Undergraduate Course: Global Creative Industries: The art of business and the business of art (BUST10140)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines creative industries: how they are defined and their key dimensions, their locational and temporal dynamics and key roles for how culture is produced.
Creative industries are an increasingly global business that shape cultural and economies. The sociological perspectives of Art Worlds by Howard Becker will be contrasted with the economic framework of creative industries espoused by Richard Caves. Specific cases will be utilised to examine the strategies of organizations and competitive dynamics of industries using sociological, economic and historical analysis. This course is available to both 3rd and 4th year students and focuses on organisational strategies and market systems for dealing with uncertainty and complex cultural products. The 4th year only course Creativity Theory and Practice (BUST10131) examines the lived creative experience and practices of artists and cultural producers. |
| Course description |
This course aims to introduce you to the basic dimensions that constitute a creative industry, differentiate them from other industries and provide a sense of global variation. The course is organised around key roles and concepts in cultural production systems.
Creative industries may be purpose-driven, expressing ideas, identities, aesthetics and cultural; they may be profit-driven, seeking commercial success and competitive advantage. They may pursue both aims. Creative industries include large global corporations, public entities and entrepreneurial firms. They may serve local market, export their services or products, or link producers and consumers. The main questions of interest are both at the micro and meso levels (managing creativity, innovation and risk-tolerance in cultural production, practices of fund-raising) and at the macro level (evaluating and rewarding quality, industrial structure and competition, cost advantage and differentiation, allocation of resources, strategies of internationalization).
The course uses a production of culture perspective, where cultural and creative goods are produced through specific roles. In the first part of the course, several frameworks will be examined, including Howard Becker's Art Worlds comprised of interdependent roles, Richard Peterson's cultural production systems, Jones et al cultural products as involving semiotic codes and material bases, and Richard Caves elements of creative industries that drive their organizational and competitive dynamics. In the next phase of the course, we delve into the specific roles and dynamics of producers (artists, creators), distributors (intermediaries and gatekeepers) and audiences (critics and the average person). We examine change in cultural products, cultural organizations and creative industries.
You will engage in three tasks that enable you to understand creative industries. First, as a group, you will do a case analysis of a creative organisation - whether producer, distributor or exhibitor - for its effectiveness and strategic challenges. Second, you will examine and analyse stakeholder communication by the organisation to understand effective versus ineffective organisational practices with managing internal and external environment. Third, you will take a final exam applying the strategies and dynamics of creative industry learned in the course. To enhance your appreciation of the key challenges of creative industries, mini-case studies, business press and videos may be used in the class in an interactive manner by the lecturer.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Honours entry. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrates a critical understanding of the principal theories, concepts and principles of the frameworks for analysing creative industries.
- Applies concepts and frameworks to new situations to generate original insights and reflect on appropriate strategies and practices.
- Executes a defined project of research, development or investigation and in identifying and implementing relevant outcomes.
- Offers professional insights, interpretations and solutions to problems and issues.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research & Enquiry:
(1) Understands and can apply the key concepts and theoretical frameworks
(2) Has knowledge of the roles and activities in creative industries such as cultural entrepreneurs, brokers, distributors, critics, and audiences and how they interrelate.
(3) Demonstrates knowledge of how temporal and locational patterns that influence creative products, processes, demand and pricing
Personal & Intellectual Autonomy:
(1) Ability to analyse complex business situations and rapidly structure ideas and arguments,
(2) Synthesizes and articulates relevant information about cultural production in a clear, sound and explicit way.
(3) Demonstrates original insights and recommendations for strategic action
Personal Effectiveness
(1) Applies concepts and frameworks to new organizations and industries to generate insights into strategic dynamics and processes
(2) Effective group work, setting common goals and managing collaboration
Communication skills
(1) Demonstrates effective communication and presentation skills.
(2) Demonstrates understanding of pitches and what makes a pitch effective versus ineffective
(3) Skills of argument, persuasion and the ability to communicate analyses and conclusions clearly and persuasively.
Knowledge and Understanding:
- Understand the key dimensions by which creative industries are organized and differentiated from other industries
- Understand the key roles and activities in creative industries such as cultural entrepreneurs, brokers, distributors, critics, and audiences and how they interrelate.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how temporal and locational patterns influence creative products, demand and pricing.
Cognitive and Subject Specific Skills:
- Analyse a creative industry as a cultural production system
- Apply to apply theory and frameworks to new contexts and situations
- Manage and synthesise relevant information about cultural production in a clear, sound and explicit way.
- Demonstrate original insights and recommendations for strategic action
Transferable Skills:
- Ability to analyse complex business situations and rapidly structure ideas and arguments,
- Skills of argument, persuasion and the ability to communicate analyses and conclusions clearly and persuasively.
- Effective group work group, setting common goals and feedback systems
- Effective communication and presentation skills.
- Ability to research and filter business information quickly and effectively.
|
| Keywords | Creative industries; strategy; cultural institutions; cultural production |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Candace Jones
Tel: (0131 6)51 3858
Email: Candace.Jones@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sara Dennison
Tel: (0131 6)50 3825
Email: Sara.Dennison@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage