumer electronics Musical instruments Paper Photocopiers,

photographic,equipment

Core copyrightindustries Interdependentcopyright industries Partial copyrightindustries

Source: UN Creative Economy Report 2008, p5


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The creative industries, then, is aconcept which is rising in prominence.However, the fast-changing and cross-cutting nature of the industries poseschallenges both for private investors,who may not fully grasp the ways inwhich the industries are evolving, andgovernments, which need to betterunderstand the sector if they are to

release the full potential of their creativeeconomies and develop appropriatepolicies. In many places, very little isknown about the creative industrieslocation and size, or what their needsmight be. Mapping is designed to be afirst step in addressing this.

3 THE MAPPING TOOLKIT

It should be made clear thatmapping extends well beyondthe production of actual maps. It isshorthand for a whole series of analyticmethods for collecting and presentinginformation on the range and scope ofthe creative industries (or a particularpart of them). This toolkit describesthese techniques and assesses their

strengths and limitations.However, the mapping research

itself cannot be considered in isolation.It lies at the centre of a series of otherissues political, managerial, practical

which shape the success or failureof a project. We have identified sevensteps which have to be addressed ifthe mapping is to achieve its desiredresults.


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STEP 1 WHY DO MAPPING?

To begin at the beginning: why do amapping exercise at all?A mapping exercise seeks to assesshe value of the creative industrieso the wider economy. This might be

demonstrated through measures suchas employment, the number and sizeof creative businesses, exports, grossvalue added, or the composition of theworkforce (by gender or ethnicity, fornstance).

There are five main reasons whysomeone might want to carry out such

an exercise.

To raise the profile of the creativendustries.A mapping project is first and foremostan exercise in getting the creativendustries noticed and recognised. Thesector is an unusual one, cutting acrossraditional industrial classifications and

changing rapidly as technology evolves.As such, it often has a comparativelyow profile compared with, say, financialservices, manufacturing, or industriesbased around the exploitation of naturalesources. A mapping project can raise

awareness of the economic value of thendustries, which is often substantial. It

can also help create common framesof reference for talking about thecreative industries. This in turn can beuseful in increasing their political clout,so allowing them to get their needsaken more seriously. It can also help

creative businesspeople in the differentndustries to see what they have incommon.2 To learn more about the sector what is happening and where is it takingplace?

Beyond simply raising their profile,mapping can give insights into thestructure of the creative industries.They are a varied and fast-changinggroup. Evidence from Britain and othercountries suggests that they sometimescluster together in certain places,and each industry faces its own set ofissues. Mapping projects can revealsome of these patterns and how theyare changing. This in turn is importantfor the third consideration planningfor future growth.3 To plan for future growth.Understanding where you are now is

essential to being able to plan sensibly.The creative industries often faceparticular challenges, such as findingaffordable workspace, getting accessto high-speed broadband services, andaccess to skilled labour. Mapping canhelp identify the needs of the creativeindustries and suggest ways in whichthey might be addressed.4 To engage leaders in the policyissues affecting creative industries.By raising the profile of the creativeindustries and providing an evidencebase on their size and location,mapping provides a platform on whichto build policy arguments. It encouragespoliticians to take the sector seriously

and to develop policies to push thecreative industries agenda forward.Mapping can also help persuade otherpotentially influential groups, such as

journalists or civil servants, of the needto support the creative sector.5 To support wider political oreconomic objectives.Sometimes the interest in the creativeindustries lies not so much in theindustries themselves but in theirpotential contribution to other pressing

agendas, such as urban regeneration,rural development or social cohesion.Making the creative industriescontribution more visible throughmapping can help policymakers seehow the industries could play a rolein these other areas. In turn, this mayallow some of the creative industriesneeds to be addressed as part of widerinitiatives.

Who is it for?The idea for a mapping project

may arise from any of a number ofsources: a senior civil servant or a

creative entrepreneur, for instance.However, if a project proposal is tobe taken forward, a sponsor has tobe found someone who can securefinancial and political backing for theproject. British (and international)experience suggests this person islikely to be a politician. He or shewill have become interested in thecreative industries and wants to raisethe industries profile by getting theireconomic value recognised andunderstood.

The sponsor needs to startthinking early on about who the projectis ultimately for who is he or shehoping to influence? Is the ambition

to get officials in government ornational statistics agencies to pay moreattention to the quality of data on thecreative industries? Is it to persuadepoliticians to make policy changes? Oris it to get the creative sector itself tothink more deeply about its strengthsand weaknesses? This decision hasimplications for the conduct of themapping exercise, as the later steps inthe process will show.

If such people are to bepersuaded, though, the projectneeds to be credible. The sponsortherefore needs to give some thoughtto the feasibility of the project,and in particular the availabilityof information. All countries havenational statistics agencies, either aspart of their governmental structuresor sometimes as semi-independentbodies. In some places, there are alsoregional or city-based observatoriesthat collect information on labourmarkets, businesses and employment.If a mapping exercise can adapt such

statistics to reflect the circumstancesand character of the creative industries,it is likely to help the credibility of themapping project considerably. It istherefore important to check if theseagencies have reasonably reliablefigures, and effective methods forcollecting and analysing the data.

