Even though I am a long-running Adjunct with the University of Canberra and over the course of my career have worked closely with a number of universities, I don’t in any way claim to be deeply knowledgeable about higher education – I just recognise its value. For me arts, culture and creativity are my focus and higher education and arts training only figure in relation to this.
‘It was apparent that for too long there had been a narrow emphasis on ‘art’ at the expense of ‘culture’ and on ‘excellence’, as counterposed against participation and involvement. The whole community arts and community cultural development movement, from which I sprang, was predicated on breaking down this artificial dichotomy.’
These issues are rearing their head in the national capital at the only national university in Australia, but they resonate everywhere, as culture and education, learning, research and innovation become battlegrounds in a world that, in the words of Oscar Wilde, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
On the one hand conservatives loved the elitism of art, on the other hand, as part of the culture wars, they used accusations of ‘elitism’ to beat the ‘elites’ – not their elites, the real elites which rule the world, but those they identified as bringing progressive politics to the fore.
Restructures and dismantling
The Australian National University is currently proposing to dismantle the long-established School of Music, with its rigorous focus on artistic skills and learning. Peter Tregear, former Head of the school of music from 2012 to 2015, told The Canberra Times. ‘It is abolition but they are doing it under the cover of appearing progressive.’
Under the new plan, the ANU School of Music would become part of a new ‘School of Creative and Cultural Practice’. According to The Canberra Times, teaching people how to play instruments would be replaced by ‘Indigenous Music in a contemporary context, and Music and Wellbeing’, and with an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music.
The battle over higher education has been going on for some time.
Another example of this sort of thinking springs to mind when I think of the once great Powerhouse Museum. In a quest to find new audiences and reflect contemporary issues – both worthwhile things – it seems we will be likely to get dumbing down and a move towards culture and heritage as entertainment.
Culture as entertainment, culture as Colosseum
The impetus has always been there, the mass media have long classified culture under entertainment, along with sport and spectacle and whiling away the time. Nowadays most politicians are largely wrapped up in the artificial world view of the mass media. Culture as Colosseum might be one way of characterising this approach, lumping it all with entertainment, trade shows and expos.
I am as fascinated by the Great Exhibition as anyone (and notably it, and its Australian successor, The Crystal Place, led to the creation of the Powerhouse Museum in the first place), but the Great Exhibition, too, wasn’t about rigorous analysis and interpretation and explication – it was about promoting and selling stuff, and Empire.
I still remember friends of mine who trained in visual arts in Sydney complaining that while they had learned how to think about the meaning of their work, they hadn’t been equipped with the technical and craft skills that a practicing artist needs. It strikes me that this is still a requirement in the digital age.
Culture as a central broad public good
Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy at the University of South Australia, has written a great deal about this long-running issue, most recently in his book, Culture is not an economy. I am familiar with and admire his work. A discussion with him at a forum on cultural rights in Brisbane in 2018 changed the way I write about creative industries and the cultural economy. He is seeking to move cultural policy away from a focus on the creative economy towards a full restatement of culture as a public good and its centrality to any civilised, just society.
I agree with his attempt to pull back from a narrow focus on the economic role of culture to encompass the much broader picture of its overall impacts. For me, the question is how to we make this analytical understanding work in the world? Even though I am an Adjunct in the School of Art and Design at the University of Canberra, the perspective from which I approach this issue is that of a policy-maker.
Policy-making, after all, is about getting things done, but for good reason. I was Director of the National Cultural Policy Task Force that co-ordinated development of the National Cultural Policy under the Gillard Government – only the second one in Australia’s history – and I was directly involved in the development of Australia’s first National Indigenous Languages Policy and the multi-year Indigenous Contemporary Music Action Plan. This is all policy-making in action, reflecting sound research and analysis. Much of our policy work over the years involved productive partnerships with higher education institutions.
However, all the high quality analysis in the world will not help if it can’t be translated into actionable policy. O’Connor has clearly demonstrated how to make that happen in many different areas and locations, though, interestingly, Australia seems to lag behind. My concern is that if this particular issue is addressed by policy-makers and planners, a similar skewing of perspective might occur in the opposite direction.
Living and making a living
As someone with a particular interest in the cultural economy, I think we have to be careful that we don’t ignore the reality that amongst the broad impacts of culture, it does also have an economic one. Both economic relevance and a sense of being embedded with society are complementary aspects of contemporary culture that make it so strong a force. What they have in common is that both spring from the reality that culture is integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up.
Once we start with the reality of everyday life, then that abstract entity ‘the economy’, becomes the effort to make a living, society and community become the way people interact through living and expressing their culture. Recognising the central role of creativity involves seeing the full, rich, interconnected, dynamic picture of everyday life. It’s not about simply economics, it about something much more fundamental. It’s about living and making a living – and the expression of that reality.
The Australian National University is currently proposing to dismantle the long-established School of Music, with its rigorous focus on artistic skills and learning. Peter Tregear, former Head of the school of music from 2012 to 2015, told The Canberra Times. ‘It is abolition but they are doing it under the cover of appearing progressive.’
Under the new plan, the ANU School of Music would become part of a new ‘School of Creative and Cultural Practice’. According to The Canberra Times, teaching people how to play instruments would be replaced by ‘Indigenous Music in a contemporary context, and Music and Wellbeing’, and with an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music.
‘Unfortunately this all reflects the way in which the inherent long-term impacts of arts, culture and creativity have steadily been ignored and only the broader flow on impacts, often the more immediately practical ones, have been emphasised.’
Tregear’s view is that teaching music, including the playing of music, should be a rigorous study and the new curriculum risked being more about ‘feel good’ activities. He commented ‘It doesn't strike me that there is academic rigour.’
A prominent figure in the history of the School of Music and in Australian music generally, Professor Larry Sitsky, criticised the proposed changes as ‘Mickey Mouse’, describing the replacement as a 'feel-good’ course, which looked as though it's been put together by amateurs. He went on to say that it might feel good to an administrator, but professionally it was useless.
Thinning out of the humanities
The problem I have is that I think all of the new components sound worthwhile. A School of Creative and Cultural Practice sounds reasonable, Indigenous Music in a contemporary context is much needed, linking music and wellbeing simply reflects reality, and an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music also seems very valuable.
The question is what will be lost as a result – and it won't be easily retrieved, if ever. The context is that the demise of the School of Music is only one part of the proposed changes. A much broader thinning out of the humanities generally seems to be at play, with units such as the Australian National Dictionary Centre also slated for closure.
A prominent figure in the history of the School of Music and in Australian music generally, Professor Larry Sitsky, criticised the proposed changes as ‘Mickey Mouse’, describing the replacement as a 'feel-good’ course, which looked as though it's been put together by amateurs. He went on to say that it might feel good to an administrator, but professionally it was useless.
Thinning out of the humanities
The problem I have is that I think all of the new components sound worthwhile. A School of Creative and Cultural Practice sounds reasonable, Indigenous Music in a contemporary context is much needed, linking music and wellbeing simply reflects reality, and an emphasis on the technology and production of contemporary music also seems very valuable.
‘When I saw that ANU was calling this process 'disestablishment', I wondered what weird management speak had taken over the world of higher education. Is that the sort of thing we are going to move to teaching? Lets not go further down the track of valuing spin over substance, announceables above doables.’
This crisis of course was partially accelerated by the destructive actions of one of the worst national governments Australian has seen – the Morrison Coalition Government. It managed effectively to cripple most of Australia’s culture sector and higher education sector because it had no idea how significant and central they were and how they interacted with the broader Australian society and economy. As part of that, by drastically increasing the cost of arts and humanities degrees, it skewed higher education in disastrous ways. It’s no coincidence that Morrison’s background was in marketing.
