They were the first political movement to recognise the importance of the Creative Industries and articulated that the Department would manage campaigns to enhance
"those industries that are based on individual creativity, skills and talent, with the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property."
This concept of a specific government department responsible for culture and art, in particular, was taken up by and rolled out through much of the globe, with many initiatives being adopted by foreign governments that were also based on the UK models. For a good source of information see the website "creative industries UK" on the web.
The creative industries in the United Kingdom are worth an estimated £76.9 billion pounds per year. This equates to approximately £8.8 million per hour, which represents 5% of the UK economy. It has significant social, cultural and economic benefit.
All of this leads to regional benefits to that are way above the investments that are initially made into them. The confidence in the creative industry and its associated investment is entirely justified, therefore.
Understanding creativity.
We talk nowadays about the "experience" economy. Approximately five or so years ago the lecturer, Lee Corner, was involved in the Leonardo project, which was a pan-European programme designed to explore the benefit of the creative arts in their contribution towards Industry.
Examples of the experience economy can be seen every single day in all aspects of life.
- Indeed, one of the goals of this lecture was to encourage students to go out and seek examples of the experience economy. The intention is then to come back and present these examples at a future lecture.
The analysis of the experience economy is that in the Western world peoples' material needs are being met. This means that we are looking for more than something just simply to eat, or a place to sleep, or a place of safety, which brings into play the work of Abraham Maslow in 1943, and his paper, first published in Psychological review as "A Theory of Human Motivation".
However in contrast to Maslow's theory of hierarchical needs, in reality, the model is not a linear pyramid with hunger and safety residing on the bottom "basic" foundations, with the plateau of self-actualisation at the top of the pyramid and all the gradations in between, but and a non-linear model, perhaps, (and, as suggested by one student, a Jenga diagram), would be a better solution to illustrate the effect of Maslow's hierarchy of needs because each of these attributes can be satisfied independently from one another. For example, we do not buy candles any more for a requirement or physical need to have light, but we do this now, for an "experiential" need.
I would argue however, that this does fit in Maslow's hierarchy of needs because he talks about our spiritual needs which does not necessarily relate to any religious context. Nevertheless I believe that fire and spirituality are quite pagan and ancient in our yearning for it.
We consume material and objects through our experiential needs. These are based on our own inherent values, and what is important to us. This is a symbolic value. It is necessary to conjoin it with the linguistic idea of symbols and signs and it is here that we can touch upon the work of Saussure and semiology. Therefore, in contemporary art, we should be searching for the question "what is the symbolic value that we are adding to our art in order for the viewer to take away some sense of something being given to them.
As an example of the revolution of these symbolic needs, it is possible again to draw parallels with the work of Abraham Maslow in the hierarchy of needs, and here, in particular, the level known as status and self-actualisation.
Work by Pyne and Gilmore, entitled "The Evolution of the Birthday Cake" shows that the birthday cake, during our earlier 20th century, used to be made by hand whilst we were still generally within a culture of the agrarian home-stead.
Throughout this example, the experiential value has been consistently added to.
Another proponent of this in culinary circles may be the work of Heston Blumenthal. He has completely changed the experiential value of the eating experience. He plays with the psychology of the consumer economy.
An example more close to home in Huddersfield might be the work of a past student of Lee corner that of Maria Lau. See the website HTTP://www.MariaLau.co.uk/.
Maria is a jewellery maker. Her approach was to ask customers to bring their own "special" precious objects, and in that, the deep-seated memories associated with those objects; and she then turns them into unique pieces of jewellery. This is an excellent example of the experience economy marketing and manufacture.
Further interesting ideas, for example, might be "Sprout" pencils. When these "sprout" pencils are used up, it is possible to plant them in the soil in order to grow a new tree and thus create a new pencil. This is an excellent engagement with the status of 'ecology and green biodiversity stewardship'.
Examples of the experience economy can be seen every single day in all aspects of life.
- Indeed, one of the goals of this lecture was to encourage students to go out and seek examples of the experience economy. The intention is then to come back and present these examples at a future lecture.
The analysis of the experience economy is that in the Western world peoples' material needs are being met. This means that we are looking for more than something just simply to eat, or a place to sleep, or a place of safety, which brings into play the work of Abraham Maslow in 1943, and his paper, first published in Psychological review as "A Theory of Human Motivation".
 |
| Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (Courtesy of Wikipedia) |
I would argue however, that this does fit in Maslow's hierarchy of needs because he talks about our spiritual needs which does not necessarily relate to any religious context. Nevertheless I believe that fire and spirituality are quite pagan and ancient in our yearning for it.
 |
| A detailed example of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Courtesy of Wikipedia, Abraham Maslow). |
We consume material and objects through our experiential needs. These are based on our own inherent values, and what is important to us. This is a symbolic value. It is necessary to conjoin it with the linguistic idea of symbols and signs and it is here that we can touch upon the work of Saussure and semiology. Therefore, in contemporary art, we should be searching for the question "what is the symbolic value that we are adding to our art in order for the viewer to take away some sense of something being given to them.
As an example of the revolution of these symbolic needs, it is possible again to draw parallels with the work of Abraham Maslow in the hierarchy of needs, and here, in particular, the level known as status and self-actualisation.
Work by Pyne and Gilmore, entitled "The Evolution of the Birthday Cake" shows that the birthday cake, during our earlier 20th century, used to be made by hand whilst we were still generally within a culture of the agrarian home-stead.
- At that time birthday cakes were made simply with flour and eggs fresh from the nearest farm.
- ... By the time we reached the 1950s, the mid-20th century, this had migrated to a simple cake mix that we bought from a supermarket.
- As time moved on again the evolution of the birthday cake began to be consumed as a pre-bought fully baked and made and iced cake.
- In the early 1990s and the end of the 20th century, this then became much more of an experiential engagement and the simple birthday cake became a children's birthday party with a birthday cake probably shop bought.
- By the time we reached the beginning of the 21st century we no longer have just of the simple birthday cake but the ritual now is a status ritual where children invite their friends to go to restaurants to hold their party in the restaurant and at such parties are free cake may, or may not, be given.
Throughout this example, the experiential value has been consistently added to.
Another proponent of this in culinary circles may be the work of Heston Blumenthal. He has completely changed the experiential value of the eating experience. He plays with the psychology of the consumer economy.
An example more close to home in Huddersfield might be the work of a past student of Lee corner that of Maria Lau. See the website HTTP://www.MariaLau.co.uk/.
Maria is a jewellery maker. Her approach was to ask customers to bring their own "special" precious objects, and in that, the deep-seated memories associated with those objects; and she then turns them into unique pieces of jewellery. This is an excellent example of the experience economy marketing and manufacture.
Further interesting ideas, for example, might be "Sprout" pencils. When these "sprout" pencils are used up, it is possible to plant them in the soil in order to grow a new tree and thus create a new pencil. This is an excellent engagement with the status of 'ecology and green biodiversity stewardship'.
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