It is worth noting that, evenin countries which have generallygood statistical services, certainindividual surveys may be less reliablethan others. Factors that have to beconsidered are the size of the sample,the geography at which the datawas collected, and the availability ofcomparator years. There is inevitably

also a time lag in compiling statistics,which can be a problem in the fast-changing environment of the creativesector.

If reliable data is not available, asis the case in some emerging (and evendeveloped) economies, the suitabilityof non-governmental statistics needsto be explored. This might be datacollected by trade associations orindustry bodies, by trade publicationsor online networks, or by NGOs, private


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businesses or universities. By patchingsuch data together it may be possibleo create workable datasets for a

mapping exercise.If even these are not available,

he project researchers are going tohave to compile their own data. Theproject sponsor needs to think throughhe feasibility of this how much mightt cost, and what level of coveragemight be achieved.

It may be that there is toottle data from any source to run a

mapping project. If the sponsor stillwants to raise the profile of the creative

ndustries, there are other strategieshat can be adopted. One alternative iso hold a series of events or seminars

designed to encourage understandingand debate. These might involve thecreative sector itself, wider interests inhe business world, and government

officials in departments such as tradeand investment, culture, education,exports and economics. The BritishCouncil supports a number of suchprogrammes (see appendix 1).

Case study: Vietnam Binh Duong Province

Vietnams economy has grown very quickly in recent years, and creativebusinesses are being established, especially in the largest city, Ho Chi Minh City(HCMC). National networks are beginning to develop, too, notably Viet Craft,which has 450 members. As wage costs rise in the wake of economic growth,Vietnam is starting to think about ways of encouraging businesses to move upthe value chain.

Vietnam has just begun to explore the concept of the creative industries. TheBritish Council recently undertook an exploratory visit to Binh Duong Province,a district just to the north of HCMC. The provincial government sees the creativeindustries as a potential source of growth. Binh Duong Province already hasa number of firms making good-quality creative goods principally crafts for export, but these tend to use imported designs. It also has several mediacompanies.

The consultant representing the British Council sought to assess the strengthsand weaknesses of the provinces creative industries, especially in the designand crafts sub-sectors, and to examine the possibilities of a mapping project. Shespoke to businesspeople, creative entrepreneurs, higher education institutionsand government officials. A seminar was also held in Ho Chi Minh City, toencourage debate about the creative industries.

The conclusions stemming from the visit were mixed. There is some localenthusiasm for the creative industries on which to build, but doubts wereexpressed by officials about the quality of available statistics and there was littleevidence of relevant expertise in the local universities.

In a case like this, therefore, a full-scale mapping project at this stage wouldbe premature. Instead, the reliability of local and national statistics needs to befurther investigated, sources of creative industry expertise have to be identified,and an assessment has to be made of which industries it would be useful tomap. It might make more sense in this case to provide a broad overview of the

creative sector followed by detailed work on a handful of industries: design,crafts and media. In the meantime, awareness could be raised by holdingseminars on topics of interest to local firms, such as branding and innovation,and strengthening creative networks.


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STEP 2 WHICH POLICY QUESTIONSCAN MAPPING ADDRESS?

Mapping projects are rarely undertakensimply out of intellectual curiosity. Mostproject organisers have ambitions tonfluence the future development of thecreative industries. To do this, though,hey need to understand which policy

areas mapping projects can realisticallyhope to influence. A research reportcommissioned as part of the DCMSsCreative Economy Programme11suggested there were three that areparticularly important (see table below).

Areas of policy interest

Creative industries mapping orevidence-gathering exercises haveshaped the UKs policy approach inall three of these policy areas. Thefollowing case studies look at examplesfrom across the country

Local (place-based) economicdevelopmentRegions and cities are often mostinterested in the contribution of thecreative industries to local economicdevelopment. The creative industries

have a tendency to cluster together,often in city districts that have beenabandoned by traditional manufacturingindustries. Creative businesses arealso often very small in size, stronglyrooted in their local communities, andemployers of highly skilled people. Assuch, they can help to regenerate run-down areas, help a place to diversifyits local economy and allow an area torebrand itself.

Urban regeneration in the UK

In a number of British cities clusters of creative industries have contributedto urban economic revival. Sometimes this has been unplanned: artists andcreative people have moved to certain city neighbourhoods and have built anew economy there. In other cases, local government has made a consciouseffort to strengthen the creative industries in a locality by providing assistance,sometimes by designating the district a creative or cultural quarter.

An example of the first is Shoreditch, a neighbourhood in east-central London,which has been transformed by the creative industries over the last 15 years.The decline in manufacturing in London throughout the twentieth centurysaw Shoreditchs traditional industries, notably furniture and textiles, virtuallydisappear, leaving the area poor and economically depressed. However, it alsoleft warehouse space behind. London as a whole has a large population of artand design students and working artists, who are always looking for cheap,

flexible workspace in the inner city. In the 1990s Shoreditch thus began to becolonised by artists, a trend which was symbolised by the establishment of theWhite Cube gallery in Hoxton Square, the spiritual home of the Young BritishArtists (YBAs), such as Damien Hirst.

As more and more artists moved to the area Shoreditch acquired a morefashionable image. This attracted more mainstream creative businesses, in fieldssuch as advertising, architecture, photography and, especially, design. This waveof affluent professionals in turn attracted bars, restaurants and clubs to the area,leading to it becoming one of the centres of London nightlife with a reputationfor being on the cutting edge of London style. Shoreditch has become a classicexample of inner-city gentrification. More recent developments have includedan upmarket hotel and a major new gallery for multicultural art, Rivington Place.The rising rents and a tendency for warehouses to be converted into residentialspace have started to push out the artists responsible for the areas revival; theyhave begun to move further east.

The Shoreditch cluster was largely unplanned, but it was soon noticed by

local and city-wide government bodies. A number of mapping exercises wereundertaken, and policies devised to support the growth of creative industriesin the area. There were also some unexpected knock-on effects: Westminster,the traditional centre of creative industries in London, commissioned a mappingstudy to help it understand why some of its businesses were moving toShoreditch.

The creative industries are a large and dynamic sector in London. In otherplaces in Britain the creative industries make up a relatively smaller share of theeconomy. Local government in such areas have often made more systematicattempts to encourage Shoreditch-style creative clusters.

Areas of policy interest

City or regional growth Regeneration Local and regional cluster development Regional economic diversification Place-making/ city and regional branding

competitiveness

Local (place-based)economic development Nationalindustrial policy Cultural policy

Source: BOP Consulting, 2006


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In Manchester, for instance, the city has built on the growth of the creativeindustries in the Northern Quarter district of the city centre. As in Shoreditch,its traditional industries had declined, leaving cheap space behind that provedattractive to creative industries, especially in fashion, galleries, and music.Afflecks Palace, an indoor market that is something of a Manchester institution,embodies the bohemian culture which has taken root in the area with its manysmall creative retailers. When it became clear that the city centre was attractingcreative industries the city council took an active role in supporting andpromoting them. As a result of a mapping and research study, it set up CIDS (theCreative Industries Development Service), an organisation based in the NorthernQuarter that provided support and information to creative businesses acrossthe city. The growth of the creative industries has been credited in part withreversing the longstanding decline in the residential population of the city centre.

Birmingham is attempting to do something similar in Digbeth, which lies just

south of its city centre. The district has been identified by the city council asa potential hub for the creative industries in that city. Like Shoreditch and theNorthern Quarter, Digbeth has largely been abandoned by manufacturingand wholesaling businesses, leaving potentially usable space behind. Privatedevelopers have taken note and have converted a number of buildings in thearea for use by creative industries. The first of these was the Custard Factory,a former food-processing facility, which is now home to 250 small creativebusinesses. Its success has been repeated nearby at Fazeley Studios, a formerchapel, and at The Bond, a converted Victorian warehouse.

Birmingham City Council is looking to build on these successes to establish acreative cluster. It has plans to upgrade broadband connections in the area tocreate a digital hub and has supported a new campus of the South BirminghamCollege in the area, which offers a number of courses related to the creativeindustries. Together with public realm improvements, and the areas strongreputation for live music, it is hoped that a buzz can be created in Digbeth toattract new businesses and residents.


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National industrial policy

At a national level, policymakers areoften more interested in the creativendustries as a source of internationalcompetitiveness and as a key part ofhe debate on national industrial policyn the fields of innovation, technologyand intellectual property. The digitalevolution (or digital shift as it is

sometimes known) has put creativebusinesses, especially in media, onhe front line of these issues. Their

experience has lessons for other partsof the economy which are facing similar

challenges.

Digital Britain

British government ministers have for some years now identified the creativeindustries as a particular strength of Britains economy, and have declared anambition to see the UK become the worlds creative hub. This is reflected in thefocus of government bodies; both the Technology Strategy Board and UK Tradeand Investment (UKTI) have identified the creative industries as a priority area fortheir activities. This thinking has also helped shape recent policy and legislation.

The Digital Britainreport, published by the government in 2009, was Britainsmost serious attempt to date to come to grips with the new digital age12.Stephen Carter, the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcastingat the time (the reports author), described it as an overdue recognition ofthe industrial importance of the creative industries. The report frequentlymentions the challenge posed by other nations plans for digital technology

and infrastructure, in particular the high levels of public and private investmentin broadband infrastructure in countries such as the United States, Japan andAustralia.

The report had three broad themes: increasing digital participation; buildinga new communications infrastructure; and modernising the relevant legal andregulatory frameworks. Many of the proposals in it deal with the production andtrade of creative goods and services, the role of intellectual property, and therelationship between the public and private sectors. In particular, the reportsaw piracy as a major threat to the future health of the creative industries andput forward proposals for dealing with it. A number of these policy proposalsbecame law with the passing of the Digital Economy Bill in April 2010.

Cultural policy

The third area of interest is culturalpolicy. The creative industries havetheir roots in longstanding culturaltraditions. Indeed, for many creativebusinesspeople the cultural value oftheir work is at least as important asits economic value. In a globalised,connected world many places arewrestling with the question of how tomaintain their cultural identity withoutbecoming living museums. Commercialculture can be a way of ensuring thesurvival of cultural traditions by giving

them a new value and importance or by

allowing them to re-invent themselvesin new forms.

The European Capital of Culture programme

The European Capital (or City) of Culture programme (ECoC) is an example ofthe way in which culture can be used to change the image of a place and spurthe development of the creative sector. ECoC was the brainchild of the Greekactress turned politician, Melina Mercouri, who wanted to raise cultures profilein the European Union. Although it was launched in 1986, it wasnt until 1990,when Glasgow was the host city, that the idea really began to have an impact.As a study of the ECoC hosts observed, Glasgow was a turning point in thatthe city set multiple aims with specific reference to cultural, economic and socialgoals. Almost all cities that followed have taken a similar approach13. These goalsincluded boosting tourism, improving the citys image, revitalising the city andincreasing the number of creative industries and jobs.

Glasgows year as ECoC was part of a 25 year-long effort to use culture to build

up its identity. Although Glasgow had been one of the great trading centres ofthe Victorian era it was known as the second city of the British Empire bythe 1970s and 80s it had lost much of its manufacturing base and had acquireda reputation for poverty and violence. In the words of a city official, it wasperceived as the worst corner of Britain14. In the 80s, the city council decidedto give culture and creativity a prominent role in its regeneration efforts.

These began with the Glasgows MilesBetter publicity campaign, which stressedthe citys cultural assets, including the then recently opened Burrell Collection,and the citys hosting of a Garden Festival in 1988. Things took a big stepforward in 1990, when the citys year as European Capital of Culture helped itbecome a presence on the international stage. It improved the image of the city


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and its attractiveness to businesses of all kinds, and also helped raise the profileof cultural activity. As the report observes over the 1990s, there was a verysignificant increase in jobs within the cultural and creative industries includingmusic production, film production, book publishing and design trades15. Thecreative industries have thus become part of a new cultural identity for thecity, which has helped displace the older images. Glasgow was UK City ofArchitecture and Design in 1999, and has recently been declared a City of Musicby UNESCO. In 2014, it will host the Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow has maintained this momentum with a programme of its own festivalsand events and new and redeveloped cultural facilities. It now has the highestper capita spend on culture and sport of any British city. Projects over the last 25years have ranged from the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art to therevitalisation of the Merchant City district. The citys Head of Arts and Museumshas noted that the citys economic development department doesnt always

look for direct economic benefits it sees quality of life projects as providingimportant indirect benefits to the city16.

In 2008 the European Capital of Culture honour, which rotates around Europe,returned to the UK, to Liverpool. The city has long had a strong and diverseculture, stemming partly from its position as an Atlantic port. Its contributionsto British (and international) cultural life range from the Beatles and the Merseypoets to playwrights like Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell. Despite this, though,the city is also one of the poorest in Britain, with a range of social problems anda troubled political history. In the last decade, Liverpools economy has stageda partial recovery, and there has been an effort to move away from the politicalcontroversies of the 1980s and 1990s. Liverpools year as ECoC was (at leastin part) an attempt to use its cultural strengths to make outsiders more awareof these changes and to achieve wider benefits, such as increasing culturalparticipation and tourism.

Liverpool has commissioned a research team to measure and map the impactsof the programme over a five-year time period. While it is too early to measurethe longer term effects, the short-term results are promising. Liverpoolreceived ten million additional visits in 2008 thanks to ECoC, with an estimatedeconomic impact of more than 750m17. Businesses in the tourism sector wereextremely positive about the year, while by early 2009, just over half of thearts representatives spoken to thought that the city had achieved its aspirationto become a world-class city. Nearly three-quarters of creative industriesbusinesses surveyed also felt that the longer-term impacts of ECoC on theirbusinesses would be beneficial, while media coverage presented a much morepositive image of the city than usual.

For both Glasgow and Liverpool, then, the creative industries are not simplyeconomically beneficial; their cultural and reputational impact is at least asimportant. The industries are helping to re-shape the way that the rest of Britainand the wider world see the two places.


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38

Source: Adapted from Hlzl, K. (2006) Creative Industries in Europe and Austria: Definition and Potential,and Sndermann, M.et al (2009)

Culture and Creative Industries in Germany.

STEP 3 HOW ARE THE CREATIVENDUSTRIES DEFINED?

Having decided that a mapping exercisewould help with achieving certaineconomic or political goals, the nextstep is to focus on the practicalitiesof the process. The following sectionsof the toolkit (steps 3 to 5) deal withhis, but in reality there is some overlap

between them: decisions in one areahave implications for the others.The first of these practical steps iso agree a definition of the creativendustries. Deciding what is in and what

s out will help clarify the scope of thework.

As has been seen already, theres no standard definition of the creativendustries in use most countriesadapt the concept to meet their ownneeds. In most mapping exercises adefinition is chosen that reflects theparticular characteristics of eachcountrys industrial, cultural and socialdevelopment. This can be drawn up inconsultation with experts either in thecountry or abroad. Issues that may haveo be taken into account include the

size of the informal sector, and the rural-urban split within a country the morecommercial creative industries tend to

be based in the larger cities.It should be noted, though, thatas time has gone on a consensus hasstarted to develop over what shouldypically be included. There is now

considerable common ground betweenmany of these frameworks.

