Get behind the scenes of the creative industries
How creative are the creative industries really? Not as much as you would think, according to one of the conclusions drawn by researchers at CBS. Professor Brian Moeran has headed the research project Creative Encounters, which has spent the last four years on fieldwork studies behind the scenes of the creative industries of film, fashion, textiles and publishing.
- Research on the ground – that is, ethnographic fieldwork among creative people - suggests that creativity is hard to come by. Creative people are, for the most part, hemmed in by constraints of one sort or another. A job has to be done by a certain time, within a limited budget, according to certain guidelines affecting both form and content - all involving an immense amount of coordination of people and resource, says Brian Moeran, adding:
- There is little time or opportunity for lateral thinking. Great leaps forward are for cultural revolutions.
The research project is supported by The Danish Council for Strategic Research and consists of fieldwork and analyses of various creative industries. The results are presented next week at a conference under the headline: Kreative Desillusioner? Konklusioner og diskussioner fra fire et halvt år forskning i ’Den socio‐økonomiske organisering af kreative industrier’.
The conference also features panel discussions between key actors from the creative industries, offering first-hand perspectives from high-ranking professionals from the creative industries. The research project takes a prospective view on its subject:
- Creativity is about forwards improvisation, not comparisons with the past. But improvisation is dangerous. It can upset rules and guidelines, and people are afraid of that, says Brian Moeran.
More information about the conference (text in Danish)