Creative Nation: Advancing Britain’S Creative Industries
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creative nation: advancing Britain’s creative industries The Smith Institute The Smith Institute is an independent think tank that has been set up to look at issues which flow from the changing relationship between social values and economic imperatives. If you would like to know more about the Smith Institute please write to: creative nation creative Edited by Cathy Koester The Director The Smith Institute 3rd Floor 52 Grosvenor Gardens London SW1W 0AW Telephone +44 (0)20 7823 4240 Fax +44 (0)20 7823 4823 Email [email protected] Website www.smith-institute.org.uk Designed and produced by Owen & Owen 2006 Creativity_Txt_V2.qxd 10/11/06 11:03 am Page 1 THE SMITH INSTITUTE creative nation: advancing Britain’s creative industries Edited by Cathy Koester Published by the Smith Institute ISBN 1 905370 12 1 © The Smith Institute 2006 Creativity_Txt_V2.qxd 10/11/06 11:03 am Page 2 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Contents Preface By Wilf Stevenson, Director, Smith Institute 3 Foreword Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 4 Biographies of contributors 5 Introduction Dr Michael Harris 16 Part I: Understanding creative individuals Why do you do what you do? 22 The freelancing nature of the creative industries 26 Creative expression is the driver of enterprising activity 28 Translating creative enterprise into commercial success 30 Part II: Understanding creative enterprises The EMI story by Eric Nicoli CBE 36 The assets of the creative industries 39 Risky business? Innovation and risk in the UK’s creative industries 45 How do you measure productivity in the creative industries? 49 Local appeal, global reach? 51 A new age is dawning: the impact of new technology 56 Part III: The UK’s creative capabilities Creative industries and regeneration by Yvette Cooper MP 64 Recognising the UK’s creative capabilities 67 Valuing our creative capabilities 68 Nurturing our creative capabilities 70 Part IV: Encouraging creative individuals An education system that opens doors by Alison Tickell 78 The right role of education 81 Breaking in, getting on and moving up 85 Part V: Encouraging creative enterprises A business environment that respects the value of creativity by Emma Pike 92 Money and art: how can we build world-class industries from our creative capability? 98 Public policy and art: how can public agencies support our creative nation? 105 by Wilf Stevenson Public policy and public agencies 108 Strong industries need strong leadership 110 Leadership in the cultural sector by Tony Hall CBE 111 Conclusion Ten concluding observations by Cathy Koester 114 2 Creativity_Txt_V2.qxd 10/11/06 11:03 am Page 3 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Preface Wilf Stevenson, Director, Smith Institute The Smith Institute is an independent think tank which has been set up to undertake research and education in issues that flow from the changing relationship between social values and economic imperatives. In recent years the institute has centred its work on the policy implications arising from the interactions of equality, enterprise and equity. Britain’s creative industries are increasingly seen as a mainstream rather than marginal element of our economy. Design, advertising, music, film and TV, fashion, computer games and publishing produce a higher proportion of our total wealth than anywhere else in the world. UK firms register more trademarks and designs with the EU than any other country. The global market value of the creative industries has increased from $831 billion in 2000 to $1.3 trillion in 2005: more than 7% of global GDP. In the UK, KPMG predicts 46% employment growth and 136% output growth in the creative industries between 1995 and 2015. Between 1997 and 2004 the creative industries averaged 6% growth, around twice the rate of the economy as a whole. Far from being “economy lite”, our creative sectors should be seen as “economy central”. It is clear therefore that our creative industries have a key role in supporting the UK’s future wealth. This collection of essays brings together the views of many leading figures within Britain’s creative industries to offer an important insight into this most dynamic sector of the British economy. The comments, viewpoints and essays collected here cut across a wide range of issues germane to the current success of creative industries. Taken together, they offer a practical account of how government can better engage with creatives to ensure that this remarkable economic contribution continues into the future. The Smith Institute thanks Cathy Koester for agreeing to edit this collection, and for conducting the interviews that form the backbone of this monograph. The institute gratefully acknowledges the support of EMI plc towards the creative industries project and thanks the Cultural Leadership Programme for their support of this publication. 