A much larger problem
In many ways senior management at the ANU, like at other Australian universities, is struggling to fix a problem largely beyond its control. After the hope of the Whitlam era, many decades of neo-liberalism has turned higher education into a business, just as it has partially done with arts and culture. Higher education and arts and culture have always been a business – to some degree. It's when that becomes their central impetus that we encounter the problems we are seeing today.
The more government steps back from its essential role resourcing higher education – and arts and culture – the more both higher education and arts and culture will have to turn to a more commercial orientation, making it vulnerable to shocks, such as declining overseas student numbers. Amongst all this there is the politically-motivated pressure we are currently seeing with the push to stamp out support for Palestinian statehood on campuses under the guise of 'fighting anti-semitism'.
This negative trend doesn't contradict the fact that higher education – and arts and culture – always has had a positive role to play in the economy, as I will discuss in more detail further on in this article.
Weird management speak
Weird management speak
When I saw that the ANU was calling this process 'disestablishment', I wondered what weird management speak had taken over the world of higher education. Is that the sort of thing we are going to move to teaching? Lets not go further down the track of valuing spin over substance, announceables above doables. It’s like driving around regional NSW – there are lots of signs announcing roadworks, but not nearly as many actual roadworks.
The other niggling concern I have is the way the use of the word wellbeing in relation to the arts, culture and creativity has the potential to become debased. There have been some excellent studies of the link between arts, culture and creativity (particularly music) and wellbeing, yet with the wellness industry spreading everywhere, focused on making a quick buck, I tend to shudder when I hear the term. ‘Wellness’ has become, like ‘reaching out’, the buzz word of the moment. Unlike ‘reaching out’, which will disappear after a time, wellness involves big bucks, so I expect it to be around forever.
The other niggling concern I have is the way the use of the word wellbeing in relation to the arts, culture and creativity has the potential to become debased. There have been some excellent studies of the link between arts, culture and creativity (particularly music) and wellbeing, yet with the wellness industry spreading everywhere, focused on making a quick buck, I tend to shudder when I hear the term. ‘Wellness’ has become, like ‘reaching out’, the buzz word of the moment. Unlike ‘reaching out’, which will disappear after a time, wellness involves big bucks, so I expect it to be around forever.
‘The impetus has always been there, the mass media have long classified culture under entertainment, along with sport and spectacle and whiling away the time and nowadays most politicians are largely wrapped up in the artificial world view of the mass media.’
Another example of this sort of thinking springs to mind when I think of the once great Powerhouse Museum. In a quest to find new audiences and reflect contemporary issues – both worthwhile things – it seems we will be likely to get dumbing down and a move towards culture and heritage as entertainment.
Culture as entertainment, culture as Colosseum
The impetus has always been there, the mass media have long classified culture under entertainment, along with sport and spectacle and whiling away the time. Nowadays most politicians are largely wrapped up in the artificial world view of the mass media. Culture as Colosseum might be one way of characterising this approach, lumping it all with entertainment, trade shows and expos.
I am as fascinated by the Great Exhibition as anyone (and notably it, and its Australian successor, The Crystal Place, led to the creation of the Powerhouse Museum in the first place), but the Great Exhibition, too, wasn’t about rigorous analysis and interpretation and explication – it was about promoting and selling stuff, and Empire.
‘The mass media have long classified culture under entertainment, along with sport and spectacle and whiling away the time. Nowadays most politicians are largely wrapped up in the artificial world view of the mass media. Culture as Colosseum might be one way of characterising this approach, lumping it all with entertainment, trade shows and expos.’
I still remember friends of mine who trained in visual arts in Sydney complaining that while they had learned how to think about the meaning of their work, they hadn’t been equipped with the technical and craft skills that a practicing artist needs. It strikes me that this is still a requirement in the digital age.
