“SO WHAT exactly are the creative industries?” says the man in my kitchen. We’re just about to attend a party organised by the British Council for delegates at a conference, which is part of ‘European Year of Creativity and Innovation’.
The conference is discussing how creative industries can stimulate economic growth and employment. It comes in the same week when David Cameron has made the statement that he wants the UK to be the “creative industries capital of the world” in an effort to jump start Britain out of recession.
“Well, what are they?”
“Hmm…well, you know… all those industries that use creativity.”
He looks at me witheringly. “You know – fashion, music, design, media, new media, architecture… all that stuff”
“Cooking?” He asks optimistically, he runs a catering company.
“Yes, why not… cooking.”
I pick up a pamphlet and read the government definition to him.
“The creative industries are those industries that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent. They are also those that have the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property.’
There’s a silence then he stares at me. I know what is coming. “So what exactly is intellectual property?”
“Umm… I think it’s the stuff you create through your own knowledge that belongs to you.”
He raises an eyebrow. There’s a pause.
“Like my recipe for pomegranate salad?”
“Err…yes,” I mutter but I am not totally sure. And I realise that we bandy these trendy terms about, catchphrases for redefining our world without ever really understanding them.
If design is a creative industry, does it include designs for pipes and nuclear warheads, or is it just for kettles and catwalks? Is intellectual property simply new ideas as opposed to property, which has a physical substance? Does that make an architect’s plan intellectual property of a creative industry but the process of building it not?
Surely every company, whether it is making vacuum cleaners or promoting a boy band, has those people in it who are coming up with innovation and ideas and those who are simply being dogs’ bodies, getting on with their designated tasks. In other words, there is no such thing as an industry that it is not creative, all industries have research and development departments or they wouldn’t survive.
The fashion industry might appear creative but in many cases it is dependent for the manufacturing of its product on the sweatshops of cheap labour.
And surely every company and country have guarded new technology and innovation developed by themselves from the assembling of nuclear warheads to the recipe for Coca Cola.
“Now you’ve made me confused,” I grumble.
He smiles the smile of the satisfied. But I am not to be defeated. “Look, I think it is simply a term to distinguish manufacturing and the financial sector from those industries like music and fashion that are more cultural in their outcomes.”
‘Outcomes?” he asks with a puzzled frown. That’s when I pour myself a drink. And I have no idea if alcohol is a creative industry, but it certainly works…
