Mark Ryan’s seminar on “Mapping Regional Creative Industries: A Population and Hotspot Analysis of Australian Cultural and Creative Activity” has been held at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto on the past October 26th and was moderated by Paulo Faustino. This seminar outlined the framework and methodology of the research project “Australian Cultural and Creative Activity: A population and hotspot analysis”.
Initially, Ryan addressed several studies related to creative industries research to conclude that creative industries are now a growing sector in economy, policy and education fields around the world. The first major mapping of creative industries was handled in the UK in 1998. Since then studies showed that creative and cultural industries worldwide generate revenues of US$2,250b and employ around 29 million people.
In Australia, Mark Ryan with a prestigious team is developing a project that examines the contemporary dynamics of cultural and creative activity. The research aims to develop the national image while also exploring the factors which are producing local and regional creative ‘hotspots’. They’re defined here as urban or regional areas which evidence well above average creative and innovative growth and potential.
Bringing together population-level and comparative studies of local cultural and creative activity, this project is an attempt to provide more dynamic and comparative investigation of the different types of creative hotspots across Australia, but with a main focus on regional site – outside of metropolitan cities. Ryan stated that wider benefits will accrue from this project, nationally and for local policies, it will provide important insights for better local targeting of policy and program initiatives.
