From Economy to Ecology: A Policy Framework for Creative Labour

A report prepared for the

Canadian Conference of the Arts

by Mirjam Gollmitzer (Research Associate, PhD Candidate) (mirjamg@sfu.ca) Dr. Catherine Murray, PhD (murraye@sfu.ca) March 2008

2
Table of contents

Preface Executive summary Abstract for this study

Chapter I: Definitions and models of the creative economy Abstract Definitions and different models of the creative economy The issue of domain boundary Sizing the creative economy sector Creative economy or creative ecology? Creativity and work Searching for the wellsprings of creative innovation The casual labour force Conclusion Chapter II: Mapping creative labour in Canada Abstract Introduction Mapping the cultural labour force in Canada Income portrait Collective organization of Canadas cultural labour force The creative casual labour force in Canada The organizational context of the creative/not-for-profit cultural enterprise sector The nature of the creative enterprise Conclusion Chapter III: Policies to promote creative labour Abstract Introduction

Policy approaches to creative labour Rethinking the creative state and flexicurity as policy principle The Status of the Artist legislative approach Rethinking the Status of the Artist approach Social security for creative labourers Tax incentives for creators Social economy initiatives to support creative labour Safety, security and creative live/work space Conclusions & recommendations
Works cited Policy papers cited Selected online resources related to the creative economy Appendices

3 Executive summary Many countries and regions are increasingly interested in the creative economy or, alternatively, the narrower creative industries sector as a generator of economic growth. The creative economy is defined to include activities which are based on the original expression of an idea and economic or gift transaction of intellectual property held in private or in common. The study of the creative economy requires a new understanding of risk, innovation, cultural entrepreneurship, public infrastructure and creative work to enable and sustain economic growth. For example, in Canada the cultural growth rate was over 30% (Economic contribution of culture in Canada, 2004, p.10) between 1996 and 2001 and in Europe 20% between 1999 and 2003 (The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.6). Thus, the creative economy is growing faster than many other sectors. In Canada and many European countries, the creative sector employs between 3-4 per cent of the working population and contributes similar percentages to the annual GDP, placing it ahead of many primary resource sectors (forestry, fishing) combined. This study was conducted by SFUs Center for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities (supported by Infrastructure Canada) in partnership with the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Mirjam Gollmitzer, an international PhD Candidate from Germany and SFU Professor Catherine Murray explore current policy approaches directed at the creative economy, in Canada and internationally, including academic literature, cultural statistics and policy papers. They find that few countries have a comprehensive policy framework for the creative economy, and Canada is no exception. Despite the general assumption that the creative economy will produce a more flexible, multi-skilled and mobile labour force which is increasingly self-employed and thus resembling the cultural sector in its core characteristics, most countries (with the possible exception of the Nordic region) have not yet developed an integrated conception of creative labour policy. Semi-permanent work groups, temporary jobs and free lancing for multiple employers at the same time and over the creative career life span are now the general rule. A review of 20 countries active in policies to build creative labour forces alongside policies to stimulate innovation and creative enterprise, finds existing policy instruments can be divided into four categories: education and training, awards and contests, business support and tax and social security policies with most of the emphasis on the former. After looking at special efforts to establish the economic rights of artists, the authors conclude a broader approach to flexicurity that is social security for the self employed flexible labour force is a key driver of creative innovation. A review of the strengths and weaknesses of Canadas creative labour force reveals a new sociality in informal, networked cultures of creative production potentially acting

4 as a double edged sword: contributing to both stability and instability. A gap between classes of creative workers is found. Sharp differences in status, training, credentials and the degree of professional independence obtained by various categories of creative workers exist. Most at risk are youth, aboriginal and visible minorities and those in rural areas. Nonetheless, there are important innovations in collective bargaining and resources made available to creative workers (including advice on standard minimums in negotiations concerning copyright payments). The researchers offer several recommendations for policy-makers. First, the current official cultural statistics are inadequate to measure the incredible diversity of employment situations specific to creative workers in the new economy. These statistics systematically under-represent the contribution of creative workers to the GDP by anywhere between a half to a third. The last comprehensive survey of the sector was done in 1993 and needs urgent updating. Second, the role of the social economy the non-profit and voluntary sectors is important to include in estimating the value added by creative activities, and the capacity of those non-profit organizations which service creative workers. Third, a broader policy framework called a creative ecology approach is needed, drawing from the urban planning conceptions of the creative city and new thinking about the role of public and private cultural infrastructure in providing the environment in which creativity can flourish. Lastly, there is an urgent need for governments to examine multiple ways to enhance social security and income support for the most important but frequently forgotten component of the creative economy: the creative workers. Social security is paramount for them to maintain their creative edge, and contribute to a healthy diversity in creative expression. What is needed is an entire change of creativity governance, away from the attention on the individual to collective creativity and its interactions. The goal is a theoretically and practically elegant integration of culture and the economy in policy practice.

5 Preface The Canadian Conference of the Arts approached the Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities in February of 2008 to conduct a background study on principal thinking about the Creative Economy. The intention is to contribute to the debate on ideas about the Creative Economy in the first roundtable about it conducted in Canada by the Conference Board of Canada (March 2008). This study is presented in three parts: Chapter I: A Review of Basic Concepts of the Creative Economy Canada Chapter III: Policy Approaches to Creative Labour This study represents a survey of the principal known statistical sources, policy reviews and databases on the cultural economy available publicly on the Internet, and is deeply indebted to the work being done by the Council of Europe and the European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research in their annual compendium of sources (www.culturalpolicies.net). The authors are also indebted to the comments of Guillaume Sirois and Keith Kelly in the development of their thinking. Mirjam Gollmitzer is an international PhD Candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, and Research Associate with the Centre for Policy Studies in Culture and Communities (http;//www.cultureandcommunities.ca). Catherine Murray is a Professor and Associate Director of the Centre.

Chapter II: A Mapping of the Creative Labour Force and Enterprises in

6 Abstract for this study Creativity functions as an important leitmotif in thinking about the creative economy. However, economic arguments about the specificity of cultural value and its difference from economic value (Caves, 2000; Hesmondhalgh, 2007; Throsby, 2001) or about the role of the arts, artists and the economic activities of the professional arts are not well grounded in theories of innovation or creative industry policy formulations. This article accepts that the most important postulate in the creative economy is that it is based on the realization of the original expression of an idea, an economic or gift transaction of intellectual property which may be held in private or in common. Understanding the creative process of invention and expression, then, stemming from the individual artist, entrepreneur, or company, is central to effective policy in guiding the creative economy. An argument is made that the concentric circles model of the creative industry classification based on David Throsbys work (2001) presents the origin and diffusion of creative ideas in sound, text and image as the creative arts (and is most compatible with a new industrial framework for the creative economy). Given the distinct attributes of cultural production, commodity and exchange over time, it is important to understand the role of risk, innovation, cultural entrepreneurship, public infrastructure and volunteer or casual labour support in sustaining creative professional innovation, and enabling its contribution to sustainable economic growth. A comparison of policies to promote creative labour expression in several countries reveals a need for more substance, method and critique. Despite the general assumption that the knowledge economy will produce a labour force which resembles the cultural sector in its core characteristics, most countries have not yet introduced comprehensive creative labour policies to accommodate a more flexible, mobile workforce, and one which is increasingly self-employed. Several policy recommendations to address this gap are made, consistent with an integrated conception of the creative cultural ecology, derived from urban planning and the study of global cities. What is needed is an entire change of creativity governance, and shift to flexicurity in a labour strategy, which acknowledges the interaction with the social economy and volunteer sector. These policies should be developed on the basis of need, requiring more sophisticated models of the creative labour force. A creative labour force survey is urgently needed to develop them.

Chapter I: Definitions and models of the creative economy

Table of contents

Abstract Definitions and different models of the creative economy The issue of domain boundary Sizing the creative economy sector Creative economy or creative ecology? Creativity and work Searching for the wellsprings of creative innovation The casual labour force Conclusion Table Table 1 Comparing amount of jobs and contribution to GDP to overall economy Figures Figure 1 Concentric circles model of the creative industries Figure 2 The cultural value chain Figure 3 Individual careers and the cultural infrastructure

8 This chapter illustrates that many countries and regions are increasingly interested in the creative economy as a generator of economic growth. Canada is a late adopter of the concept of at the federal level. During the past years, a steadily growing number of policy papers have been published by governments around the world, exploring ways to conceptualize this fairly new economic sector, its future potential and adequate policy instruments to promote it (see Appendix A). Thus, there is no shortage of interest or ideas related to the creative economy. However, policy-makers seem to be, most of all, concerned with the question of how to profit from the creative industries economically and how do so fast. Such an approach often seems very abstract. It conceptualizes the creative economy as if it was a thing in itself, a collection of creative products and services detached from the human beings who create, produce, distribute and consume them. We suggest, instead, that long-term planning is necessary as much as an exploration of the environment in which tangible economic value emerges and the question by whom it is created. Such a comprehensive, holistic approach is required for an effective and sustainable promotion of the creative economy. To put it simply, we would like to embed the notion of the creative economy in the actual, everyday world of life and work. Such an approach entails moving from a creative economy concept implying an abstract and at the same time limited notion of creative products and services to one of a creative ecology which looks at those who make these products and services: the members of the creative labour force. This is, however, a challenging undertaking since there is a huge gap concerning systematic knowledge about creative labour. Definitions and different models of the creative economy The creative economy is considered one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy in many Western industrialized countries, employing around 3-4 per cent of the working population and contributing a similar percentage to the annual GDP1 (The economy of culture in Europe, 2006; Creative industries mapping document, 2001; Economic contribution of culture in Canada, 2004). Thus, the creative economy earns national economies as much as or even more than fisheries, forestry and agriculture together. However, researchers, economists and policy analysts interested in the creative economy can only dream of the definitional clarity that characterizes other primary sectors. There may be no other sector of the economy that is more elusive, more difficult to measure and more plagued by tensions than the creative economy. First, in an effort to establish terms and categories for an analysis of the creative economy, we need to distinguish the creative or cultural turn in the economy as a whole from specific creativity-related economic fields. In brief, the transition from
1

Methodologically, this is interesting as it implies a close correlation between employment and contribution to GDP (except in in the UK, where a recent EU comparison found higher productivity: 5% of the labour force generates 8% of the GDP). Data are not easily comparable. However, they are sufficient to support two broad generalizations: there are sharply regional variations in cultural employment within countries, showing strong agglomeration effects in big cities; and apparent differences in relative productivity. For example, contribution to GDP varies given the national variations in composition of the creative economy in capital intensive industries such as film, for example.