Culture as a central broad public good
Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy at the University of South Australia, has written a great deal about this long-running issue, most recently in his book, Culture is not an economy. I am familiar with and admire his work. A discussion with him at a forum on cultural rights in Brisbane in 2018 changed the way I write about creative industries and the cultural economy. He is seeking to move cultural policy away from a focus on the creative economy towards a full restatement of culture as a public good and its centrality to any civilised, just society.
I agree with his attempt to pull back from a narrow focus on the economic role of culture to encompass the much broader picture of its overall impacts. For me, the question is how to we make this analytical understanding work in the world? Even though I am an Adjunct in the School of Art and Design at the University of Canberra, the perspective from which I approach this issue is that of a policy-maker.
‘I agree with his attempt to pull back from a narrow focus on the economic role of culture to encompass the much broader picture of its overall impacts. For me, the question is how to we make this analytical understanding work in the world?’
Policy-making, after all, is about getting things done, but for good reason. I was Director of the National Cultural Policy Task Force that co-ordinated development of the National Cultural Policy under the Gillard Government – only the second one in Australia’s history – and I was directly involved in the development of Australia’s first National Indigenous Languages Policy and the multi-year Indigenous Contemporary Music Action Plan. This is all policy-making in action, reflecting sound research and analysis. Much of our policy work over the years involved productive partnerships with higher education institutions.
However, all the high quality analysis in the world will not help if it can’t be translated into actionable policy. O’Connor has clearly demonstrated how to make that happen in many different areas and locations, though, interestingly, Australia seems to lag behind. My concern is that if this particular issue is addressed by policy-makers and planners, a similar skewing of perspective might occur in the opposite direction.
Living and making a living
As someone with a particular interest in the cultural economy, I think we have to be careful that we don’t ignore the reality that amongst the broad impacts of culture, it does also have an economic one. Both economic relevance and a sense of being embedded with society are complementary aspects of contemporary culture that make it so strong a force. What they have in common is that both spring from the reality that culture is integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up.
Once we start with the reality of everyday life, then that abstract entity ‘the economy’, becomes the effort to make a living, society and community become the way people interact through living and expressing their culture. Recognising the central role of creativity involves seeing the full, rich, interconnected, dynamic picture of everyday life. It’s not about simply economics, it about something much more fundamental. It’s about living and making a living – and the expression of that reality.
© Stephen Cassidy 2025
See also
Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent
‘As the global pandemic has unfolded, I have been struck by how out of touch a large number of Australians are with Australia’s place in the world. Before the pandemic many Australians had become used to travelling overseas regularly – and spending large amounts of money while there – but we seem to think that our interaction with the global world is all about discretionary leisure travel. In contrast, increasingly many Australians were travelling – and living – overseas because their jobs required it. Whether working for multinational companies that have branches in Australia or Australian companies trying to break into global markets, Australian talent often needs to be somewhere else than here to make the most of opportunities for Australia. Not only technology, but even more importantly, talent, will be crucial to the economy of the future’, Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent.
‘As the global pandemic has unfolded, I have been struck by how out of touch a large number of Australians are with Australia’s place in the world. Before the pandemic many Australians had become used to travelling overseas regularly – and spending large amounts of money while there – but we seem to think that our interaction with the global world is all about discretionary leisure travel. In contrast, increasingly many Australians were travelling – and living – overseas because their jobs required it. Whether working for multinational companies that have branches in Australia or Australian companies trying to break into global markets, Australian talent often needs to be somewhere else than here to make the most of opportunities for Australia. Not only technology, but even more importantly, talent, will be crucial to the economy of the future’, Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent.
Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity
‘When I was visiting Paris last year, there was one thing I wanted to do before I returned home – visit the renowned French bakery that had trained a Melbourne woman who had abandoned the high stakes of Formula One racing to become a top croissant maker. She had decided that being an engineer in the world of elite car racing was not for her, but rather that her future lay in the malleable universe of pastry. Crossing boundaries of many kinds and traversing the borders of differing countries and cultures, she built a radically different future to the one she first envisaged’, Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity.
