According to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Creative
Industries are “Industries having their origin in individual creativity, skill
and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the
generation and exploitation of intellectual property” (Department
for Culture, Media and Sport, 2016). While the DCMS
tries to focus on the financial value of the Creative Industries, I prefer to
define them from a creative kind of view. “Creative Industries are the
creation, publication or distribution of an output, an activity or a service,
that involves art or culture, to one or more people of interest.”
There has been a vast growth in the Creative Industry Sector. The main
explanation would be the development in technology and the introduction of
online services, that make it easier to earn money from creative outputs. Using
digital cameras, laptops, tablets or simple smartphones, everyone could create,
capture or publish creative content, where ever they are. Especially for
freelancers like bloggers, not being bound to a set place is practical and
costs less. As a journalist, you don’t need an office to work, all you need is
a laptop. You also don’t need to have a set employer, you could just send your
articles to different newspapers and get paid for just an article instead of
being bound to one place. The Internet plays another huge role, it’s easy to
sell produce, for example paintings on etsy or e-books on amazon instead of trying
to “physically” sell it in a shop. For example, as a photographer, you can make
good enough pictures with your phone, you don’t need a camera to start a career
in photography. Then, with the Internet, it is easy to go on a website like
Shutterstock and upload your pictures for businesses to buy them. Again, you
can freelance and don’t need to be employed anywhere. For those who share their
opinions or their lifestyle, the introduction of websites like AdSense is a
great opportunity to make a living from the Creative Industries as well. With
the help of third party ads or paid collaborations with companies, any “Social
Media Influencers” can live from sharing their content on YouTube, Instagram or
blogs. YouTube vloggers can put adverts in front of their videos, they’ll get
paid by YouTube depending on how many people watch the videos. They can also
present products to their fans and get a commission from the brand.
The Creative Industry sector has been growing constantly since the
1990’s. For example, between 2011 and 2012, it grew by over nine percent,
making it the fastest growing industry sector in the UK at the time (Bakker, 2018). The statistic below
shows the GVA (Gross Value Added) of the Creative Industries from 2008 to 2014.
In 2014, the GVA of the Creative Industry sector was £84,1 billion making up 5.2 % of the UK economy (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2016). From 2008 to 2014, there's a constant growth in the GVA. Whilst some sectors like Crafts, Architecture or
Publishing grow very slow or unsteady almost, other sectors of the Creative
industries like IT, software and computer services have had a steady growth in that time.
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| Source: (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2016) |
Looking at the next info graphic, one can see that in 2017, there were
3.12 million jobs in the Creative Economy and 2,008,000 jobs in the Creative
Industry sector. Compared to 2016, that was a growth of 2.5 % in jobs which was
1% more than the average growth in the UK. Moreover, between 2011 and 2017, the
number of jobs in the Creative Industries workforce rose by 28% (The Creative Industries, 2018). As a conclusion,
the Creative Industries are a very important sector to the UK economy. Not only
are they providing many jobs already, they will expand and give more job
opportunities in the future.
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Source:
(The Creative Industries, 2018)
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Nowadays, the British culture and economy couldn’t exist without the
Creative Industries. Apart from assisting to expand on productivity, employment
and competitiveness, it is used to spread social and cultural values, about the
UK and other countries. What we watch online, in a theatre or on TV mirrors our
real life. The role of the Creative Industries is to make people accept new ways
of the society through what is shown on TV or elsewhere. For decades, strong, white
men would be the main role, but due to equality end non-tolerance of social
injustice like homophobia or sexism, the Creative industries had to change as
well. One good example would be the introduction of Jodie Whittaker as the
first female Doctor in the Doctor Who series. Whilst many people celebrated the
decision of a female main character after 12 male Doctors, others disliked the
decision of breaking traditions. Nevertheless, the opening episode with
Whittaker had the highest number of views since the reboot in 2005 with 10.9
million views (Starkey, 2018).
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| Doctor Who and companions; Source: (Fullerton, 2018) |
Another example would be the 2016
Maltesers advert starring disabled people having funny conversations to show
that these people should be accepted in society and aren’t any different (The Guardian, 2016).
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Creative and Cultural Industries are not the same. Whilst both generally
use Creativity to generate an income, the Cultural Industries focus on the
zeitgeist aspect of sharing creativity. The Creative Industries have a wider
range, they focus on the creative piece itself, which could have cultural value
as well, but is not the reason for creating it (Future Learn,
2018).
Reference:
Bakker, D. G. (n.d). The London
School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved from
http://www.lse.ac.uk/Research/research-impact-case-studies/supporting-development-success-creative-industries
Clio Awards. (2017). Clio Awards.
Retrieved from https://clios.com/awards/winner/film/maltesers/boyfriend-27279
Department for Culture, Media and
Sport. (2016, January). Retrieved from
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523024/Creative_Industries_Economic_Estimates_January_2016_Updated_201605.pdf
Fullerton, H. (2018, September
20). RadioTimes. Retrieved from
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-09-20/the-new-doctor-who-title-theme-wont-appear-in-jodie-whittakers-first-episode/
Future Learn. (n.d). Future
Learn. Retrieved from
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/culture-identity-europe/0/steps/32242
fygconsultores. (2017, March 27).
fygconsultores. Retrieved from
http://www.fygconsultores.com/the-importance-of-cultural-and-creative-industries/?lang=en
Starkey, A. (2018, October 16).
METRO. Retrieved from https://metro.co.uk/2018/10/16/jodie-whittakers-arrival-gives-doctor-who-the-shows-highest-launch-ever-8044806/
The Creative Industries. (2018,
July). http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/creative-industries. Retrieved
from http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/uk-creative-overview/facts-and-figures/employment-figures#
The Guardian. (2016, October 16).
The Guardian. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/31/maltesers-advertisments-disability-disabled-actors
UNESCO. (n.d).
http://www.unesco.org. Retrieved from
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/santiago/culture/creative-industries/
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