9 manufacturing to service economies in Western industrialized countries has led to an emphasis on the creation, marketing, distribution and transaction of symbolic instead of material value. The focus is on the productive role of meaning and design of products and services instead of products themselves in the generation of sustainable economic growth. Since symbolic value is realized through the attribution of authorship, patent or mark, intellectual property rights become the linchpin of these transformed economies. Intellectual property rights represent the unique expression of an idea which may convey a monopoly or collective licence for reproduction of a work for a period of time in a given space. One of the tangible consequences of the shift in the general economy from material to symbolic value is the accumulation of profit. Evidence may be found in budgets of branding and marketing departments within companies which are seen to increase while manufacturing is outsourced and/or re-located to developing countries. This major shift is also mirrored in the experience of workers and employees in all sectors of the economy who find themselves in working conditions now largely similar to the way artists and creative labourers have always lived and worked. This experience includes higher levels of self-employment, serial project work and casual labour, job insecurity and precariousness, high levels of expected flexibility, the de-professionalization or reprofessionalization of work with all its blessings of autonomy and burdens, and constant need for life-long learning. Thus, the argument of this chapter is that the significance of arts and creative activities today lies in their being a seismograph that predicts larger disruptions, opportunities and developments in the world of work and in society as a whole. While there has been a significant literature around the economics of the cultural industries and arts dating from the 1930s, it is only since the growing focus on the role of science and technology in propelling innovation in the economy in the 1990s that we see a transition in policy focus from the old cultural industries, to the new which involve interactive software and the internet. The convergence of digital techniques of creation, dissemination and storage has precipitated fundamental challenges to traditional business models. For example, the advent of peer-to-peer file sharing revolutionized the distribution of sound recording. Also, the blurring of boundaries between film and video games and other formerly separate forms of content required the involved cultural industries to rethink core strategies for producing and selling their products. Historically, Tony Blairs Labour government in 1997 was the first to develop creative industries as a term for the new cultural industries and as an explicit area of policymaking, exploring a broader field definition and its potential for job creation and economic growth. Since then, more governments in Western and also in Asian countries have come forth with initiatives researching the creative economy. It is fair to say that the UK (Creative industries mapping document, 1998 and 2001) and Australia (Creative cluster study, 2003) are leaders in the advancement and promotion of creative economy thinking. Several European countries, Europe as a region as well as cities and states in

10 Asia have also launched initiatives explicitly dedicated to exploring the creative economy.2 In policy papers discussing the creative economy, creativity is not explicitly defined. Rarely is it considered separate from the terms industry or economy. One very recent example is the latest creative industries policy paper by the UK government (February 2008). It describes the goal of its newly introduced arts education initiative as providing our creative industries with an unrivalled pool of creative talent (Creative Britain. New talents for the New Economy, p.6). However, besides the predominantly instrumental use of the term preoccupied with policy questions about how does creativity benefit the economy? a more complex and inclusive understanding of creativity can be traced. This more nuanced view of creativity can mostly be found in relation to creative clusters and creative cities (for example, in the green paper mapping the Creative economy of the Nordic counties, 2007). Mainly, it consists of reflections on the role that a creative environment access to cultural infrastructure, cultural spaces (or incubators), associated lifestyle amenities and a multicultural, open atmosphere might play in attracting creative labourers to certain places to kick start the agglomeration of creative industry clusters.3 Two intertwined discourses prevail in emerging policy papers. On the one hand, the term creativity is used as a brand that fashionably marks regions, nations or cities as modern and cool, the most famous example being the UKs aspiration to become the worlds creative hub (Schlesinger, 2007; www.culture.gov.uk). On the other hand, a neo-liberal, economically oriented rationale conceptualizes policies for creative industries rather narrowly as the facilitation of business or the expansion of trade in edutainment (Schlesinger, 2007; Cunningham, 2005; Hartley, 2005). A more nuanced perspective on creativity is needed. Creativity is as a complex human force that requires a degree of autonomy and indeterminacy in order to function as a value-adding tool in economic and cultural contexts. Such a more holistic view could result in more proactive state interventions but such a perspective is rare (Crossick, 2006). Consequentially, the policy initiatives and instruments that are directed at the creative economy heavily draw on mainstream economic policies and less on traditional arts policy or instruments specifically tailored to the creative industries.

Official documents assessing the creative economy exist in Denmark, Germany, Austria, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, for the region of Catalonia in Spain, the Netherlands, and for the region of Flanders in Belgium, the European Union and in Canada. All mapping documents are recent, dating from the year 2000 or later (see Appendix A for details).
3

Project work is a temporary labour system constituted among individuals rather than firms, which may resemble or differ from other forms of flexible production rooted in networks or firm clusters. It is generally accepted that there remains a spatial dimension to project work as it is presented in new media industries, for example, despite the virtual possibilities of the field. Reasons may flow from the transaction-intensive nature of serial projects, the need for creative stimuli, and access to specialized training. See Susan Christopherson (2004).

11 The issue of domain boundary This brings us, finally, to the question which economic domains the creative economy is composed of. The answer to this question determines the types of policies that are suggested and pursued. For example, the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport lists design, film and video, television, antique markets, computer services, advertising, architecture, performing arts, and crafts as industries whose intellectual property rights can be exploited. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), using a similar rationale, defines the creative economy as industries that are involved in copyrighted work; the UNESCO looks at cultural goods and services that enter international trade. However, for the purpose of making policy recommendations, models that stress only one particular aspect of the creative economy or those that just enumerate different industries and disciplines without grouping them into categories are not very useful. Rather, we look at models that offer a classification of the various sectors within the creative economy. In these models, the term creative economy in general includes the arts as a non - or semi-commercial undertaking as well as industrialized forms of creativity which are termed cultural industries or creative industries. What counts as creative industry is not commonly agreed upon and has fundamental consequences for the economic significance, expressed in employment numbers and GDP, of the creative economy. For example, the inclusion of software development, research and development departments or the toys and games industry considerably increases the market size of the creative economy in relation to other economic sectors. At the same time, these inclusions make traditional arts a minor player within the creative economy. Often heritage is completely excluded from the creative economy sector: a position which is logically absurd, given the importance of trade in cultural artefacts. Another crucial question is how the direction of the flow of creativity as a value-adding process between traditional arts and cultural industries is conceptualized. One way to do this is to put the pure performing and visual arts at the center of a model of the creative economy, considering it the origin of creativity as the cultural economist David Throsby has done in his concentric circles model (see Figure 1 below).

12 Figure 1: Concentric circles model of the creative industries4

Core creative industires

Core cultural industries

Wider cultural industires

Related industrie s

Core creative arts literature, music performing arts visual arts

Core cultural industries film museums libraries

Wider cultural industries Related Industries heritage services publishing sound recording television and radio video and computer games architecture advertising design fashion

With several modifications tightening the idea of culture as a creative input on noncultural products, this model is identical to that adopted by a recent review of national
4

Figure created with reference to Throsby (2001, p. 112) and Flew (2002, p. 135).

13 policies for creative industries, mostly in Europe, and by a policy recommendations paper for the Northern European countries (A creative economy green paper for the Nordic region, 2007, p.14; Quick scan of national policies, p.8). Throsbys model is not without resistance (Flew, 2002) for its whiff of old elitist arts policy setting out the hierarchy of disciplines. Yet, authors in agreement with Throsby argue that without the initial story, libretto, or conception of the image, no audio-visual product can be made. Consider the case of process innovation. While there has been a tendency to format TV trade which copyrights a production concept and process (and not the particular creative expression of it) ; that format is still initially written, conceived and trademarked in a way where the originating discipline (in this case, writers) is causal. In other words, by using the convention of creative expression as a process of formulation, fixation and additive value, inevitably the core disciplines of art are inputs in later complex forms of industry organization.5 Diametrically opposed to this view would be a model that pushes the traditional arts to the periphery or to an autonomous parallel sphere while regarding all commercially produced culture such as traditional and new media industries, music companies, advertising and marketing as the heart of a creative economy model (Hesmondhalgh, 2007). While the latter constitutes an important starting point for a creative economy concept that combines creativity and economic power, the concentric circles model seems to include traditional arts policy approaches. Yet there is a problem in ascribing solely non-industrial attributes to the performing arts, or conceptualizing the concentric rings as Throsby appears to do. As the reinvention of the music business model is proving, concerts and live performances (considered at the centre of Throsbys concentric circles) now play an important role in mediating demand for purchases of online music (or the second and third rings), and present more classic attributes of product marketing. Thus, the different circles should be conceptualized as permeable as well as allowing for flexibility in succession. Another way to structure and diversify our thinking about policies for the creative economy is by referring to the different stages in the value chain of creative goods and services. This model roughly corresponds to the rings of Throsbys model in that the initial creation stage corresponds to the core ring. The second and third rings can each be related to both the production and the performance/distribution stages. However, the fourth circle (related industries) does not correspond to the consumption/co-creation stage in the cultural value chain. Figure 2: Cultural value chain
Initial creation tangible production performance/distribution consumption/co-creation

The value chain might be a good concept for tackling the false dichotomy between pure and industrialized art and culture suggested above by simply seeing them as
5

Caves (2000) argument about simple and complex models of cultural production also confirms Throsbys premise.

