[ecrea] CFP: Creativity, Knowledge, Cities Conference

*Call for Conference Papers***

*CREATIVITY, KNOWLEDGE, CITIES*

Hosted by the Digital Cultures Research Centre, UWE Bristol

4th - 5th July 2018, Watershed, Bristol, UK

We are witnessing an intensification of the relationships between 
universities and the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). The 
industrialisation of ‘creativity’ as a catalyst for economic growth and 
innovation positions universities as talent pipelines, regional anchors, 
and incubators for the ‘creative economy’. These trends emerge from 
long-standing cultural and creative policies, and the presumed impact of 
‘creativity’ on regional and national economies has led to similar 
university-CCI relationships across Europe. Simultaneously, state 
funding for public services continues to contract, the role arts and 
culture play in society is instrumentalised, and universities are 
increasingly pushed towards student-consumer models. As a result, the 
modern university finds itself in a space of contradiction.

Our involvement with creative industries is not new. University 
research, particularly in the UK, has been implicated in creative 
economies – through practice based research, mapping, scoping, 
constituting and challenging - in ways that both contribute to, and 
contest CCI’s dominant position in political discourse. However, recent 
policy shifts have pushed universities into new relationships with 
creative industries, as talent cultivators, economic drivers and 
placemakers, bringing key tensions and questions to the fore. In the 
case of the creative economy, universities are expected to cultivate 
creative talent for the job market, yet the creative industries are 
beset by problems with inclusivity, precarity and exploitation. What 
assumptions, constructs and discourses underpin the relationship between 
the current shape of creative labour and the university? Furthermore, as 
researchers are called to participate in knowledge exchange and R&D 
initiatives with CCIs, how do institutional systems compound problems 
particularly around fair and prompt pay, attribution, intellectual 
property and the articulation of economic and cultural value?

Universities forge relationships with organisations at different scales, 
such as schools, third sector organisations, cultural institutions like 
museums and galleries, creative companies, and businesses. The 
complexities of these multifaceted, and cross-scalar relationships have 
both geographic and political inflections. How do these networks, and 
our participation in them, both perform postcapitalist possibilities 
while simultaneously constituting the ‘creative economy’ as a neoliberal 
construct?

As placemakers, universities may become complicit in gentrification 
processes by constructing new urban amenities, student housing and 
downtown learning hubs while concurrently supporting social goals such 
as inclusivity, education and accessibility. How might universities 
participate in broader arts-led regeneration efforts while mitigating 
affordable housing crises and the displacement of residents, creative 
workers and cultural organisations? How do these dynamics impact not 
only city development but also regional economic and cultural vitality?

*THEMES *

/Creativity, Knowledge and Cities/ explores the contradictions at the 
heart of relationships between universities and the ‘creative’ sector. 
We invite creative economy critics and advocates, knowledge users and 
research producers, policymakers and practitioners to engage in critical 
dialogue using case studies, empirical analyses and theoretical 
interventions addressing the following indicative themes.

  * The third mission and creative economies 

  * The role of critical research, and post/ anti-disciplinary approaches
  * The university and creative economy as policy 
objects 

  * The university’s role in creative networks 

  *  From STEM to STEAM 

  * Participation, inclusivity and talent 

  * Universities, CCIs and intellectual property 

  * Open access and digital divides

  * Collaboration and knowledge exchange

  * Internationalisation beyond export
  * Ecosystems, networks and value

  * Universities and the city fabric: regeneration, gentrification and
    placemaking

  * Rural-Urban university networks

  * Social engagement and everyday creativity

Sessions will be programmed as provocative panels organised around 
contrasting perspectives, followed by space for discussion.

*PROPOSAL SUBMISSION *

Proposals for individual papers, organised panels, informal roundtable 
discussions and interactive workshop sessions are welcome. Panel 
proposals should be organised to encourage rigorous and productive 
debate around key themes or critical case studies.

Individual paper abstracts should be limited to 250 words. Also include 
title of presentation, full name, affiliation and 3-4 keywords.

Organised panel and roundtable proposals should include a 250-word 
description of theme/topic and 150-word bios of participants. Please 
include full names and affiliations.

We welcome contributions from PhD students to take part in a networking 
session, which will offer a chance to present their work in a supportive 
environment, meet other students and engage with the conference topics. 
Please contact us to learn more.

Email proposals to (CreativeEconomies2018 /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(CreativeEconomies2018 /at/ gmail.com)> by Friday, 2 February, 2018.

https://creativeeconomies.dcrc.org.uk/


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