The figure to the right, fornstance, shows the definitions adoptedor the creative industries in Britain,Germany, Spain and France. As theable shows, many of the industries

appear on all four lists.Drawing up a list of industries is

only the start of the process, however.The list has to be translated into a formthat is compatible with the data sourcesthat the mapping exercise will use.

In Britain, for example, an analysisof Standard Industrial Classification(SIC) code data (the British equivalentof ISIC data, the International StandardIndustrial Classification) underpins anyserious creative industries strategy. Thelist of creative industries is convertedinto a detailed group of SIC codes,which are used to analyse data from

official government surveys such as theAnnual Business Inquiry or the LabourForce Survey.

However, for historical reasons SIC codes were established long beforesome of the creative industries hadevolved into their current form, and areupdated infrequently the codes oftendont reflect the creative industries verywell. As a result, any British researcherhas to think about weighting certaincodes to allow for the fact that theycombine a mix of creative and non-creative activities.

To give just one example, the1992 and 2003 SIC codes include aclass called 74.20: Architecture and

engineering activities and relatedtechnical consultancy. This covers awide range of activities including thelikes of mechanical, mining and nuclearengineering, building and quantitysurveying, and technical writing andillustration, as well as architecture andits related professions. Some way needsto be found to separate out the creativeindustries from the non-creative ones.

The DCMSs approach is to applystandard weightings (developed from

Comparison of four countries; definitions of the creative/cultural industries

UK

Term used Creative industriesCulture and creative

industries C ul tu re in du st rie s C ul tur al se ct or

Libraries

Fashion

Architecture

Design

Software/multimedia

Audio-visual(film, TV, radio)

Art market/Visual arts

Museums/cultural heritage

Performingarts

Publishing

Music

Crafts

SPAINGERMANY FRANCE

Advertising


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ts research) to the SIC codes it uses toprepare its annual Creative IndustriesEconomic Estimates. The industries, theSIC codes and the weightings used byhe DCMS are shown in Appendix 2.

If the geographical unit is small,he robustness of the data will presenturther challenges. The creativendustries typically account for around3-4 per cent of employment in Britainon measures derived from the DCMSst. At the level of the city or theegion this can translate into relatively

small absolute numbers of creativebusinesses. One way to ensure that

you still have reliable results is to grouphe creative industries together in

broader categories according to someunderlying principle.

In 2004, for example, the DCMSproposed the DCMS Evidence ToolkitDET) for use at regional level. It groups

creative industries together into fourdomains, based on their nature of theirfinal outputs: Books & Press, Audio-Visual, Performance and Visual Arts &Design.

While this classification is simpleto understand, and has often beenused at sub-national level in Britain,it is not the only way to interpret thecreative sector. A number of alternativeapproaches have been put forward.One such is the Creative BusinessModels approach (NESTA, 2006)18.This gathers creative industries intofour circles, according to the businessmodels and supply chains they havein common. These circles CreativeContent, Creative Services, CreativeOriginals and Creative Experiences seek to draw attention to the similarities

between the practices of, say, anarchitect and an advertising agency:both are essentially selling their skillsand time (rather than an end product)to other businesses, not to consumers.

MANUFACTURING

DISSEMINATION

PublishingRecorded musicTV/Radio broadcast& distributionGames publishersFilm studios/distribution Museums

GalleriesHistoric sites/buildings

SERVICES

EXPERIENCES

ORIGINALS

CONTENT

PR, MarketingArchitectureDesignAdvertisingPost-production facilities

Web/mobile developmentPhotographyTV & Radio productionGames developmentContract publishing

Agents

Heritage & tourismservices

Exhibitions, attractions(design & build)

CinemasLive musicPerforming artsFestivals

AntiquesDesigner - makingCraftsVisual arts

MerchandiseDesigner fashion

Creative Business Models Framework

TV & radio Film & video Photography Advertising Music Interactive digital media (games,web, mobile etc) Computer software

Theatre Dance Circus Carnival Puppetry

Publishing (books, magazines, newspapers) Literature Printing

Design (inc. fashion design) Architecture Fine arts Crafts Art & Antiques

AUDIO-VISUAL (AV)

PERFORMANCE (P) VISUAL ARTS & DESIGN (VA)

AUDIO-VISUAL (AV)

DCMS Evidence Toolkit (DET) creative industries domains


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STEP 4 WHO IS IN CHARGE? WHODOES THE WORK?

The idea for a mapping project mayarise from any of a number of sources:a senior civil servant or a creativeentrepreneur, for instance. However, if aproject proposal is to be taken forward,a sponsor has to be found someonewho can secure financial and politicalbacking for the project. British (andnternational) experience suggests thisperson is likely to be a politician. Heor she will have become interested inhe creative industries and wants to

aise the industries profile by gettingheir economic value recognised and

understood.However, to take the idea

urther some more concrete actions needed. It has to be decided whowill run the project, and who will dohe work. Careful thought needs to be

given to this. The project sponsor is notnecessarily the one who should lead onhe actual research work.