14 different steps in one process of pre-commercial, commercial and post-commercial creative labour within each ring of the concentric circles model, each adding value to the product. The further we move away from the initial creation and step deeper into commodification, many critics argue that the economic value increases while the artistic value is watered down. However, the consumer is increasingly enabled to engage actively and interactively with the product and steps in towards the end of the process to bring in new creativity. Whatever the conceptual debates over the models of the creative economy, the key postulate which is widely accepted is that, while processes of cultural valuation and economic valuation are different, they are interpenetrated and mutually dependent (Grant & Wood, 2004, p. 44-45; Throsby, 2001). Apart from the question which domain should be at the center of a concept of the creative economy, radiating outwards to other, less creative domains, another problem is to know where the influence of creativity ends, or where creativity may be dense or intensified and where it is diffuse or partial. Here, we come back to the tension between the arts in a narrower sense and creativity as a phenomenon permeating the economy as a whole, including the private and public sectors as well as the not-for-profit economy. In this, the WIPO copyright model separating core copyright industries (treating visual and performing arts and music as commensurate with film and video or Television) is useful in identifying levels of title originality, and separating logically origination, adaptation and performance. WIPO notes the role of interdependent copyright industries (as inputs or outputs) and partial copyright industries, such as design and architecture in the domain. The aggressively expansive definition of the domain used by the UK government (see page 5 of this study) is thus premature. It neither accounts for distinction between intense intellectual property production (primary and secondary sectors or invention, adaptation and mimesis), nor differences in the respective value chains of the sub-sectors. Perhaps most importantly, it completely excludes the heritage sub-sector, and blurs audio visual sectors like new media with manifest aesthetic content with other software applications. For pragmatic reasons and with an eye on policy recommendations, we should firmly establish the creative economy as a separate, unique sector of the economy. To do so, we need to broaden existing conceptions of the creative economy namely with respect to the economy while at the same time narrowing them down, namely with respect to creativity. We have just rejected the UK governments official definition because of its expansive inclusion of too many disciplines and sectors from architecture to software under the rubric creative. The UKs further definition of creative industries described as industries that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent and having the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property (Creative industries mapping document, 1998) helps us to illustrate where we would like to see the definition broadened. We need to expand on this conventional understanding of the economy as private commercial transactions exclusively aimed at generating revenue and include the public sector, public-private partnerships and the social economy in our reflections on the relationship between creative expression and economic value. The social economy consists of a wide range of voluntary, not-for-profit activities of entrepreneurs and artists.

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Returning to the term creativity, we do not use it to refer to a principle that increasingly conditions all activities in the world of work. Seeing the creative economy as embedded in the knowledge economy and the information society but different from both, helps us to develop a tailor-made set of indicators to monitor its growth and a basis for developing effective policies. We limit ourselves in this study to those economic activities that involve the adaptation of symbolic texts (broadly defined as texts, images, and sound), the promotion of these texts and issues of design. Here the Conference Board of Canadas narrow definition of the cultural industries for its first policy roundtable in March 2008 is a useful starting point. These industries are viewed as book, periodical, and newspaper publishing, sound recording, radio and television broadcasting; interactive media (video games, online museums, e-learning with cultural content) (www.conferenceboard.ca). However, we would like to broaden the Conference Boards conception of the arts, defined as performing arts, visual arts, and festivals to include heritage (museums, galleries and libraries), arts schools and services. Looking back at our notions of creativity and economy, we can say that the challenge is how to wed social capital formation and notions of collective creative security with the dynamism of the creative economy (Flew, 2002, p.355). To achieve this, a broader concept is needed. However, we would like to first explore the size of the creative sector to point out its growing significance.

Sizing the creative economy sector Comparative data is difficult to find because countries and regions have varying understandings of which sectors and jobs belong to the creative economy. For example, the EU measures cultural employment by including not only people who perform a cultural function within the cultural sector which is the more exclusive Canadian approach but also those who work culturally in other sectors of the economy as well as those who work in the cultural sector but whose jobs are not cultural or creative at all (Economic contribution of culture in Canada, 2004, p.15, The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.73). In 2002, GDP from culture activities consonant with the Conference Boards narrow definition of the sector amounted to more than $39 billion in Canada, an increase of 31.7% from 1996, exceeding the overall growth in the Canadian economy and accounting for some 3.8% of the GDP in 2002 (Economic contribution of culture in Canada, 2004, p.10). This growth rate appears higher than that in the European Union, with slightly less than 20% between 1999 and 2003 (The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.6). The European-wide contribution was only 2.6% to the GDP in 2003 but many individual European countries such as France, UK, Norway, Finland, Denmark all have numbers higher than 3% (ibd., p.66).

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Table 1 Comparing amount of jobs and contribution to GDP to overall economy (time frames: 1999-2001 for Canadian numbers, 1999-2003 for EU and European national numbers) Jobs % Canada European Union Germany France United Kingdom 3.9 3.1 3.2 (including cultural tourism) 2.5 (incl. cult. tourism) 3.8 (incl. cult. tourism) GDP % 3.86 2.6 2.5 3.4 3.0

Sources: The economy of culture in Europe 2006 (p.67, 81), Economic contribution of culture in Canada 2004, (p.6)

Creative economy or creative ecology? The creative (or, to use an older term: cultural) industry concept of the 1990s has widened to the creative economy (Howkins, 2001, Leadbetter, 2000, Florida, 2002) and now to creative regions and creative cities under the influence of microeconomics and innovation system theory. Theorists like Charles Landry (2000) (the inventor of Helsinkis Festival of Light) and others of the urban planning and cultural geography disciplines explore how technological innovation arises from a cultural and institutional urban milieu that promotes innovation and experimentation: the location, if you will, of the learning economy on the ground (Flew, 2005). The creative milieu is defined as a shared space and tradition in which people can learn, compare, compete and collaborate and through which ideas can be proposed, developed or disseminated. The creative cities movement is heavily European, but has early adopters in the Creative City Network of Canada (established in 1998) and supported by programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage like Creative Spaces Canada. The movement is about re-imagining local urban space within a competitive global framework (Pratt, 1994) and often the capacity to attract and generate employment and output in the creative industries (Sassen, 2005), refuting the death of distance or focal fade away from face to face synergies in creative production processes. It may even be said that the cultural district or quarter in new urban geography originated the clusters concept in the study of new production networks, and casts the distinctive style, sound or look for which a city can become known7. While cool Brittania foundered in Britain in short order, Singaporean initiatives like the Renaissance City or the UAEs Masdar persist.

Arguably, if you broaden the definition of culture to include leisure, sport and cultural tourism, the contribution to the GDP can rise as high as $54 billion (Culture and Leisure, www.41.stacan.ca/2007/3955/ceb3955_000_e_htm)
7

David Hesmondalgh and Andy Pratt applaud Hans Mommass for his critique of the creative city discourses about place marketing, entrepreneurialism, innovation, regeneration of derelict buildings, and stimulating cultural diversity and democracy.

17 Policy literature seems to accept that creative cities require a cohesive policy framework set within the cultural context to allow the fruition of creativity (Robinson, 2006; Landry, 2005). Like Throsby, cultural geographers spatially map the city in series of concentric circles, often determined by property prices, high value added services like finance, cultural institutions and the headquarters of cultural industry organizations collocated around a contemporary version of the piazza or village square. Anchors to such a square or district often include a market or restaurant, a public library, art gallery or museum, a major theatre or film studio. Around it is the buzz ring of creative services, and related creative industries which include advertising or promotion, design, multimedia entrepreneurs, artists and small galleries. Also, experimenting with creative enterprise zones to sustain sites of incubation at below market value to ensure the subsistence artists and ateliers that comprise the soul of culture, continues to remain a part of the mix (Landry, 2005). Urbanscapes require a fundamental shift in thinking away from physical infrastructure towards urban dynamics and the overall health and well being of its peoples, a shift in which Landry sees the city as an organism. He elaborates:
The creative city approach, therefore, does not look at policy sectorally. Its purpose is to see how the pool of cultural resources identified can contribute to the integrated development of a locality. By placing cultural resources at the centre of policy-making, interactive and synergistic relationships are established between these resources and any type of public policy in fields ranging from economic development to housing, health, education, social services, tourism, urban planning, architecture, townscape design and cultural policy itself. Policy makers in all fields should not simply be making instrumental use of culture as a tool for achieving non-cultural goals. (Landry, 2000, p.175).

Quite simply, the creative industries need to mobilize cultural and economic arguments in the context of a city culture, equally a product of a division of labour and an imaginative work (OConnor, 2005). Thus, what is needed is a holistic, integrated approach to creativity.8 Such an integrated approach is often called ecological. A cultural ecology recognizes that the notion of creative industries broadens the social base of enterprise culture, characterized predominantly by:
creative individuals and entrepreneurs small to medium enterprises pre-commercial (or anti commercial activities) as well as commercial activities new mixes of public and private partnership a complex web of social and cultural infrastructure local and global production flows.

Landry, borrowing from Matarasso, suggests a sensible scale for assessing the creative city policy capacity which can easily be adapted to national systems (2000, p.234-235).

18 A cultural ecology approach presents a complex challenge in cultural policy governance. A country taking the creative turn requires focused and tremendous efforts in terms of coordination between and among highly decentralised agencies and in seeking resources. Developing the creative infrastructure in its broadest sense requires the cooperation of many stakeholders (Roodhouse et al., 2004). The case for a creative ecology approach becomes all the more persuasive as the following discussion of creative work will make clear. Sub-sector boundaries are blurring and unstable. The nature of the work force is changing. It is thus all the more necessary and productive to adopt a more broad-based approach to the development of the creative economy sector as a whole as opposed to a reductive, specialized one (Facing the Future, 2002).

Creativity and Work While there has been extensive attention to the economic theory of the new creative economy in academic and policy circles, much less attention has been paid to the changing processes of creative work. It is generally accepted that the creative practices of creative industries now involve more interactivity, hybridization, new sites and forms of production, multiplatform delivery, promotional synergy, and more serial project entrepreneurship. Yet a recent quick scan of over 1000 policies in 18 countries conducted by the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research (Quick scan of national policies, 2007) detailed no creative labour policies aside from support for entrepreneurship. The experience of people working in the creative industries today is conceptualized most often around the world as a set of distinct characteristics clustered under the dominant idea of new labour flexibility. This flexibility and indeterminacy can be seen as positive (enabling creativity) as well as negative (constraining creativity). Optimistic to neutral accounts of creative labour in academic research point to the increased possibilities and freedoms that creative labourers gained through the emergence of digital technologies and the globalization of work. Mark Deuze mentions that there are fewer hierarchies in creative work and more collaboration with colleagues and with the audience of creative products and services (2007). Semi-permanent work groups, temporary jobs and freelancing for different employers are now the rule. Creative labourers are moving around in the global creative industries as more or less free agents (Throsby, 2001). Hartley (2005) also mentions the interactive, hybrid and interdisciplinary employing many different skills to fulfill many different functions nature of contemporary creative work often implying higher need for education in various cultural repertoires (2005). Globalization and digital technologies have not only multiplied the possibilities for creating, producing and distributing cultural goods and services, they have also made life harder for many creative labourers. Increased autonomy and flexibility in the work life of creative labourers come with high costs to income security. Temporary contracts with changing or multiple employers mean that it can become a challenging undertaking to

19 access corporate pension plans and secure old-age provision. Similarly, self-employed creative labourers cannot take maternity leave and usually have to pay the employer contributions to health insurance (Layton, undated). As well, organizing the work force of the cultural sector is extremely difficult in a network society where not only bonds between employer and employee are weak but also those among employees who often do not even know each other because they might be freelancing from home for multiple companies (Rossiter, 2003; Mosco & McKercher, 2007, McRobbie, 2005). In times when all Western industrialized democracies have significantly trimmed the social safety net, the course of work life for creative labourers has become especially unpredictable (Calabrese & Burgelman, 1999). As firms have increasingly faced difficulties in obtaining skilled workers in certain information techonology centres, more analytic attention has turned to the workforce (Scott, 2000; Christopherson, 2004). Since the creative economy is predominantly seen as a project-based economy characterized by temporary employment relationships, diversity and not speciality is the predominant skill emphasis in what commentators call a speeded up creative world (McRobbie, 2005) of invention and innovation. Multiple skills, and multidisciplinarity of practice suggest the traditional sociology of professional organization which underpins collective bargaining is unravelling. It is becoming more challenging in the cultural sector than in other sectors of the economy to have labour organizations representing the work force, engaging in collective bargaining and the improvement of working conditions. In addition, a new international division of labour does not make these goals any more achievable. Whereas the creation of cultural products still mostly takes place in Western industrialized countries, there is a trend towards locating or re-locating the production of those products in low-wage countries in Asia (Mosco & Stevens, 2007). For example, the ideas for some computer-animated movies are invented in Hollywood but technically converted into movies in Taiwan (Day, 2007). This not only makes unionization of workers who work on the same product close to impossible. It also can mean unemployment for those who produced such movies in Hollywood before the production was outsourced. Neo-liberal policy reform in many countries has often concentrated on shifting labour force policy away from a universal social security model (implicit in the term unemployment insurance, for example) to one of employment and targeted state support. Yet there remain notable variations in the occupational identities and work lives of cultural workers across advanced economies (Christopherson, 2004). A recent survey of the cultural labour force conducted by the international consulting firm Mercadex for the Canadian Cultural Human Resources Council (CCHRC)9in 2002 found that the significant strengths exhibited by the cultural sector are:
- the diversity in people and activities of the sector; - the passion, motivation, competence and tenacity of workers in the sector; - the economic impact of the sector (leverage effect for other sectors);
9

A not-for-profit agency created in 1995 and reporting to the Minister of Labour.

20
- the sectors close and sustained links with many other industrial sectors; - the ability of the sector to sustain and increase its activities under adverse conditions.

The significant characteristics of the cultural sector are:

- a significant proportion of independent/self-employed workers; - a significant proportion of not-for-profit organizations; - a significant proportion of independent organizations, most of them small by corporate standards; - a significant proportion of volunteers; - low remuneration for a highly educated workforce; - the absence of clearly defined career paths; - a highly diversified cultural offering (goods and services)

Against this background, the development of policies that speak to the life chances as well as challenges characterizing the current situation of the creative labour force seem all the more necessary. Yet, to our knowledge, there currently exists no comprehensive/ systematic body of policy intelligence about trends in creative labour or policies to ease labour force adjustment. Such a goal is worth pursuing. Just as creativity is becoming the dominant paradigm for the whole world of work (not just for the creative industries), the policies for creative labour today will serve as vanguard for most labour and social policies of the future. The remaining two sections of this chapter attempt to map a fairly extensive taxonomy of creative work in Canada based on evidence available.

Searching for the wellsprings of creative innovation The Creative Europe Report argued for a complete change of paradigm in understanding the nature of creativity governance, which switches focus away from the sole person, creative worker, or creative institution, and onto the collective traits or changing processes of creativity at work. It is an imperative call for academics to which policy researchers and arts advocates must respond (www.creativeeurope.info). Again, there is a stunning lack of empirical work on the actual nature of creative innovation in the core or ancillary creative sectors in Canada and around the world. However, some early conceptual work (Crossick, 2006) suggests a fundamental difference in how knowledge is constituted. This constructivist view rejects simple models of knowledge or technology transfer, turning instead to the mode of innovation which requires face to face creative conversations, small scale venues and proximity to a community of practice. Work on Creative Clusters (Panos, in the 2004 Creative London Report) cites the importance of diverse ecologies of small businesses, individual artists and hobbyists in urban environments, and the importance in cultural planning to maintain affordable

21 live/work space. Rents need to be controlled so that artists are not increasingly forced out of city centres and public, moveable space needs to be protected for rehearsing, and creative hubs for enabling the mix of skills and exchange necessary to refuel the muse. Clearly, attention to the physical conditions of artistic and creative spaces is moving to the top of policy agendas (Federation of Canadian Municipalities has founded a huge cultural infrastructure gap 2008 see www.cultureandcommunties.ca). Even more contested is the nature of the relationship between cultural practice and intellectual property. If you will remember, a core tenet of the creative economy world view is that it turns on the exploitation of intellectual property (UK, Singapore, Australia). Surprisingly, given the popular dissemination of his views, Richard Floridas definition of the creative class is silent on the role that intellectual property plays in constituting the creative class. In a study of the craft industry in Australia, Ned Rossiter suggests the everyday experience of artists is in fact alienation from the regime of intellectual property: few own title to their own work. Individual workers or workers in small enterprises, which characterize most of the sector, rarely are beneficiaries of intellectual property agreements. Indeed, the skills to negotiate such agreements, or the desire to do so, vary significantly. Many artists oppose the vertical, hierarchical and commercialized regime of intellectual property and do not see it relevant to their small scale production. By contrast, arguments like the International Laboiur Organizations emphasize that the social status of performing artist occupations could be transformed through more systematic use of model contracts and that legal standards concerning intellectual property rights cannot be set aside. Indeed, workers organizations in the performing arts are trying to ensure greater exploitation of ancillary rights for live performers, in video, sound recording and other means (ILO, 2004), after being the major victim in the decline of public arts funding around the world. Greater attention must be given to the role of intellectual property in the workplace and the status it holds as the legal and social architecture governing the conditions of creative production, job satisfaction, employer-employee relations and creative life in general, and for its distributive effects. Arguably, intellectual property claim is less important than entrepreneurial negotiation and execution, as the Canadian tale of the Blackberry with RIIM indicates. The creator, performer and cultural worker of the new millennium are increasingly in need of multi-disciplinary competencies which are not directly related to the artistic discipline or to the cultural work, but rather those competencies which round out the tool box of skills, among them business skills, possessed by workers in the sector. To succeed and take an active role in the new economy, cultural workers must develop, parallel to their professional skills, general and career management competencies (Facing the Future, 2002). These include the ability to understand and negotiate contracts, to actively network, to assess ones progress and review ones goals (Harvey, 2002). Countries are increasingly addressing the network of education, training and other career supports needed for individual creators. Also important is attention to the capacities of associations and career networks to access the skill development that creative labourers need. Figure 3 demonstrates an interesting way to conceptualize how individual careers move through the cultural infrastructure.

