Creating Cultural Capital

Book excerpt: In recent years, the global creative economy has experienced unprecedented growth. Considerable research has been conducted to determine what exactly the creative economy is, what occupations are grouped together as such, and how it is to be measured. Organizations on various scales, from the United Nations to local governments, have released ‘creative’ or ‘cultural’ economy reports, developed policies for creative urban renewal, and directed attention to creative placemaking – the purposeful infusion of creative activity into specific urban environments. Parallel to these research and policy interests, academic institutions and professional organizations have begun a serious discussion about training programs for future professionals in the creative and cultural industries. We now have entire colleges offering undergraduate and graduate programs, leading to degrees in arts management, arts entrepreneurship, cultural management, cultural entrepreneurship or cultural economics. And many professional organizations offer specialized training and certificates in cultural heritage, museums studies, entertainment and film. In this book, we bring together over fifty scholars from across the globe to shed light on what we collectively call ‘cultural entrepreneurship’ – the training of professionals for the creative industries who will be change agents and resourceful visionaries that organize cultural, financial, social and human capital, to generate revenue from a cultural and creative activity. Part I of this volume begins with the observation that the creative industries - and the cultural entrepreneurship generated within them - are a global phenomenon. An increasingly mobile, international workforce is moving cultural goods and services across national boundaries at unprecedented rates. As a result, the education of cultural professionals engaged in global commerce has become equally internationalized. Part II looks into the emergence of cultural entrepreneurship as a new academic discipline, and interrogates the theoretical foundations that inform the pedagogy and training for the creative industries. Design thinking, humanities, poetics, risk, strategy and the artist/entrepreneur dichotomy are at the heart of this discussion. Part III showcases the design of cultural entrepreneurship curricula, and the pedagogies employed in teaching artists and culture industry specialists. Our authors examine pedagogy and curriculum at various scales and in national and international contexts, from the creation of entire new schools to undergraduate/graduate programs. Part IV provides case studies that focus on industry- or sector-specific training, skills-based courses (information technology, social media, entrepreneurial competitions), and more. Part V concludes the book with selected examples of practitioner training for the cultural industries, as it is offered outside of academia. In addition, this section provides examples of how professionals outside of academia have informed academic training and course work. Readers will find conceptual frameworks for building new programs for the creative industries, examples of pedagogical approaches and skillsbased training that are based on research and student assessments, and concrete examples of program and course implementation.