There are in essence threedistinct roles in a mapping project.Sometimes these will be filled by threepeople or organisations, sometimes oneperson may combine two (or more) ofhe roles:

The project sponsorwill bringhigh-level power and influence andwill champion the project, securingfinancial and political backing toenable the mapping to go ahead. Heor she may well use the mapping todevelop policies and activities, often atgovernment level. The sponsor is likelyo be a politician or someone with good

political connections. The sponsor in turn will identifya project leaderto administer the

project. The leader will be in overallcharge of recruiting and managementof the project team, drawing up adetailed budget, and supervising theresearch and the production of thefinal document. The leader has tounderstand the wider political, culturaland economic landscape in which theproject is being conducted and makesure what is being produced meets thesponsor and the sectors needs. Thisperson might typically be a governmentofficial or civil servant. The project leader has to find achief researcherwill lead the team

responsible for the quantitative andqualitative research work. Mappingthe creative industries is ultimatelyan exercise in economic analysis.It is probably desirable therefore tohave an economist or an economicgeographer in the team. Such peoplewill typically be drawn from academia,although private-sector researchersor consultants may also have the skillsrequired. In practice, a project leadermight look to identify the economics orcultural department of a local universityas a research partner in the project.

It is useful for these three tomeet regularly throughout the mapping

process to review progress.

STEP 5 WHICH RESEARCHAPPROACH SHOULD BE ADOPTED?

The research approach chosen willvary according to the particularcircumstances of a project, especiallythe reliability of available data. There aresix basic building blocks from which amapping exercise can be constructed.They are not mutually exclusive, and anexercise may well combine a number ofthem.

Researchers can use a range ofquantitative and qualitative researchtools across these blocks, including

statistical analysis, surveys, interviews,focus groups and web-basedresearch. While it is often assumedthat quantitative methods are morerobust they can be used to establishtrends over time, for instance, and tocompare the creative sector to the restof the economy they cannot providea comprehensive picture of the creativeindustries. Qualitative work can givefurther details and more nuance, whichhelp to make sense of the statisticalevidence. A mapping exercise is likelyto mix the two sets of tools.

The six building blocks are: literature review analysis of official government data

industry-specific studies analysis of non-governmental data directories of businesses case studies.

Literature reviewIt is always helpful to review

previous work before carrying outnew research. Exploring work that wascompleted earlier or which was donefor nearby areas can provide a usefulcontext for the mapping project and

can give guidance drawn from theexperiences of others. It can also helpto avoid duplication and may identifygaps in knowledge about the creativeindustries which the current projectcould address. A literature review isalmost always a precursor to the mainpart of the research.

Statistical analysis of officialgovernment data

This approach offers the mostcomprehensive overview of a localityscreative industries and is the onlyoption which allows for meaningful

comparisons between countries. Oncost grounds, it is also the only methodwhich can be used to produce anationwide assessment of the creativeindustries, unless the nation concernedis very small.

Official government statisticscan be used to assess the creativeindustries contribution to employment,business numbers, exports, or GVAamong other measures. There is arange of international classificationsystems used in most countries fromwhich creative industry data can bederived. These include the InternationalStandard Industrial Classifications (ISIC),the Central Product Classifications

(CPC) and the International StandardClassification of Occupations (ISCO).The UNs Creative Economy Report2008 explores the uses of thesestatistics in more depth.

The data used may either bestandard government data adaptedto the circumstances of the creativesector, as is the case in the UK, orin some cases may be collectedspecifically for the creative or culturalsector, as happens in Canada.


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ndustry-specific studiesSometimes the project sponsor

s particularly interested in specific sub-sectors of the economy, either becausehe local economy is strong in that area

or because the industries are politicallymportant: TV broadcasting often fallsnto this second category. In such casest may be possible to carry out surveysof individual industries.

The West Midlands

The West Midlands region of Englandhas identified the Screen, Image andSound industries (which include TV,film, video and computer games)as a priority sector. In 2007, amapping study19found that it was adynamic sector with strong growthin business formation and high levelsof innovation. Computer games werefound to be a particular strengthof the region. In all, the cluster ofindustries employed at least 15,000people across the West Midlands.

This option will probably havean element of statistical analysis ofgovernment or other data, as theproject team attempts to assess thesize of the sub-sector as a whole, butt is likely to be supplemented with aange of qualitative methods, such

as interviews with businesses. Thesewould allow the researchers to exploressues in the sub-sector in more depth.n Britain, for example, the digitalmedia sub-sector has often been thesubject of industry-specific mappings,as it is felt to be particularly importanteconomically, but is also changingapidly.

Analysis of non-governmental dataIn many countries, government

statistics may not be detailed orreliable enough to be a sensible choicefor a mapping exercise. If so, otherapproaches have to be considered. Onepossibility is to compile statistics fromalternative sources. In many countriesprivate sector businesses producedatabases of firms for marketing orother purposes. Trade associations andindustry bodies too may have registersof members which could be drawnupon. Trade newspapers and magazinescan also be sources of information.