22 Figure 3: Individual careers and the cultural infrastructure

Source: Creative Economy Infrastructure Report, provided by the UKs Creative Economy Programme (found at: www.cep.culture.gov.uk)

The casual labour force The emergence of networked technologies has led to a new sociality in the informal, networked cultures of creative production. Crowd-sourcing is increasingly a feature of cultural supply, drawn from Myspace, Youtube, or the hopefuls auditioning in new reality show format TV production. From the early work of economists Baumol and Bowen or cultural theorist Bourdieu, the existence of a large, amateur labour pool which will work for free has worked to keep cultural wages down. The shift to the networked knowledge economy has carried with it fundamental challenges to conventional guild/union/professional organization, according to Manuel Castells:
... with the acceleration of the work process [enabled by new ICTs], workers defense continues to be a fundamental issue: they cannot count on their employers. The problem is that the individualization of management/worker relationships makes the use of traditional forms of defense, in terms of collective bargaining and trade union-led struggles, very difficult except in the public sector. Unions are realizing this and finding new forms of pressure, sometimes in the form of consumer boycotts to press for social justice and human rights. Also, individual explosions of violence by defenseless workers could be considered forms of resistance. (Castells & Ince, 2003, p.29)

Certainly, unpaid work is characteristic of a range of cultural producers, from the young woman like Feist, the Canadian singer and 2008 Grammy winner who jams as back up for free in local pubs, the local hobbyist who plays for friends to the volunteer accountant who serves on the arts board. Ulrich Beck identifies a nexus between those who work

23 for themselves a mode of coordination he attributes to life-aesthetes in particular and their desire for self-development. He goes on to suggest that such dispositions lend themselves to self-exploitation: People are prepared to do a great deal for very little money, precisely because economic advantage is individualistically refracted and even assigned an opposite value. If an activity has greater value in terms of identity and self-fulfilment, this makes up for and even exalts a lower level of income (2000, p. 150). Voluntary and service labour by many artists within the cultural sector would also fit this condition of self-exploitation. Capturing the extent and contribution of this voluntary unpaid labour force is important for its value added to the cultural economy. Stated the CHRDC (2002):
The extensive use of volunteers in the cultural sector, while indispensable in the context of a resource crunch, acts as a double-edged sword, contributing both to stability and instability within the sector. One of the most serious problems with volunteerism in the sector identified by many respondents is the contention that volunteers are often given jobs that should properly go to paid workers. Not only does this decrease employment opportunities for cultural workers, but it leads to an undervaluing of those jobs and a dilution of the professionalism attached to them.

Both the Canadian and the European cultural statistics do not account for the contributions of non-profit work and volunteer work or charity activities. Thus, the socalled grey or social economy whose creative input might be considered particularly valuable exactly because it is not primarily directed towards monetary gain is currently not included in reflections on policies for the arts and culture sector. Yet there is an emerging awareness internationally that the complexities surrounding culture and creativity cannot be adequately measured by only referring to GDP and employment numbers and improved statistical methods are researched (The economy of culture in Europe, 2006 and www.worldvolunteerweb.org). The International Labour Office (ILO) has targeted the development of a system of metrics to measure this hidden sector and its contribution to economic productivity by 200910. The contribution of volunteer work is increasingly recognised by policy-makers as essential for the well-being of any society, but up to date there is shortfall in measurable data on its volume, value and characteristics. Currently, only the volunteer work that leads to the production of goods or to the production of services for market enterprises or for non-profit enterprises operating in the market (e.g. some schools and hospitals) are considered. In contrast, a model which emphasizes the social economy can be found in Appendix D. Conclusion This chapter offered an introduction to the concept of the creative economy. First, we described the cultural turn which is taking place in the economies of industrialized countries and regions around the world. The creative industries sector has a pivotal role by influencing all other sectors in this transition from production-focused economies to economies of meaning oriented towards branding and marketing. We then moved on to current creative economy thinking as it is expressed in a variety of policy papers. The
10

ILO: leading a manual drive to standardize measurement by Dec 2008-02-12 http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/browse/volunteering-issues/volunteering-research/doc/ilo-notes-theimportance.html

24 UK and Australia turn out to be among the most pro-active governments in mapping and conceptualizing policies for their creative sectors. These countries mirror the general tendency of policy-makers to take a heavily instrumental approach towards culture and creativity, using it as a means of national branding but mostly as a tool to raise the GDP. Subsequently, we discussed various definitions and models of the creative economy, favouring David Throsbys model of concentric circles. His model represents core creative arts, cultural, and wider cultural industries and thus is broadly consistent with the cultural value chain. We then broadened the definition of economy to include the social economy and we define creativity to include the heritage sector but to exclude disciplines that are only remotely related to creative processes such as software applications. In a conceptual move from creative economy to creative ecology, we stressed the importance of the local and mostly urban environment in which the creative industries are situated. An inspiring urban cultural milieu with affordable housing and visible as well as invisible cultural infrastructure is considered a vital component of a reworked creative economy concept. Despite different conceptions and measurements, the creative economy is regarded by a growing number of countries 20 of which are explored in chapters II and III of this study as an important emerging policy field. One of the principal shortcomings has been a lack of attention to the changing nature of creative work, and the measures which foster it. The creative labour force is at the heart of the functioning of the creative economy but experiences unusually high degrees of social and income insecurity, expected flexibility and (self)-exploitation potential inhibitions to the creative process which are not addressed in current policy frameworks for the creative economy.

25

Chapter II: Mapping Creative Labour in Canada

Table of contents Abstract Introduction Mapping the cultural labour force in Canada Income portrait Collective organization of Canadas cultural labour force The creative casual labour force in Canada The organizational context of the creative/not-for-profit cultural enterprise sector The nature of the creative enterprise Conclusion Tables Table 2 Characteristics of culture workers in Canada Table 3 Comparative Incomes of Cultural Workers in Canada

26 Despite the general assumption that the knowledge economy will produce a labour force which resembles the cultural sector in its core characteristics, knowledge gaps concerning creative labour remain. How do countries map their creative workers? There is still little standardisation in measuring part time or self-employed workers around the world. In Canada, the last major intensive survey of the sector was conducted in 1993, and since then there has been a fundamental shift in best practices in ways to design such creative labour studies. The culture-based sector is both big and complex. The consensus among experts is that it is also under-documented, and under-represented in Canadian official statistics and labour market studies, many of which are founded on economic theories from the 1960s. If the casual voluntary workers are included, the cultural sector contributes over $6 billion to the GDP a much larger share than traditional figures hint. According to the partial maps that exist, high numbers of self-employment are not the only anomaly of the creative labour force in comparison to other economic sectors. As both the EU and the Canadian statistics demonstrate, creative labourers are not only better educated than the rest of the labour force but earn less than people in other professions who hold university degrees. Creative labourers both score incomparably high in holding temporary jobs as well as multiple jobs to make a living. However, official documents in Canada and Europe fail to map the incredibly diverse and differentiated work styles and employment situations of creative labourers in their entirety. Despite a lack of current comprehensive studies of the sociological structure of Canadas creative labour, is clear that there are sharp differences in status, training, credentials and the degree of licensed autonomy or professional independence obtained by various categories of Canadian cultural workers rigidities which are emerging even as there is an increasing fluidity in job overlaps and job mobility. Such paradoxes suggest problems in the existing system of creative labour force adjustment, necessitating new thinking about the design of appropriate policy measures to harness sustainable economic growth and promote well-being. The strong shift away from more traditional to informal forms of employment in the performing arts as a bellweather for other sectors in the creative economy is felt around the world, including China and the Russian Federation (ILO, 2004). The International Labour Office argues that this major shift in the composition of the sector leads to workers accepting contracts with lower conditions and poorer conditions than in the past. There is an urgent need for comprehensive, in-depth study of cultural workers to identify these and other factors that may present barriers in access to the means of creative expression. Finally, a preliminary benchmark study of the arts and cultural not-for-profit organizations and creative enterprises shows they have little or no capacity to participate in intensive policy monitoring or independent public policy analysis and therefore are unlikely to be of direct relevance to any empirical discussion on the cultural economy. Furthermore, their

27 size and lack of sustaining core resources often limits their capacity to innovate with policies that address the difficulties facing their members. Few can offer pension or other services, for example, for the more ephemeral of cultural workers. Among the many supply and demand side barriers facing creative entrepreneurs starting up their own businesses which have been identified around the world, the universal failing would seem to be in accessing adequate venture capital, or financing in very early stages of creation. Mapping the cultural labour force in Canada Jurisdiction for labour resides mostly at the provincial level in Canada but is shared. Since 1995, the Canadian Cultural Resources Council (supported by Human Resources Development Canada or HRDC) has worked to monitor and strengthen the cultural labour force, and has led or advised on most mapping exercises.11 Despite over 15 years of effort, there is still no standardization in measurement of the Canadian cultural jobs that are non-traditional.12 In a recent release of its labour force survey, Statistics Canada estimated the formal cultural sector, (defined also inexplicably to include information and recreation) at 768,000 jobs defined based on the content of the work, posting a small monthly decline (-26,000 jobs)13. By contrast, data from the fuller 2001 census data suggested about 516,000 jobs (or 3.1% of the total) for culture alone (Canadian Cultural Human Resources Council, 2004 Canadas Cultural Sector Labour Force14). The incidence of the inner core of sound, form, writing and movement disciplines is just under 1% or about 130,000. In general, early mapping exercises in Canada used narrower definitions of the field and found unimpressive rates of growth in the late 1990s, compared to the UK, and thus apparently provided little pressure for setting the policy agenda for creative industry development. After an initial quick start in identifying the need to redesign its cultural statistics in a specially targeted cultural labour force survey in 1994-1995 (Provonost, 2002), Canadian statistical measurement has fallen behind other countries in the relevance, reliability and timeliness of its reporting on the cultural labour force. Much data is more than 5 years out of date. The culture-based sector is both big and complex. The consensus among experts is that it is also under-documented, and underrepresented in Canadian official statistics and labour market studies, many of which are founded on economic theories from the 1960s. This makes developing a strategy for this sector, while important, also difficult.

