MA Week 7 - facts and figures

Some relevant facts and figures

 

Bob & Roberta Smith discussing the value of the arts to the economy
at Creative Networks Event, Leeds College of Art, May 2015

As part of my research for my “Professional Context” presentation, I’ve been looking at what the “Creative industries” actually comprise and how much they give to the economy.

Origins of the term “Creative Industries”

The term “Creative Industries” actually comes from the government of Tony Blair. This government identified these industries as important to the economy, and brought 13 sectors together under the umbrella of “Creative Industries”. Digital technologies were seen as a particularly important facet. The approach combined “new labour” modernisation with some “old labour” cities. Blair wanted to find a concept in which the UK could still be identified as a world leader in the UK’s post-industrial age. However, some of the traditional Labour-held cities had already moved culture to a central part of their economy once traditional industries had declined. Sheffield and Manchester are examples of this (interestingly, Leeds isn’t mentioned – but here we moved to a financial sector economy). The concept of Creative Industries was exported to other countries and is seen as a successful marketing exercise for the UK. (Flew, 2012, pp9-15)

USA

I chose to look at the USA because their cultural capital is so large. America boomed post-war and their culture now permeates the whole of Western culture, and possibly (probably?) world culture. Think of American movies, music, fashion, food. Yet in spite of this they have no national creative industries policy. Some funding is available via the National Endowment for the Arts but the sector is strongly reliant upon private philanthropy. Another factor is the strength and power of the commercial entertainment sector (Flew, 2012, p 40). However, the NEA, established by congress in 1956, does partner with the state and federal agencies and the philanthropic sector to support and promote access to arts and culture for all Americans (National Endowment for the Arts (1), n.d.). It awards grants to organisations which meet its aims up to the value of tens of thousands of dollars (National Endowment for the Arts (2), n.d.).

Despite no national creative industries policy, Flew (2012, pp 40-41) identifies the expansion of cultural activity in some American cities as the idea of arts and entertainment quarters aimed at attracting creative practitioners to live and work in the city. Flew quotes a text by Florida which influenced urban policy and cultural planning to take up the idea of “creativity strategies”. This meant that city planners began to actively seek to promote the “three T’s” of technology, talent and tolerance to cause creative practitioners to work, live and contribute to the economy of their city. Seattle, Austin and Boston are amongst examples quoted of cities with strong, dynamic creative economies.

The US does have an organisation that lobbies on behalf of the arts, “Americans for the Arts”. Their aim is to lead and to bring together organisations and individuals who promte and support the arts such that all and any Americans can access culture and the arts. Any individual can join and their website is full of information about how to lobby for the good of the Arts.

The US definition of creative industries does not include the commercial entertainment sector (Flew, 2012, p 39). However, the industry is still healthy. According the the NEA,

(National Endowment for the Arts (3), n.d.), in 2014 the creative industries sector was worth $698bn (£459bn), equivalent to 4.3% GDP.

 

Italy

Italy is clearly another country whose culture has had a profound effect on the world. Think Italian couture, Roman Catholic church, Roman monuments, Renaissance artists.

Traditionally there has been public funding for heritage, music, theatre and the like, initially provided centrally, but more recently provided less centrally and more via the regions and local authorities (Compendium, 2015, (1) & (2)). However, with the pressure on public finances, the state has increasingly turned to the private sector for help. This has resulted in sponsorship of renovations by private companies. For example, the luxury leather goods manufacturer Tod’s has given £20m for the restoration of the Colosseum. This gives them the right to have their logo on the tickets for a period of time, and to associate the Colosseum with their branding. This engagement with the private sector has yielded funding for a variety of projects (Fendi are sponsoring the Trevi Fountain restoration, for example), but also friction as there is a view that Italy is simply selling its massive cultural heritage to the highest bidder. A further complication is the active solicitation of foreign sponsorship, e.g. “a preliminary agreement with Saudi Arabia to fund the restoration of the Mausoleum of Augustus” (Faiola,2014).

