INTRODUCTION

‘Creative industries’ is a new category in academic, policy and industry discourse. It can claim to capture ignificant ‘new economy’ enterprise dynamics that such terms as ‘the arts,’ ‘media’, and ‘cultural industries’ do not. The United Kingdom’s Creative Industries Mapping Document1 defined creative industries as ‘activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of intellectual property’. These activities include: Advertising, Architecture, Arts and Antique Markets, Crafts, Design, Designer Fashion, Film, Interactive Leisure Software, Music, Television and Radio, Performing Arts, Publishing, and Software. This is a useful starting point, but further work is required in order to inform R & D strategies and policy settings suited to Australia. Academic research has placed the economic and social benefits of creativity on
the policy agenda. This theme has been developed into cultural policies, typically entailing the application of neoclassical economics to the arts. An historical shift away from subsidised ‘public arts’ and broadcast-era media, and towards creativity, is under way. In order to understand this transition — and provide a basis for evidential policy making and evaluation — empirical data at national and state levels is essential. The Music Industry Development and Brisbane’s future as a Creative City report, by Flew et al.2 was a preliminary attempt to quantify the creative industries in a geographical area. Based on secondary data and selected structured interviews, it highlighted planning and, in particular, zoning issues as the barriers to development. However it is worth noting that the focus of the study was Brisbane and popular music...