Creativity Projects
The means of creative and cultural production are in the hands of many. The recent emergence of affordable digital technology and broadband access, combined with long term improvements in education and living standards herald the dawn of the era of dispersed-creativity.
But what kind of skills do people need to thrive in this environment and who will have access to them? How should public policy support creativity that is occurring in so many different spheres of our lives? As the means of expression diffuse across many actors, how do we determine what's valuable? How do schools, cultural institutions and workplaces help us to do this?
It is these questions that Demos is seeking to answer through its current work on Creativity.
2007's Publications
So, What do you do? Charlie Tims, Shelagh Wright 2007
People shaping their livelyhoods around creative projects are moving beyond the categories around which work and leaning were once organised. That's why it's often hard to explain what it is we "do". Public policy in the UK has had a clear focus on supporting creativity in the workplace and the education system, but it has struggled to appreciate how creativity - and the creative industries in particular - are creating new ways of working. This report describes how this work happens and outlines a series of ways that public policy can respond.
Making Good Work Samuel Jones, Shelagh Wright 2007
The means by which creativity is judged, particularly in the public realm, is being challenged. This has significant implications for the way that creative production is seen, particularly in education. The growing need for creativity in the workplace and our own lives mean that young people will need the skills to navigate between different expectations of their creative work. This pamphlet argues that young people will need the capacity to link creativity to meaning in their own terms in ways that allow them to match production and products to a purpose and an audience.
Logging On John Holden 2007
How can policy intervention best meet with technology to achieve the aim of bringing about a more democratic culture? What will be the role, opportunities and limitations of online culture in a rapidly changing world? A moment of reflection is provided by the coming to an end, in March 2007, of the Culture Online initiative funded by the Department for Culture,Media and Sport. Culture Online provides both an interesting case study, bringing together lessons learnt about how to organise online engagement, and a point of departure for asking questions about future directions.
Track Record
Demos has a long standing interest in creativity in the economy, education and cities. The Creative Age articulated the importance of creativity to economic and social development and outlined the challenge it poses to the education system. The Independents looked at the values and systems of support needed by “cultural entrepreneurs” in British cities, while Europe in the Creative Age looked at the differing ability of European cities to attract creative talent. Disorganisation and more recently Working Progress have looked at accommodating creativity in organisations.
2006 Working Progress (Sarah Gillinson, Duncan O’Leary)
2006 Disorganisation (Paul Miller, Paul Skidmore)
2004 Europe in The Creative Age (Richard Florida)
1999 The Independents (Charlie Leadbeater, Kate Oakley)
1999 The Creative Age (Tom Bentley, Kimberley Seltzer)
This work has been underpinned by relationships with Creative Partnerships, the EQUALS programme, Creative and Cultural Skills, The Regional Screen Agencies, NESTA, Orange, The East Midlands Development Agency.
CONTACT
Charlie Tims