The Italian creative industries sector figures for 2011 show it adding €95bn to the economy, about 6% of GDP (Forum D’Avignon and Tera Consultants (2014); Italian National Institute of Statistics (2012)), but I don’t have a further breakdown of this. However, it seems healthy in its own right.

 

UK

The UK has also given its culture to the world: the British Empire, Beatlemania, Britpop….

Centralised funding comes from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports via Arts Council England (for England, at least). ACE’s mission is “Great Art and Culture for everyone” (Arts Council England (1), n.d.); they support organisations that facilitate public access to arts and culture of different genres – music, art, theatre, museums etc. The latest funding round shows a significant cut : for 2012-15, ACE distributed £1.4bn of public money and £1bn of National Lottery money. For 2015-18, the figures are £1.1bn of public money and £700m National Lottery (Arts Council England (2), n.d.).

To quote Dr. Ben Walmsley of the University of Leeds, “Art fundraising is in an exciting state of flux. Are we ready for change?” (Walmsley, 2015). Whether we are ready or not seems irrelevant as change is what is happening.  Walmsley goes on to say that arts organisations need to “stop appearing to be needy” and to become embedded in their communities. In other words, they need to get business savvy PDQ. In fact, ACE has inaugurated the “Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy” programme to “transform funding” (Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy (n.d.)) and to “develop an enterprising culture in which income generation is placed at the heart of an arts organisation’s business model and ethos” (ibid).

All this said, the UK creative industries sector is still doing well, generating £76.9bn of value equivalent to 5%GDP. I was quite surprised to find out that 46% of this is from software and games – a sector that didn’t really exist 30 or 40 years ago - and only about 7% from music, arts and culture – which is where I would position myself. (The Creative Industries (n.d.))

 

Leeds

Leeds has given some culture to the world – textiles, Hepworth, Moore, the Kaiser Chiefs (??) – and is bidding to become Cultural Capital of Europe in 2023. But the funding situation reflects that of ACE. In 2012-15 Leeds City Council had a funding pot of around £3m per year for the arts. By 2017-18 that will have been cut to around £2.5m per year (Yorkshire Evening Post, 2014). Most of the funding is distributed to arts organisations (Leeds City Council (n.d.)), to allow citizens to access the arts and culture. However, through further investigation I realised they also fund “Leeds Inspired”, which I’d hitherto only known by its website, and they do small grants of £100 - £1000 to individuals to support artistic activities, such as exhibitions. However, you do have to have a track record of delivery. (Leeds Inspired (n.d.))

 

Discussion

This has been quite a time-consuming but interesting investigation. There is a welcome theme of organisations that support the arts in all the places above, showing that even in these times of financial constraint, at least some importance is still attached to the arts. I do think, though, that the situation in Italy – turning to the private sector – is going to be reflected across the piece. The Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy initiative is, I suppose, a necessary evil in England, to ensure that the arts can remain vibrant across the country. I think we will see more and more of this as the Conservative government squeeze public services further. As the “creative industries” was a Labour invention, it will be interesting to see if the Conservatives actively decide to undermine these sectors.

 

The creative industries seem to be holding their own, even growing in the UK. This, again, is welcome news as it implies the sectors are maturing and established. I was a little concerned to see how much the UK sector relies on the Software sector. I’m not sure if the proverbial man on the street would quote software as part of the creative sector. I wonder if its inclusion in the figures obscures the fact that the “traditional” arts sectors are perhaps not doing as well as they might.

Anyway, on the basis that I am unlikely to be applying for funding abroad any time soon, it was interesting to find out about the Leeds Inspired small grant scheme and it does give me a glimmer of hope. I used to write and critique business cases in a previous life so that “transferable skill” may well come in useful again. I think my next steps need to be to continue my networking strategy, to step it up in fact, and to start to get some creative work done. Then I can see where I fit into the  Leeds scene. Aligning myself with one of the established organisations here, say perhaps volunteering for East Street Arts or similar, would seem to be my best bet to get experience which could help me get funding. I need to develop these ideas into more concrete plans as I progress with the course.