‘When I was visiting Paris last year, there was one thing I wanted to do before I returned home – visit the renowned French bakery that had trained a Melbourne woman who had abandoned the high stakes of Formula One racing to become a top croissant maker. She had decided that being an engineer in the world of elite car racing was not for her, but rather that her future lay in the malleable universe of pastry. Crossing boundaries of many kinds and traversing the borders of differing countries and cultures, she built a radically different future to the one she first envisaged’, Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity.
Contemporary Indigenous fashion – where community culture and economics meet
‘The recent exhibition 'Piinpi', about contemporary Indigenous fashion, has a significance for Australian culture that is yet to be fully revealed. The themes covered by the exhibition are important because they demonstrate the intersection of the culture of First Nations communities with creative industries and the cultural economy. In attempting to address the major issue of Indigenous disadvantage, for example, it is critical to recognise that one of the most important economic resources possessed by First Nations communities is their culture. Through the intellectual property that translates it into a form that can generate income in a contemporary economy, that culture is pivotal to jobs and to income. It may not be mining but it mines a far richer seam – authentic and rich content that has already been recognised internationally for its high value, just like our iron and coal. At a time when First Nations communities are talking increasingly about gaining greater control over their economic life, this is highly relevant’, Contemporary Indigenous fashion – where community culture and economics meet.
Understanding the economy of the future - innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy
‘When we start to think about the economy of the future – and the clean and clever jobs that make it up – we encounter a confusing array of ideas and terms. Innovation, the knowledge economy, the creative economy, creative industries and the cultural economy are all used, often interchangeably. Over the years my own thinking about them has changed and I thought it would be useful to try to clarify how they are all related’, Understanding the economy of the future – innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy. Understanding the economy of the future - innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy
Do you want fries with that?
‘In my long working life I've traversed the public sector, the private sector and the community sector - not lots of people can say that. I've seen the best - and the worst - of them all. Lately I've noticed a whole new approach to how local businesses interact with me. It's the 'do you want chips with that' approach to upping the spending ante. Given the way that over the last few decades we have started to treat public and community services like private businesses - and often turn them into private businesses - I expect to see this become more widespread’, Do you want fries with that?
Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles
‘After three weeks travelling round the North Island of New Zealand, I’ve had more time to reflect on the importance of the clean and clever industries of the future and the skilled knowledge workers who make them. In the capital, Wellington, instead of the traditional industries that once often dominated a town, like the railways or meatworks or the car plant or, in Tasmania, the Hydro Electricity Commission, there was Weta. It’s clear that the industries of the future can thrive in unexpected locations. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. These skills which Weta depends on for its livelihood are also being used to tell important stories from the past’, Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles.
Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans
‘In many ways design is a central part of the vocabulary of our time and integrally related to so many powerful social and economic forces – creative industries, popular culture, the digital transformation of society. Design is often misunderstood or overlooked and it's universal vocabulary and pervasive nature is not widely understood, especially by government. In a rapidly changing world, there is a constant tussle between the local and the national (not to mention the international). This all comes together in the vision for the future that is Design Canberra, a celebration of all things design, with preparations well underway for a month long festival this year. The ultimate vision of Craft ACT for Canberra is to add another major annual event to Floriade, Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival, filling a gap between them and complementing them all’, Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans.
Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities
‘It is becoming abundantly clear that in our contemporary world two critical things will help shape the way we make a living – and our economy overall. The first is the central role of cities in generating wealth. The second is the knowledge economy of the future and, more particularly, the creative industries that sit at its heart. In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, both of these come together in a scattering of evolving creative clusters – concentrations of creative individuals and small businesses, clumped together in geographic proximity. This development is part of a national and world-wide trend which has profound implications’, Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities.
The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival
‘Across Australia, local communities facing major economic and social challenges have become interested in the joint potential of regional arts and local creative industries to contribute to or often lead regional revival. This has paralleled the increasing importance of our major cities as economic hubs and centres of innovation’, The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival.
