"The most ambitious, thoughtful and internationally aware assessment to date of the creative economy. Defining creativity as the production of newness in complex, adaptive systems, the authors make the case that together the creative economy, along with other cultural outputs, represent a planet-wide innovation capability which marks an epochal turn in human affairs."
- Ian Hargreaves, CBE, Professor of Digital Economy, Cardiff University
Creativity, new ideas and innovation - and with them the growth of knowledge - have spilled out of the lab, studio and factory into the street, scene, and social media. Now, everyday life is productive, everyone is creative, and new ideas can come from anywhere around the world.
Instead of confining cultural expression to talented artists and expert professionals, this book investigates creative new ideas from everyone. Instead of confining the 'creative industries' to one sector of the economy and one type of productivity, this book extends the idea of creative innovation to everything. Instead of confining the growth of knowledge to wealthy countries or markets, this book looks for it in developing and emergent countries, everywhere.
The productivity of creativity can now be seen as a global phenomenon. It demands a systems-based and dynamic mode of explanation. Creative Economy and Culture pursues the conceptual, historical, practical, critical and educational issues and implications. It looks at conceptual challenges, the forces and dynamics of change, and prospects for the future of creative work at planetary scale.
It is essential reading for upper level students and researchers of the creative and cultural industries across media and cultural studies, communication and sociology.
Author Biography:
John Hartley, AM (Order of Australia), is John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University Australia, and Professor of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University Wales.
Recent books include: Cultural Science: A Natural History of Stories, Demes, Knowledge and Innovation (with Jason Potts, Bloomsbury, 2014); Key Concepts in Creative Industries (co-authored, SAGE, 2013); A Companion to New Media Dynamics (co-edited, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013); and Digital Futures for Cultural and Media Studies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
He is editor of the International Journal of Cultural Studies (SAGE) and publisher of Cultural Science Journal (online). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and the International Communication Association, Honorary Professor of Zhejiang University of Media and Communications (Hangzhou), and Guest Researcher, Institute for Cultural Industries, Shenzhen University, China. Wen received her doctoral degree in creative industries from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia in 2012. She is now a Lecturer and Director of the Project Development Department of the Institute for Cultural Industries, Shenzhen University, China. She was a visiting scholar at Curtin University, Australia in 2014.
Her main research interests include creative scenes, urban culture and the cultural economy. She has published academic papers in the International Journal of Cultural Studies, International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries and Cultural Science Journal. Henry is Senior Lecturer and Director of International at the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts in the Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University. He has a PhD in creative industries from Queensland University of Technology and MA in simultaneous interpreting from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Henry worked at China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong for ten years and was Executive Director of its Centre for International Courses and Programs before joining Curtin University in 2013. His research covers social media, user productivity and young people in China and has been published in the Chinese Journal of Communication and Cultural Science Journal.