11 12

The CCHRC develops and provides internship programs, career development tools, and cultureworks, a job fair. The Canadian Conference of the Arts, Canada Council and Statistics Canada collaborated on a substantive job definition of some 45 occupations, but often more than 90 are in use in other countries. See a discussion of methodology at http://www.culturalhrc.ca/research/G738_CHRC_AnnexA_intro_E.pdf. Not only will the season in which the Census is collected (a shoulder period for the arts) suppress estimates, the focus on the job most often excludes multiple part time jobs. 13 http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080208/d080208a.htm 14 http://www.culturalhrc.ca/research/G738_CHRC_AnnexA_intro_E.pdf

28 Yet, from these partial statistics, we can still identify some clear characteristics with respect to the creative sector as compared to other economic sectors. First, in terms of types of employment, self-employment in the cultural sector is significantly higher than in the economy as a whole (in Europe 29 % versus 14%, in Canada 25 % versus 16%, according to two official documents: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, and Economic contribution of culture in Canada, 2004). The creative sector is also growing more quickly than other sectors. High numbers of self-employment are not the only anomaly of the creative labour force in comparison to other economic sectors. As both the EU and the Canadian statistics demonstrate, creative labourers are not only better educated than the rest of the labour force but earn less than people in other professions who hold university degrees. For example, 47% of creative workers in Europe have post-secondary education compared to just 26% of the overall work force (The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.88). They also work more often in part-time jobs (see Table 2). The precariousness and insecurity that characterize the work lives of creative labourers are more accurately mirrored in the EU document since it explicitly accounts for temporary employment situations and traces the phenomenon of one person holding multiple jobs at the same time. Contrasting these statistics with the European work force as a whole, the document illustrates that creative labourers both score incomparably high in holding temporary jobs as well as multiple jobs to make a living. However, both official documents fail to map the incredibly diverse and differentiated work styles and employment situations of creative labourers in their entirety. Furthermore, as Table 2 demonstrates, the myth of the public sector/supported artist is dead in Canada as presented in the official statistics. Most culture-based workers work in the private sector, and apparently just 5% work in the public sector (although since Statistics Canada would count a musician also supported by teaching in the other sector, the important role of post-secondary institutions in supporting cultural workers is suppressed). Yet the contribution of training, arts schools and culture labs is increasingly a focus of the creative industry/cluster economists. The clear conclusion from this imperfect map is that self-driven career work is a mainstay in Canadas cultural field, where artists, dancers and other workers are three times more likely to be selfemployed. The incidence is higher in some creative occupations: painters and visual artists, for example, are mostly self-employed (over 67%). Full time employment may be harder to get or strategic underemployment a small price to pay for ones passion.

29 Table 2: Characteristics of culture workers in Canada (percentages of total work force) Full Time Culture Workers (average 1996-2002) Unemployed Culture Workers (averaged) Employed Culture Workers in private sector (averaged) Employed Culture Workers in public sector (averaged) Self-Employed Culture Workers (averaged) 78 versus 81 non-Culture 6 5 versus 8 non-Culture versus 19 71 versus 65 25 versus 16

Source: Focus on Culture. Quarterly Bulletin from the Culture Statistics Programme (2004) Based on 48 15 occupations classified as cultural workers in the Labour Force Survey.

Income portrait Highly developed skills, education, versatility and flexibility, then, do not necessarily convert into economic reward, as innovation in art, science and technology demonstrates. Culture workers in Canada post average employment incomes which are lower than other workers (at around $30,000 in 2000) and incomes grew more slowly (1995-2000). However, relative income growth was higher for certain core cultural producers than support occupations, especially accruing to painters, and other visual artists who were the farthest behind, and still remain so. There were no cultural occupations in the top quartile of Canadian earners in 1995 or 2000. Nor are there studies of incidence of artists below low income cut off lines. However, median salary information challenges the image of the underpaid worker, especially in Ottawa Hull and Toronto, and across many of the sub-disciplines. The emerging data suggest that the myth of the starving artist in the atelier also has to be set aside in Canada the picture is much more stratified and complex than supposed. The highest paid culture-based occupations are architects, producers, directors and choreographers. Workers in performing and visual arts occupations involving creation, such as dancers, artisans, craftspersons, musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, and other visual artists had incomes that were well below average for the cultural labour

15

Although it has a large sample size (over 50,000 households), the reliability of the estimates about culture occupations in the Labour Force Survey is limited, as is the occupational breakdown available, and its numbers typically, and predictably, differ from Census estimates. Data from the Labour Force Survey are not cited by many for this reason (Terry Cheney, http://www.culturalhrc.ca/research/CHRC_Cultural_Sector_Fast_Stats_2004-en.pdf). The Culture Labour Force Survey was a one-time survey addressing a population of about 150,000 people identified as working in creative cultural occupations (visual artists, actors, musicians, etc.) to explore their working conditions, education and training, income and finances. The sample size was just over 5,000. It is more comprehensive than most census or generic Labour Force studies, but has not been replicated and enhanced since.

30 force (2004). When combined, the median income for cultural workers ($31,149) is close to the Canadian average ($32,123). Table 3 Comparative Incomes of Cultural Workers in Canada (2000) Average Cultural Income $31,149 versus versus versus $32,123 average $43,298 average $19,067 average

Average FT Cultural Income $40,060 Average PT Cultural Income $19,506 Core Cultural Sector Incomes (Overall) Creative and Artistic Production Heritage Collection and Preservation Management Technical and Operation Occupations Manufacturing support

$28,786 $34, 639 $49,370 $30, 047 $29, 970

Source: Focus on Culture, Quarterly Bulletin from the Culture Statistics Programme (2004) Vol 15, No. 2, Table 1.

Interestingly, gender balance is more representative in the cultural occupations. While women cultural workers still make less than their male counterparts, the gap is narrower. Data on visible minorities or breakdown by ethnocultural origin are not available. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify comparative degrees of income stratification within Canada, or compared to Europe from the existing data. Yet speculative evidence from qualitative surveys over a decade ago suggests that the more extensive public sector support in Canada where artists work in arts schools or for public institutions makes income differences from the general labour force smaller than some countries, like the US. Certainly, agglomerative effects differ. Montreal is lagging behind other cities when it comes to culture-related jobs, according to a new study released in the summer of 2007 by Statistics Canada. Over a 20-year period, the big growth has been in the West, and, as a result, Montreal has fallen behind in the rankings. Vancouver tops the list with the biggest cultural share of the workforce. Toronto is second, followed by Victoria and then Montral.16

16

Statistics Canada (2004). Census Metropolitan Areas as Culture Clusters. In Trends and Conditions in Census Metropolitan Areas. 89-613-MWE.

31 Sharp regional variations thus are commonplace in Canada, and the data on location of cultural workers confirm sharp agglomeration effects. Rural incidence of cultural employment is lower overall than in other sectors, and more likely to be part time, but growing more quickly than other areas, possibly due to displacement/cost of living and other factors in urban areas. Heritage and visual arts workers are much more likely to gravitate to rural areas in Canada. In general, Canadas three largest cities Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver lead in the number of cultural workers, accounting for 64% which is much higher than clusters of other workers would seem to suggest. Enrolment in universities, colleges and trade schools for creative professions is also much higher. Not measured in the full time category is hours of work. Long hours are known to be associated with the creative industries, yet are not regulated in most cultural professions. As mentioned above, also unavailable are poverty or low income cut off rates for cultural workers, important in consideration of underrepresented populations such as aboriginal or other visible minority groups. In their 2002 survey of the cultural sector, the Canadian Human Resources Councils report Facing the Future found:
Creators, performers and cultural workers across all sub-sectors and disciplines are experiencing insecurity and instability in their employment and independent/contract work. The problem manifests in a variety of ways: the decline in available full-time and permanent jobs, the transitoriness [sic] of employment/engagement, the need to secure and balance multiple jobs to make a reasonable living, systemic barriers for the selfemployed, the absence of a social safety net, and wholly inadequate remuneration. For individuals in the cultural sector whether contractual or full-time employees and whether working in the for-profit or not-for-profit sectors working conditions appear to be very difficult, characterized to a large degree by: poverty level pay ; excessively heavy workloads; lack of full-time work; overwork; high performance expectations despite insufficient training and support; the requirement to multi-function, leading to poorer quality work and crisis management; lack of opportunities for advancement; lack of security and benefits; devaluation by boards, employers, government and the general public;
17

17

Documented from qualitative interviews.

32 The Facing the Future study confirmed that creators and cultural workers who are disadvantaged, marginalized or isolated in Canada include:
1. aboriginal and visible minority cultural communities; 2. linguistic minorities, including French outside Qubec; 3. the geographically isolated (rural, Northern); 4. workers in smaller organizations and enterprises; 5. youth.