My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world
‘My nephew just got a job in Wellington New Zealand with Weta Digital, which makes the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s epics. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. This is part of the new knowledge economy of the future, with its core of creative industries and its links to our cultural landscape. Increasingly the industries of the future are both clever and clean. At their heart are the developing creative industries which are based on the power of creativity and are a critical part of Australia’s future – innovative, in most cases centred on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally. This is transforming the political landscape of Australia, challenging old political franchises and upping the stakes in the offerings department’, My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world.
Applied creativity
‘I have been dealing with the issue of creativity for as long as I can remember. Recently, I have had to deal with a new concept—innovation. All too often, creativity is confused with innovation. A number of writers about innovation have made the point that innovation and creativity are different. In their view, innovation involves taking a creative idea and commercialising it. If we look more broadly, we see that innovation may not necessarily involve only commercialising ideas. Instead the core feature is application—innovation is applied creativity. Even ideas that may seem very radical can slip into the wider culture in unexpected ways’, Applied creativity.
Creative industries – applied arts and sciences
‘The nineteenth century fascination with applied arts and sciences — the economic application of nature, arts and sciences — and the intersection of these diverse areas and their role in technological innovation are as relevant today for our creative industries. From the Garden Palace, home of Australia’s first international exhibition in 1879, to the Economic Gardens in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens these collections and exhibitions lay the basis for modern Australian industry. The vast Garden Palace building in the Sydney Botanic Gardens was the Australian version of the great Victorian-era industrial expositions, where, in huge palaces of glass, steel and timber, industry, invention, science, the arts and nature all intersected and overlapped. Despite burning to the ground, it went on to become the inspiration for what eventually became the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences — the Powerhouse Museum’, Creative Industries.
‘In my long working life I've traversed the public sector, the private sector and the community sector - not lots of people can say that. I've seen the best - and the worst - of them all. Lately I've noticed a whole new approach to how local businesses interact with me. It's the 'do you want chips with that' approach to upping the spending ante. Given the way that over the last few decades we have started to treat public and community services like private businesses - and often turn them into private businesses - I expect to see this become more widespread’, Do you want fries with that?
Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life
‘The Impact and Enterprise post-graduate course at the University of Canberra course is unique in Australia in placing creative industries and the creative and cultural economy in the broader landscape of the wider impacts of creativity and culture - both economic and social. It starts from the premise that what the broader social and economic roles of creativity and culture have in common is that a focus on the economic role of creativity and culture is similar to the focus on its community role – both spring from recognition that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up. In March 2021, as the course entered its third year, I gave a talk to the students about where it came from,’ Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life.
‘The Impact and Enterprise post-graduate course at the University of Canberra course is unique in Australia in placing creative industries and the creative and cultural economy in the broader landscape of the wider impacts of creativity and culture - both economic and social. It starts from the premise that what the broader social and economic roles of creativity and culture have in common is that a focus on the economic role of creativity and culture is similar to the focus on its community role – both spring from recognition that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up. In March 2021, as the course entered its third year, I gave a talk to the students about where it came from,’ Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life.
Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future
‘After ABBA, in an unexpected break from its traditional way of building national wealth from natural resources, Sweden managed to discover a new source of income. It was not as you would expect coal or oil. Rather than oil what it had discovered was song royalties, part of a fundamental change in the nature of modern economies which transformed them from relying solely on natural resources, transport and manufacturing to make creative content a new form of resource mining. Examples like theirs point to potentially major opportunities for the Australian music industry to become a net exporter of music,’ Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future.
‘After ABBA, in an unexpected break from its traditional way of building national wealth from natural resources, Sweden managed to discover a new source of income. It was not as you would expect coal or oil. Rather than oil what it had discovered was song royalties, part of a fundamental change in the nature of modern economies which transformed them from relying solely on natural resources, transport and manufacturing to make creative content a new form of resource mining. Examples like theirs point to potentially major opportunities for the Australian music industry to become a net exporter of music,’ Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future.
Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles
‘After three weeks travelling round the North Island of New Zealand, I’ve had more time to reflect on the importance of the clean and clever industries of the future and the skilled knowledge workers who make them. In the capital, Wellington, instead of the traditional industries that once often dominated a town, like the railways or meatworks or the car plant or, in Tasmania, the Hydro Electricity Commission, there was Weta. It’s clear that the industries of the future can thrive in unexpected locations. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. These skills which Weta depends on for its livelihood are also being used to tell important stories from the past’, Industries of the future help tell stories of the past – Weta at work in the shaky isles.
Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans
‘In many ways design is a central part of the vocabulary of our time and integrally related to so many powerful social and economic forces – creative industries, popular culture, the digital transformation of society. Design is often misunderstood or overlooked and it's universal vocabulary and pervasive nature is not widely understood, especially by government. In a rapidly changing world, there is a constant tussle between the local and the national (not to mention the international). This all comes together in the vision for the future that is Design Canberra, a celebration of all things design, with preparations well underway for a month long festival this year. The ultimate vision of Craft ACT for Canberra is to add another major annual event to Floriade, Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival, filling a gap between them and complementing them all’, Designs on the future – how Australia’s designed city has global plans.
Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities
‘It is becoming abundantly clear that in our contemporary world two critical things will help shape the way we make a living – and our economy overall. The first is the central role of cities in generating wealth. The second is the knowledge economy of the future and, more particularly, the creative industries that sit at its heart. In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, both of these come together in a scattering of evolving creative clusters – concentrations of creative individuals and small businesses, clumped together in geographic proximity. This development is part of a national and world-wide trend which has profound implications’, Creativity at work – economic engine for our cities.
‘Across Australia, local communities facing major economic and social challenges have become interested in the joint potential of regional arts and local creative industries to contribute to or often lead regional revival. This has paralleled the increasing importance of our major cities as economic hubs and centres of innovation’, The immense potential of creative industries for regional revival.
My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world
‘My nephew just got a job in Wellington New Zealand with Weta Digital, which makes the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s epics. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. This is part of the new knowledge economy of the future, with its core of creative industries and its links to our cultural landscape. Increasingly the industries of the future are both clever and clean. At their heart are the developing creative industries which are based on the power of creativity and are a critical part of Australia’s future – innovative, in most cases centred on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally. This is transforming the political landscape of Australia, challenging old political franchises and upping the stakes in the offerings department’, My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world.
Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture
‘The developing creative industries are a critical part of Australia’s future – clean, innovative, at their core based on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally.’ Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture.
‘The developing creative industries are a critical part of Australia’s future – clean, innovative, at their core based on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally.’ Creative industries critical to vitality of Australian culture.
Applied creativity
‘I have been dealing with the issue of creativity for as long as I can remember. Recently, I have had to deal with a new concept—innovation. All too often, creativity is confused with innovation. A number of writers about innovation have made the point that innovation and creativity are different. In their view, innovation involves taking a creative idea and commercialising it. If we look more broadly, we see that innovation may not necessarily involve only commercialising ideas. Instead the core feature is application—innovation is applied creativity. Even ideas that may seem very radical can slip into the wider culture in unexpected ways’, Applied creativity.
Creative industries – applied arts and sciences
‘The nineteenth century fascination with applied arts and sciences — the economic application of nature, arts and sciences — and the intersection of these diverse areas and their role in technological innovation are as relevant today for our creative industries. From the Garden Palace, home of Australia’s first international exhibition in 1879, to the Economic Gardens in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens these collections and exhibitions lay the basis for modern Australian industry. The vast Garden Palace building in the Sydney Botanic Gardens was the Australian version of the great Victorian-era industrial expositions, where, in huge palaces of glass, steel and timber, industry, invention, science, the arts and nature all intersected and overlapped. Despite burning to the ground, it went on to become the inspiration for what eventually became the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences — the Powerhouse Museum’, Creative Industries.
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