Cultural and Media Policy Studies News and Events

At first glance supply chains may appear to have little to do with the creative industries and cultural policy studies but, together with colleagues from WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group), Ruth Leary is working to spearhead a large scale research project, funded by the University of Warwick’s ESRC Impact Acceleration scheme, highlighting the crucial role that they play in the global economy.

Chris Bilton and David Wright have both contributed chapters to the recently published Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries. Edited by Kate Oakley (Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Leeds) and Justin O’Connor (Professor of Communications and Cultural Economy at Monash University) the book brings together 43 researchers and thinkers, from a range of countries and disciplinary backgrounds, to review and update current debates within cultural industry scholarship.

Chris’s essay brings insight from his work on the management of creative industries to reflect on, and offer solutions to, the challenges that small creative enterprises face in defending their autonomy from giant digital intermediaries such as Amazon and Google.

David’s chapter considers the ambiguities of ‘the cultural consumer’ as revealed by historical and contemporary scholarship on consumer societies and reflects on the inter-relationships between the buying and selling of cultural goods and abiding questions of class, status and identity.

Details of other contributions to this exciting new resource for students and researchers can be found via the publisher’s web page

The Institute of Advanced Studies is sponsoring a Visiting Fellowship for the Global Research Prtiority in International Development. Organised by Jonathan Vickery, this means a week of 7 events, exploring the GRP-ID Annual theme 'Creative Economies and Cultural Activism'.

Mike van Graan is a playwright, cultural activist, executive director and UNESCO technical advisor. He is a central figure in South Africa’s cultural sector as much as the African continent’s nascent creative economy. As a playwright he is nationally renowned; he set up one of the nation’s most prestigious cultural consultancies; he is the pioneer behind the now world-famous pan-African arts and policy organisation, The Arterial Network (AN), and is now Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI). Both the organisations are in Cape Town, and both have played a significant role in empowering black cultural agency in the post-Apartheid era. Both organisations are explicit in their commitment to the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, but are also pragmatic in working for economic development.

SEE the week's itinerary: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/research/priorities/internationaldevelopment/

SEE Culture Matters BLOG: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/cp/blog/