This survey of techniques to map the creative labour sector shows there are serious problems of categorization, given the blurring of practices. Phyllida Shaw in her metaanalysis of research into artists working lives, conducted for the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (2004) suggests amount of time, income and membership should be the main criteria of delineation. Certainly the Canadian Labour Force categories do not capture the complexity of artists working lives. For example, economist David Throsbys work in Australian occupational mapping has found over 130 categories. In addition, the Australian Council has suggested the Australian labour force survey routinely suppresses about 2/3rd of the creative labour force. In general, countries have found that the information from self-selected professional organizations who survey their own members is more relevant and reliable. Ruth Towse and Summerton (Shaw, 2004) argue that multiple job holding is a choice rather than a compromise for many artists, speaking to an underlying multidisciplinarity in thinking and practice. Few studies pursue the cultural labour market over as long a term as Australia with the work by David Throsby, and few probe underlying issues of choice or time spent in various artistic and other occupations to understand the artistic life-cycle. While there has been no study of the sociological structure of Canadas creative labour force, it is clear that there are sharp differences in status, training, credentials and the degree of licensed autonomy or professional independence obtained rigidities which are emerging even as there is an increasing fluidity in job overlaps and job mobility. Such paradoxes suggest problems in the existing system of creative labour force adjustment. The strong shift away from more traditional to informal forms of employment in the performing arts is felt around the world, including China and the Russian Federation (ILO, 2004). The ILO argues that this major shift in the composition of the sector leads to workers accepting contracts with lower conditions and poorer conditions than in the past. There is an urgent need for comprehensive, in-depth study of cultural workers to identify these and other factors that may present barriers in access to the means of creative expression.

33 Collective organization of Canadas cultural labour force Similarly, no data yet exist on the degree of collective unionization or membership in professional/disciplinary associations in Canada. However, high levels of formal education compared to other workers suggest either a tendency to self-employment as a mode of work, or to gravitate voluntarily to professional associations or affinity interest groups, which may or may not have formal policies. Certainly, some unions have been more accommodative of the trend in a knowledge-based economy away from hierarchical forms of learning and practice embedded in organizations to an intellectual style that is oriented toward speculation, projection, expression and innovation (Christopherson, 2004). Recognition and accreditation of new skills is increasingly problematic for a lone individual negotiating with clients. Other studies of this sector suggest thick associative networks are emerging as well as increasingly global links. Uncertain career paths and the need to continually invest in acquiring new skills propel a demand for the formation of these new organizations. Yet evidence from economists like Richard Caves (Creative Industries, 2000) continues to suggest a discount factor in such non-union/non-guild labour formations: estimated between 30 to 35% of production costs can be saved by operating a non-union project in film, for example. New cooperation across unionized sectors are increasingly important to bargain against runaway labour pressures (in BCs Film Industry, for example). Certainly, the recent strike of the screenwriters guild in the US, combined with rotating strikes of creative workers in France in 2003-2004 or at ITV in 2004 in the UK suggest strike action is a sign of growing disputes over the adjustments of the creative labour economy. The casual creative labour force in Canada The creative labour pool is supported by amateurs and volunteers who enable it: termed for this report as the casual creative labour force, or understood to be part of the social economy. In Canada, a voluntary participation rate of 3% of all Canadians in arts and culture has been found (placing it 7th in ranking among likely activities).18 Arts, heritage and culture volunteers on average donate more of their time: 120 hours a year (or 4th among other sectors like health overall). The projected total in the volunteer cultural work force then is about 782,790 volunteer workers. In short, for every above the line full or part time job in the cultural economy there is one below the line19. The Canadian Cultural Human Resources Council has consistently found a shrinking pool of volunteers since 2000 (Face of the Future, 2002, Cheney, 2004).20 As expected, there are sharply different projections on how to monetize this contribution. The Satellite Account report issued by Statistics Canada values volunteer work overall at $14 billion or 1.4% of the GDP (Catalogue no. 13-015-XIE, 29). Culture and recreation utilised the most volunteers in 2000, representing an estimated value of $3.6 billion in replacement labour costs-18
19

See the Canadian 2004 Survey on Giving, Volunteership and Participation (CSGVP). http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2007/statcan/13-015-X/13-015-XIE2007000.pdf 20 The best source is the 4th edition of Statistics Canadas Satellite Account of Nonprofit Institutions and Volunteering (1997-2004). See http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2007/statcan/13-015-X/13-015XIE2007000.pdf. It is one of the longest tracked by any nation, based on UN standards. It owes its existence to the Voluntary Sector Initiative begun during the Chrtien period.

34 more than double the standard estimate of the Cultural GDP-- and accounting for 64% of its total value of labour services (ibid), the highest in any core non-profit sector. If the casual voluntary workers are included, the cultural sector contributes over $6 billion to the GDP a much larger amount than traditional figures hint.

The organizational context of the creative/not-for-profit cultural enterprise sector21 It is widely accepted that one of the main characteristics of the creative economy is that it is characterized by a significant proportion of not-for-profit organizations; most of them small by corporate standards. Canadian scholars of governance have been among the first to adopt the proposition that a crucial factor influencing how well countries respond to globalizing processes is the nature of the relations with civil society actors (Gattinger, 2005). By way of context, it is important to explore how civil society itself is conceptualized, shaped and mobilized in Canada. In a recent review of the Canadian policy system and civil society, Susan Phillips defines a broad and inclusive concept of the voluntary and non-profit sector in Canada as the aggregation of organizations that:
exist to serve a public benefit, are self-governing, do not distribute any profits to members, and depend to a meaningful degree on volunteers. Membership or involvement in these organizations is not compulsory, and they are independent of, and institutionally distinct from, the formal structures of government and the private sector. Although many voluntary sector organizations rely on paid staff to carry out their work, all depend on volunteers, at least on their boards of directors (Phillips, 2007).

Much of the scope for civil society is created by government. While the overall voluntary sector in Canada is apparently large, it is generally accepted in policy circles that Canada has a relatively underdeveloped infrastructure in civil society, largely a result of the peculiarly low value that policy makers, and parts of the voluntary sector, place on infrastructure organizations (Phillips, 2005). Indeed, Canada is one of the few democratic countries in which the peak infrastructure organizations that represent crosssectoral interests do not receive substantial core funding from either governments or foundations. Measuring the degree of institutional development in the not-for-profit or voluntary civil society sector around the world presents difficult issues for analysts.22 There has been
21

Catherine Murray, 2006. Cultural Diversity and Civil Society in Canada. A Briefing Paper Prepared as a Part of a North American Consultation for the 2nd UNESCO World Cultural Diversity Report. 22 The International Classification of Nonprofit Organizations (ICNPO) developed by the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project is in wide use. It includes: Media and communications. Production and dissemination of information and communications. Includes radio and TV stations; publishing of books, journals, newspapers and newsletters; film production; and libraries; Visual arts, architecture, ceramic art. Production, dissemination and display of visual art and architecture. Includes sculpture, photographic societies, painting, drawing, design centres and architectural associations; Performing arts. Performing arts centres, companies and associations. Includes theatre, dance, ballet and opera companies; orchestras; and choral and music ensembles; Historical, literary and humanistic societies. Promotion and appreciation of the humanities, preservation of historical and cultural artefacts, and commemoration of historical events. Includes historical societies, poetry and literary societies, language associations, reading promotion societies, war memorials; and commemorative funds and

35 limited study of non-profit organizations (NPO) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and even less analysis of the cultural NPOs. Recently, the non-profit organization Americans for the Arts carried out a first-of-its-kind study on the contribution that nonprofit arts and cultural institutions make to the economy, coming up with $29.6 billion US dollars in tax revenues for America, supplying 3.1 million full-time equivalent jobs (The economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences, 2007)23. With the release of Statistics Canadas Satellite Account of Non-profit institutions and Volunteering in 2007, the significance of the contribution of NPOs is slowly becoming more known. Non-profits contribute almost $30 billion to the Canadian GDP excluding universities, colleges and hospitals 11% of which (or just over $3 billion) is driven by the culture and recreation sector. That share has remained stable since 1997, showing only small softening. The comparative benchmark study of this sector comes from another source at Statistics Canada.24 To begin, the (large) central core of organizations that constitute the Canadian voluntary/nonprofit sector in Canada estimated to be the 2nd largest in the world is comprised of over 160,000 organizations of which approximately one in two are charities registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). This is a status that enables them to issue tax receipts for donations and that makes them subject to federal regulations that no more than 10% of their activities be directed to policy advocacy. These organizations work in a wide array of policy fields, with some 9% or 13,000 organizations in arts and culture, representing a significantly greater number than education or health, but less than social services and considerably less than sports. However, arts and culture CSOs are sharply divided between the very few large organizations and a multitude of very small ones. The study also allows some insight into their activities. Compared to other sectors of civil society, most arts and culture organizations (55%) direct their activities to local constituencies, 22% to regional ones, 9% to provincial, 3% to national constituencies and the remaining 8% to international ones: the incidence of organizations with international focus is second only to the post-secondary sector, for example. Arts and culture organizations are more likely than others to report problems associated with financial issues, their ability to engage volunteers, difficulty planning for the future and lack of internal capacity as problems. It is not possible to get a breakdown of the proportion of arts and culture organizations representing independent producers, unions, distributors or other stages of the creative cycle of production. Nor is it possible to determine how many are multidisciplinary, how many are coalitions, or what resources and functions they may serve. In addition, there are many hybrid organizations that have characteristics of public or private as well as voluntary sector bodies. For instance, business or labor entities often gather in associations with not-for- profit status.
associations; Museums. General and specialized museums covering art, history, sciences, technology and culture and Zoos and aquariums. Includes zoos and aquariums. 23 No information on GDP supplied in the study as non-profit contribution is obviously not considered a regular contribution to the GDP. 24 Statistics Canada (2004). Cornerstones of Community. Highlights of the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations. Catalogue no. 61-533-XIE.

