Creativity is considered quite a desirable commodity in our contemporary culture. Creativity – economists and government officials maintain – is necessary to innovate, and innovation leads to economic prosperity. Yet, what does it mean to be creative? What are creative products?
The creative industries is a dynamic and complex field that changes rapidly due to globalisation and the continual development of new and exciting technologies. At Radboud University we look at many areas of the creative industry, such as:
- Fashion: Fashion is a commercial, creative and cultural industry producing and consuming material objects like textile and garments, but also more immaterial values like trends, images, meaning, desire, experience and (beauty) ideals. The glamour of fashion may lure us, but it is the most polluting industry after the oil industry. The field is dominated by incredible speed, rapid turnover, and high waste. Can the fashion industry retain its glamour, but become more sustainable?
- Media: The contemporary mediascape is dominated by global conglomerates that own companies in various industries, such as film studios, theme parks, television networks, sports and news channels, record labels, publishing houses and game developers. As a result, the industry has transformed into a cultural economy where only six ‘media giants' - including Disney and Time Warner - control 90% of everything we read, watch or listen to. We will look at how the media industry shapes both the form and the content of contemporary media productions.
- Museums: Museums are no longer neutral displays canonical art and established objects of national heritage. Museums operate in a global field of meaning-making, where they have to balance their economic sustainability with social and political ambitions in visitor engagement and education, while competing with other leisure activities like commercial theme parks. What does this look like behind the scenes? How are museum organised? How do they define their mission and which strategies do they employ to achieve their targets?