Research may have been carried outby universities, trade unions or NGOswhich could be drawn upon. The ever-widening spread of the internet meansthat online social and professionalnetworks for creative workers andbusinesses may also be useful sourcesof information.

Case study Gauteng, SouthAfrica

The British Council helped to sponsora creative industries mapping projectin South Africa in 2008, in Gautengprovince. A team was broughttogether that included the Gautengprovincial government, a localconsultancy with previous experienceof creative industry research, and theUniversity of the Witwatersrand.

Between them, the team came upwith a working definition of thecreative industries that reflected the

circumstances of the province. Itfocused on ten industries: visual arts,performing arts, cultural tourism andheritage, multi-media, music, crafts,print media and publishing, audio-visual, design and fashion.

The process began with a two-dayworkshop to raise awareness ofthe issues a mapping project mightencounter. The team concluded thatofficial data in South Africa would notbe sufficient to support a mappingexercise. They decided instead tocreate a bespoke dataset drawingon a range of non-governmentalsources. While this approach wasthought unlikely to pick up everycreative business in the province, itwas felt that it could be used to makeestimates of the aggregate size ofthe business population. It also hadthe advantage of being able to reachinto the provinces sizeable informalsector.

To augment this work, the researchteam also carried out a largenumber of interviews with creative


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practitioners. In all, 540 werespoken to by phone, with a further190 interviewed face-to-face. Theresearch found 11,320 creative firmsin the province, employing 182,000people. The cultural tourism andheritage and design sub-sectors werethe two largest employers.

The data sources on which themapping project in Gauteng provincein South Africa drew were20:

Across sub-sectors:Fundingdatabase from National Departmentof Arts and Culture, Grants in Aid

provided by Gauteng Arts and CultureCouncil

Visual arts:Visual Arts Network SouthAfrica (VANSA) members list, the2007 South African Art InformationDirectory

Performing arts:Performing ArtsNetwork of South Africa (PANSA)members list, Theatre ManagementSA

Cultural tourism and heritage:Museums Online SA (www.museums.org.za), Gauteng Tourism Authority(www.gauteng.net), South AfricanHeritage Resources Agency

Multimedia:Animation SA (www.AnimationSA.org)

Music:Midi Trust Book, The SouthAfrican Roadies Association, TechnicalProduction Services Association

Craft:Ceramics SA members list,Craftwise Magazine

Audio-visual:National Association ofBroadcasters members list, National

Community Radio Forum (www.ncrf.org.za), Gauteng Film Commission(www.gautengfilmdirectory.org.za)

Print media and publishing:AuditBureau of Circulations members list,Publishers Association of South Africa(PASA) members list

Design:Design Educators Forum SAmembers list, www.BizCommunity.co.za

Fashion:Sanlam SA Fashion Weekdatabase, www.ifashion.co.za

DirectoriesIf there is no reliable non-governmentaldata to draw on, then the research teamwill have to carry out primary research.The best place to start mapping in sucha case may be to attempt to createa directory of creative businesses inthe locality. Researchers can draw ona number of sources, including theirown knowledge and contacts withinthe sector, to help compile such a list.These can then be used in a snowballsurvey, where the businesses knownto the researchers are asked to nameany other creative businesses they

know, which in turn are asked for thenames of other businesses, and so on.This can also be carried out online. Thismethod may also be able to reach intothe informal sector, which governmentstatistics are unlikely to include.

One advantage of this approachis that it can be initiated by the creativesector itself.

Case Study Iai, Romania

Iai in Romania was identified in 2005 as a potential creative city by amultinational project funded by the British Council in South-Eastern Europe. A

conference and workshops were held in the region to agree plans of action todevelop this idea further. It was decided that the most appropriate mappingexercise for Iai would be to create a single directory of creative businessesfor the city. This project took several months to complete and involved localbusinesses, institutions and the citys British Council Centre.

The aim of the project was to demonstrate the economic value of the creativesector to potential partners and to lay the ground for future partnerships. Iaialso hopes to be a trailblazer for other Romanian cities in understanding the roleof the creative industries. The group which organised the directory has sincebeen able to secure funding from an international investor to start setting up adevelopment agency for the creative industries in the city.


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Case StudiesIn some cases, budgetary

constraints or a lack of political supportcan limit the scope of a project. Oneoption in such a case is to supplementa broad overview of the creativendustries with a series of case studies,selecting a handful of projects ororganisations working in the creativesector and subjecting them to adetailed analysis of their economic andsocial impacts. This can provide usefulnformation about the organisationsconcerned and help persuadepolicymakers to consider the economic

value of culture.

Case Study So Paulo

Although So Paulo is the businesscapital of a large, fast-growing andsophisticated economy, its creativeindustries have not been recognisedas a distinct entity until now. Anongoing project is aiming to remedythis. A small team, headed by aneconomist, made an initial researchtrip to London to discuss issuesaround mapping. They are nowcarrying out a statistical mappingbased on the UK methodology. This isto be supplemented by assessments

of the impacts of two creativeindustry activities in the city: SoPaulo Fashion Week (which is actuallythe front end of a much larger year-round project developing skills in thefashion and textile industries), anda music-based community centre,which is training local amateurmusicians to become semi- or fullyprofessional acts. The research teamaims to produce detailed case studiesof the impacts of these organisations.

