BA Creative and Cultural Industries

Creative industries, and hence creative workers, are concerned with the generation and exploitation of knowledge and ideas as part of economic activity and enterprise. This core course unit builds on the foundational learning from Creative Work 1 to provide students with practical and theoretical knowledge of how to manage and develop creative ideas, products and enterprises fairly and sustainably. It focuses on three interconnected areas in creative work – financial management, intellectual property management and human resource management – and considers approaches to creative enterprise and creative justice through case studies and guest inputs from selected creative industries sectors, including music, publishing, heritage and visual arts.

The course unit will be delivered through weekly lectures/seminars, workshops and fieldtrips. Assessment will be through a group project to develop the proof of concept for a new creative product and evaluate its feasibility, a reflective statement, and a closed book exam. Students will have an opportunity for involvement in social responsibility through a group project, responding to an external brief.

The unit aims to:

• Develop knowledge and understanding of practical approaches and theoretical perspectives relevant to commercialisation, financial management and intellectual property
• Provide creative opportunities for reflective practice, peer review and self-evaluation through team-work and individual self-directed learning
• Building on foundations provided in Creative Work 1, support student proficiency in project management, product and enterprise development through case studies, industry input and practical exercises

Developing creative ideas and projects 
Managing and exploiting intellectual property – ideas, rights, innovation and commercialisation
Managing the money – financial management, fund-raising and access to finance
Managing sustainably - constitutional and governance models for creative businesses
Case studies in creative work:  guest inputs and site visits focusing on music management; publishing; freelance journalism; visual arts; heritage institutions.
Feasibility testing, evaluation and business development

The course will be delivered over 12 weeks through 8 x 1 hour lecture and 11 x 2-hour seminars with 1 week which involves fieldtrip and workshop elements (ahead of the easter break). During the 2-hour seminar sessions there will be a programme of small group working, set exercises and group project meetings to support peer learning and review, and group project assessment. Tutorials will offer opportunities for individual feedback and monitoring student progress to support inclusion, alongside weekly office hours for academic advisement.

e-learning – Students will prepare for lecture and seminars through asynchronous content on Blackboard and through e-learning mechanisms such as collaboration tools and online exercises and self-directed reading guided by spark pages. Use of lecture capture and other recorded materials will support inclusion and revision of course materials.
 

• Demonstrate understanding of how new ideas become opportunities for creative work by making connections between creativity, innovation, design and product development in a variety of creative and cultural contexts
• Recognise, critically evaluate and apply relevant practices and strategies for ethical business and social enterprise development 
• Demonstrate understanding of intellectual property rights, commercialisation, financial management and accounting, enterprise feasibility and evaluation relevant to creative industries

• Recall and explain theories related to intellectual property, copyright, commercialisation and income generation in the context of creative and cultural production
• Understand and apply processes to test project and product feasibility
• Apply knowlege from cultural theory to practical issues in cultural work
   

• Exercise understanding of enterprise and product development and income development
• Work in a team or individually to understand key issues facing creative workers
• Make decisions and appraise the decisions of others based on critically informed understanding and evidence of predicted outcome

• Reflect on own practice or provide critical peer support and feedback in the context of teamwork.
• Manage a project and evaluate key issues in project delivery
• Communicate key issues in creative work
   

15 working days after submission

Brown, Abbe E.L and Charlotte Waelde eds (2016). Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Creative Industries.. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
Caves, Richard E. (2002). Creative Industries: Contracts between Art and Commerce. Harvard UP 
Darling, K., & Perzanowski, A. (Eds.). (2017). Creativity without law : challenging the assumptions of intellectual property. New York University Press.
Delamaire, M.-S., & Slauter, W. (Eds.). (2021). Circulation and control : artistic culture and intellectual property in the nineteenth century. Open Book Publishers.
Massi, M., Vecco, M., & Lin, Y. (Eds.). (2021). Digital transformation in the cultural and creative industries : production, consumption and entrepreneurship in the digital and sharing economy. Routledge.
McClean, D., & Schubert, K. (2002). Dear images : art, copyright and culture. Ridinghouse.
Moeran, B., & Christensen, B. T. (Eds.). (2013). Exploring creativity : evaluative practices in innovation, design and the arts. Cambridge University Press.
Pang, L. (2012). Creativity and its discontents : China’s creative industries and intellectual property rights offenses. Duke University Press.