Welcome to the first newsletter for the Creative Industrial Matrix hub. I am Leanne McRae — the convenor of CIM. Through this newsletter I will be updating you on creative industries themes, workshops, articles, exhibitions and individuals. Let me begin the inaugural Matrix Interface by mapping this cluster a little more clearly.
Creative industries is a new way of thinking about the connections between economics, culture and society. Currently this conceptual framework is found in government policies and university curriculum. It champions a new consciousness embedded within and critical of, the economic shifts of late capitalism. These include the rise in part time, casual and contract labour, the decline in traditional production and manufacturing industries and the rise of an information and knowledge-based economy.
At the crux of these changes is new attention and value being attached to creativity. Richard Florida, writer of The Rise of the Creative Class, defines creativity as "involve[ing] the ability to synthesize". Charles Landry extends this framework in The Creative City by suggesting that "genuine creativity involves thinking a problem afresh and from first principles; experimentation; originality; the capacity to rewrite rules; to be unconventional; to discover common threads amid the seemingly disparate; to look at situations laterally and with flexibility." Both writers identify the need for fluid and flexible ways of thinking that will generate exciting solutions to the old problems of economic growth and social well-being.