The team hopes to build on this workin the future to encourage So Paulospoliticians to see the value of thecreative industries. There is a strongsense, therefore, that this mapping

exercise is only the first step in raisingthe profile of the creative industriescontribution to So Paulos life.

STEP 6 HOW CAN THE PROJECTSFINDINGS CONNECT WITH KEYAUDIENCES AND POLICY AGENDAS?

Completing the research phase ofthe project is not the end of the story.Consideration needs to be given to howbest to raise awareness of, and debateabout, the project, and how its findingsmight be communicated. It is importantto think about the message that isconveyed how can the report tell thestory of the creative industries locally?

There are ways of presentingfindings which make them more likely

to be understood and acted upon.Part of this is simply a matter of thepresentation of the report (if that is theactual output of the mapping process).A well-written, attractively-designedreport which presents data in arrestingways may well receive more attentionthan one which does not have thesequalities. Opportunities to disseminatefindings more widely, such as postingthem on the web, issuing press releasesor holding seminars and events, shouldalso be explored fully.

Beyond this, though, theresearchers need to think aboutconnecting their findings to the widerpolicy agenda they wish to influence

(see step 2). There are four main areasto which attention should be given.

Telling the storyThe mapping needs to draw out a clearstory about the creative industries fromthe evidence that has been collected.This can then be tailored towards theaudience at which the project is aimed.A report which is intended to influencecivil servants in a national statisticsagency or a countrys finance ministry,

for example, may have to adopt a morerestrained, technical style than a pieceof work aimed at persuading a citysmayor. The project leader thereforeneeds to think carefully about the styleand message of the reporting of theproject, and the style of writing andpresentational skills available within theteam. The research also needs to lookahead, perhaps by putting forward aplan for future action and by makinglinks to policy.

Engaging with the creative industriesthemselves

In many places the creative industriesdo not yet see themselves as acoherent group. Even if the mappingexercise is aimed primarily atinfluencing government officials,it therefore represents a greatopportunity to engage the creativeindustries in a debate about the sectorsprospects. This can be done throughpromotional events around the reportslaunch, seminars or workshops toexplore issues raised in the reportor online forums to open up thediscussion.

Making links to policyThe mapping research is an evidence

base on which sound policy for thecreative industries can be built. Theresearch team may therefore want tomake suggestions or recommendationsfor courses of action in theseareas, based on the findings of theresearch. Step 2 identified threebroad policy agendas to which thecreative industries can contribute.International evidence suggests thatthere are a number of specific policyrecommendations that are often seen


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under these agendas21. These can givea sense of the type of intervention thathe mapping project might recommend.

Local economic developmentPossible policy recommendationsnclude:

Workspace: Creativeentrepreneurs benefit greatly fromhe chance to network to developheir ideas and find buyers for their

products. This can be encouraged byallowing small creative firms to sharespace with other such businesses.Older industrial buildings often provide

suitable premises for conversion intosuch facilities. 401 Richmond in Torontos a historic printing factory (built in1899) which has been convertednto workspace for more than 150artists and small creative businesses.t combines public spaces (includinga roof garden) with education facilitiesand offices.

Education and skills initiatives:The creative industries often employhighly skilled people, but the smallsize of many creative firms limits theamount of time and money they canspend developing such skills. Thefast-changing nature of the industriescreates further challenges in keepingup with the latest technologies. Insuch situations, the role of highereducation institutions becomesparticularly important. In 2000, theKorean Ministry of Culture and Tourismopened the Game Institute in Seoulto train professionals for its domestic

video games industry, as part of its aimof transforming the industry into one ofthe worlds top three by 2007.National industrial policyPossible policy recommendationsinclude:

Intellectual property protection:Rapid changes in technology and the

relentless growth of the internet havebrought the question of intellectualproperty law to the fore. How best toprotect the rights of creators, withoutstamping down on new forms ofcollaboration?

Production quotas: These aimto support the domestic industryby limiting imports, thus giving localproducers a protected share of thedomestic market (though internationaltrade rules can affect such restrictions).As such, they potentially allow firms todevelop the critical mass necessary todevelop competitive products. China is

developing its own animation films forbroadcast by setting a quota for theimport of non-Chinese productions.Cultural policyPossible policy recommendationsinclude:

Export promotion: The smallsize of many creative firms limits theirability to reach international markets,yet creative and cultural products areoften among the most distinctive partsof a countrys image, as the example ofJamaican music shows. Many countriesaddress this by promoting their creativeproducts and culture on an internationalstage through branding and

showcasing. Scotland promotes a verysuccessful annual Tartan Week in NewYork, featuring Scottish-made productsranging from new fashion designs andperforming arts to whisky.

Targeted investment: Somecountries offer loans or assistance tospecific industries and in a few cases tothe creat

Documents

British Council, BOP - Mapping the Creative Industries, A Toolkit