3 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Foreword Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The importance of the creative industries sector to our economic future cannot be overstated. The creative industries have a combined gross value added (GVA) larger than that of the financial services sector, employ nearly 2 million people in the UK and accounted for £13 billion worth of exports in 2004. But they also face immense challenges in the speed of technological change and increasing global competitiveness. Those challenges at the same time present us with great opportunities. China is a fascinating example of this, as I found on a recent visit. As a country, it is producing four times as many graduates as a decade ago, but it is also eager to learn from, and enter into partnership with, UK companies. I do not think there is another country better placed than the UK or with greater depth of talent to grasp these exciting prospects. Across all of our creative industries we have international icons, demonstrating the huge strength of the innovative talent in the UK, from Sir Elton John to Sir Martin Sorrell, JK Rowling, Richard Curtis, Sir Norman Foster, Vivien Westwood and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. This report contributes to the rich debate on how the UK can best cope with and harness the technological and global changes confronting our creative sector. The contributions also show that there is no common agreement on the solutions. I may not necessarily agree with all the opinions in this report, but I do welcome the energy of the debate. I am very much looking forward to working with industry and our stakeholders in finding some solutions in the context of our Creative Economy Programme, which we launched at the end of last year to investigate these issues for the creative industries. The challenge for government is to ensure that we can provide an environment that unleashes creativity, supports innovation and enables UK creative industries to continue to be a motor of prosperity, here and in the wider world. 4 Creativity_Txt_V2.qxd 10/11/06 11:03 am Page 5 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Biographies of contributors Ian Anderson Ian Anderson is known throughout the world of rock music as the flute and voice behind the legendary Jethro Tull. He was born in 1947 in Dunfermline, Fife, but his family relocated to Blackpool in the North of England in 1959. Following a traditional grammar school education, he moved on to art college to study fine art before deciding on an attempt at a musical career. Jethro Tull was formed in 1968 from the amalgamation of two blues-based UK groups. Still enjoying a lengthy and on-going career, Jethro Tull has released 30 albums, selling more than 60 million copies since the band first performed at London’s famous Marquee club. After undertaking more than 2,500 concerts in 40 countries throughout three decades, Jethro Tull plays typically 100 concerts each year to long-standing as well as new fans worldwide. Widely recognised as the man who introduced the flute to rock music, Ian Anderson remains the crowned exponent of the popular and rock genres of flute playing. Anderson also plays ethnic flutes and whistles, together with acoustic guitar and the mandolin family of instruments, providing the acoustic textures that are an integral part of most of the Jethro Tull repertoire. Anderson has recorded four diverse solo albums in his career: 1983’s eclectic-electric Walk Into Light; the flute instrumental Divinities album for EMI’s classical music division in 1995, which reached number one in the relevant Billboard chart, and the critically acclaimed acoustic collections The Secret Language of Birds, released in 2000, and Rupi’s Dance in 2003. He lives on a farm in the South West of England where he has a recording studio and office, and declares a lifelong commitment to music as a profession, being far too young to hang up his hat or his flute – although the tights and codpiece have long been consigned to a forgotten drawer. Andrew Burgess Andrew Burgess is a producer/director for ITV Productions in London. Programme credits include three series of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and the Gordon Ramsay- fronted series Hell’s Kitchen, both for ITV1. Burgess started his career in television in the 5 Creativity_Txt_V2.qxd 10/11/06 11:03 am Page 6 THE SMITH INSTITUTE press department at London Weekend Television, before moving across to the production arm of the company. Matt Calais Matt Calais is a producer/director for ITV Productions in London. Programme credits include Hell’s Kitchen, Airline, Transformed and, most recently, I Smack and I’m Proud, all for ITV1. Calais started his career at ITV in 1998 on a work experience placement and has been there ever since. Yvette Cooper MP Yvette Cooper is the MP for the constituency of Pontefract & Castleford in West Yorkshire.