[ecrea] CFP Cultural Trends Special Issue: After the Creative Economy

Cultural Trends – Special Issue: After the Creative Economy

Guest editors: Professor Kate Oakley and Dr. Jonathan Ward, University 
of Leeds

 From the late 1980s, the creative economy became paradigmatic in 
cultural policy, achieving the status of a powerful global discourse 
across a range of domains (e.g. Duxbury et al. 2016; UNESCO 2013). At 
the same time, the discourse and the policy prescriptions that often 
flow from it have been widely critiqued by academics (Belfiore, 2016; 
O’Connor 2016; Oakley, O’Brien & Lee, 2013) and often resisted by those 
in the arts and cultural industries. The association of the creative 
economy with gentrification and rising property prices, with 
exploitative working conditions and enhanced inequalities, has migrated 
from academia and activist circles to policymakers and the media. In 
some cases – particularly larger/more prominent urban centres – the 
fashion for such activity has been diminished by its overexposure, 
questionable returns on investment, political reorganisation and the 
economic hardships imposed by the financial crisis.

Yet, the creative economy has persisted. In the UK, the Arts and 
Humanities (AHRC) research council have just launched a large programme 
committed to a ‘creative revolution,’ supported by tie- ups between 
universities and corporations, and it is part of economic policymaking 
in a variety of national contexts and in bodies such as the EU and the 
UN. Meanwhile, the increasing prominence of craft production and 
alternative models of working and funding haves reinvigorated debates 
around the creative economy, highlighting continuities while also 
prompting a reassessment of its organisation, practices and politics.

In this Special Issue, some thirty years after John Myerscough asserted 
the ‘economic importance of the arts in Britain,’ we explore how the 
idea of creative economy persists and invite papers that engage with 
themes including:

·Changing policy understandings and constructions of the creative 
economy and reflections on its persistence

·The creative economy in non-urban spaces, such as suburban, rural or 
coastal settings

·Creative economy resistance including worker organisation, 
anti-gentrification campaigns and arts activism

·The creative economy in a post-growth world

·Alternative organisational and funding models for creative production

·Global policy approaches

Please forward abstracts of no more than 250 words to 
(J.Ward1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk)<mailto:(J.Ward1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(J.Ward1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk)%3cmailto:(J.Ward1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk)>>. by November 
1, 2017

References

Belfiore, E. (2016). Cultural policy research in the real world: 
curating “impact”, facilitating “enlightenment.” Cultural Trends, 25(3), 
205–216. http://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2016.1204050

Duxbury, N., Hosagrahar, J., & Pascual, J. (2016). Why must culture be 
at the heart of sustainable urban development? Barcelona: United Cities 
and Local Governments.

O’Connor, J. (2016). After the Creative Industries: Cultural Policy in 
Crisis. Law, Justice & Global Development, 1, 1–18. 
http://doi.org/10.1080/10286630902989027

Oakley, K., O’Brien, D., & Lee, D. (2013). Happy now? Well-being and 
cultural policy. Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly, 31(2), 18–26.

UNESCO. (2013). Creative Economy Report 2013. New York: United Nations.


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