36 While overall revenues for all CSOs in 2003 are known to be $3,427 million, arts organizations account for just 3% of all revenues. The average per organization is $248,000 compared to $1.2 million for business or professional organizations. One fifth or 21% of the total are younger than 10 years old, suggesting a rate of growth in the not for profit cultural enterprises second only to the environment. Full counts of the number of creative enterprises are difficult to obtain. CCHRCs Cultural Sector Fast Stats (Cheney, 2004) found 625 performing arts organizations in Canada, for example, and among them, In general, the Heritage sector has been found to have the highest number of creative enterprises (2,300) and one of the best infrastructures for professional organization, training and accreditation. Yet just 15% of its 70,000 workforce was fulltime, facing it with enormous transaction costs in coordinating a volunteer workforce with high turnover. Qualitatively, even less is known about these organizations and their human resource policies, internal allocation of resources, or policies with respect to research and development. The one exception is the new media sector which has attracted interest in the study of clusters of innovation in Canada (Gertler, 2005). CHRCs 2002 Face to the Future identified the following issues from a qualitative survey of over 180 managers, owners and professionals in the core creative sector:
1. The weak culture of human resources 2. Lack of awareness of structural change in the economy 3. Employment status 4. Recruitment and retention 5. Access to training 6. Demand for new competencies

The sector also shares with most of the economy concerns relating to:
- aging workforce and especially a trend away from cultural occupations amongst youth; - an aging marketplace; and softening of patterns of volunteer participation; - an increasingly diverse population and lower employment rates among visible minorities in culture-based occupations; - the presence of global markets; - global competition; and - strong impacts of digital technology.

How do these enterprises, then, respond with services to aid their members to meet these challenges? Many in traditional disciplines, and particularly those registered as charities

37 start out with a primary mission to provide services. However, less well understood is how many provide services (and of what type) to their members (eg. the Directors Guild which provides a pension plan for its members), or resources such as an information clearing house (for example, one service provided by the Alliance for Arts and Culture in Vancouver) or additional environmental scanning or policy analysis (for example, the Creative Cities Network for municipal cultural planners).25 Anecdotal evidence suggests most of these organizations can provide no benefits, or pension or other packages above the minimum statutory requirements for the workers they represent. For the average actor in Quebec, who was able to get 9 weeks work, it would be difficult to be eligible for unemployment insurance from either the state or from the local guild. One final dimension of organizational development is policy capacity. There may be several levels of participation in policy: monitoring, news services, information brokering, consultation, independent research, and policy analysis. An important factor is to assess is capacity for creative enterprises to monitor, participate in or formulate public policies. There is no survey of the number of positions earmarked for policy coordination among cultural organizations. The position of a government relations officer or policy analyst is usually either grafted onto the role of the executive director (as it is in the CFTPA, for example) or added as an after thought. A recent survey of Canadian voluntary organizations working in health, which include some of the better resourced and most policy conscious organizations in the sector, attests to the limited human resources dedicated to policy work. Only 16 percent of provincial and national health organizations had paid staff devoted to policy development or government relations (Phillips, 2007). The incidence is likely much lower in culture. We can conclude that many NPOs of the arts and culture sector thus have little or no capacity to participate in intensive policy monitoring or independent public policy analysis and therefore are unlikely to be of direct relevance to any empirical discussion on the cultural economy. The nature of the creative enterprise The turn to a policy preoccupation with creative economy has focused at the private enterprise level, and attracted growing attention to start up, cluster and innovation policy subfields (Quick scan of national policies for creative industries, 2007). Increasingly, policy regimes are paying critical attention to the organizational capacity of creative enterprises to develop typologies of services from them needed (ranging from inspiration and influence to support and guidance to access to markets to peer learning). Such needs driven service portfolios begin with surveys of the micro-enterprises, design services for them, and involve them in the evaluation of the design. Business service centers set up
25

A range of services for members may include: Accounting services. Audio and web conferencing, E-commerce products. E-philanthropy tools. Group insurance benefits. Merchant credit card rates. Bulk rates for Office supplies. Promotional materials are just several of those that may be offered.

38 for the new economy in general are increasingly providing advice and information about start-ups. The Canada-Ontario Business Centre, for example has an Arts and Artists Info Guide which, like Sodecs is unique across Canada. The major focus among countries with any sort of policy framework on the creative economy seems to be on fostering entrepreneurialism and new business start ups, and especially addressing the gap between invention and creation and the rate of conversion of ideas into tangible, commodifiable assets. The review of Nordic policies26 is the best at summarizing the mix of structural and cultural barriers to growth that include supply and demand side factors:
- Supply-side: Underdeveloped entrepreneurial and management skills, insufficient knowledge of intellectual property issues (and thus diminished confidence), weak supply chains (inside and outside the Creative Industries), and a degree of failure in the finance/investment market for early stage and small creative firms - Demand-side: Under-exploited local markets for creative goods and services, not least for firms across the wider economy; and under-developed Creative Industries export markets. In addition, labour market demand to live and work in the Creative Industries of the Nordic Region is far less than in those global creative capitals such as London and New York, or global creative regions such as California.

Remedies highlighted tend to include business acceleration models, targeted investment, and specialist intellectual property services, as a key means to grow creative businesses. The focus is on building out the existing support structure, much of which is locally oriented, to broker a coherent and connected landscape of support across economic regions. The Creative Policy Map (see Appendix B) from the Nordic green paper on the creative economy is a typical and elegant example of such an approach. Interestingly, there is fragmented attention to the human resource policies of such creative enterprises in all except the business press. New awards for best employers or other such status are entering into the promotional lexicon of entrepreneurship, changing the nature of how people think about managing creative workers. While the trend to interdisciplinary innovation teams within firms appears to broaden the ambit for the participation of artists or other of the core disciplines in innovation and design in business, this study has turned up little systematic evaluation of how the changing nature of creative work is affecting the creative enterprise. But interest is growing. Finally, an excellent quick scan of national policies produced by the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam confirms the Nordic finding (2007), arguing the universal oversight in many countries is the inability to broker larger pools of venture capital, or better interface between financial institutions and investment in pre-market innovation, or the early stages of creative development.

26

See A creative economy green paper for the Nordic region (2007).

39 Conclusion In this chapter, we have highlighted that the statistical tools to map the creative labour force are inadequate in Canada and around the world. This, of course, has consequences for the policies imagined by states and regions interested in the creative economy (which we will explore in detail in the following chapter). For example, regular employment as well as self-employment in the creative sector is included in statistics but there is no acknowledgement of self-employed workers in policies based on these statistical categories (at least, not as far as social security policies are concerned). Moreover, creative labourers who hold multiple jobs or those who earn more from a noncultural occupation than from a cultural one do not yet have a place most statistics. Thus, the incredible diversity and also the precariousness of life and work styles typical for the creative labour force are not taken into account. In addition, the frequently informal and unstable employment situations of creative workers result in difficulties when it comes to unionization and collective bargaining which have not yet been addressed holistically by policy-makers. Another problematic one encounters when mapping creative labour through available studies is the exclusion of the casual labour force. Thus, the considerable contribution of those voluntary or amateur workers to the creative economy is not recognized. Furthermore, a significant number of creative enterprises are not-for-profit organizations and the general lack of knowledge about the non-profit-sector makes it challenging to assess the organizational capacities of cultural non-profit enterprises, especially with respect to the services (such as pension benefits) they might offer to their members, financial stability, and policy development and interventions. Overall, our mapping of the creative labour force suggests that a more comprehensive approach to policy-making is required to acknowledge the unique challenges that creative workers in Canada and elsewhere face today.

40

Chapter III: Policies to Promote Creative Labour

Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Policy approaches to creative labour Rethinking the creative state and flexicurity as policy principle The Status of the Artist legislative approach Rethinking Status of the Artist approach Social Security for Creative labourers Tax incentives for creators Social economy initiatives to support creative labour Safety, Security and Creative Live/Work Space Conclusions & recommendations Figure Figure 4 Taxonomy of policies for a diversified creative labour market

41 A comparison of policies to promote creative labour expression in several countries reveals a need for more substance, method and critique. A good part of the difficulty in finding coherence to these policy initiatives lies in inadequate attention to the underlying ideological orientations to the role of the Creative State. Where Creative Economy frameworks exist, they seem to overlook comprehensive creative labour policies to accommodate a more flexible, mobile workforce, and one which is increasingly self-employed even in the Nordic countries. Workers are forgotten. Or, labour policies are not seen as a key to creative productivity a flaw in policy formulation. The history and contemporary adaptations of a special Status of the Artist approach to social security provisions for the sector are reviewed and found to be slow in diffusion. Setting the approach aside allows a better understanding of the general needs for flexicurity for all workers that is, a social safety net for all part-time, casual or self-employed labour. Specific initiatives to do with generalising a flexicurity approach and other taxation and entrepreneurial assistance are reviewed across some 20 countries. Several recommendations to address the needs of creative labour are made, consistent with an integrated conception of the creative cultural ecology. Policy approaches to creative labour If the review of statistical evidence and academic literature on the known composition of the creative labour workforce presented in chapter II of this study reveals anything, it is the need for creative economy policies to continue to adapt to an employment-based professional model (which is surprisingly persistent in Germany and Sweden for example, even in new media) and a free-agent entrepreneurial model as is dominant in the US (Christopherson, 2004). The argument in this study is that the focus needs also to extend to the volunteer labour or alternative labour pool to cover the community arts/amateur segment (although these terms are increasingly called into question). Current creative economy thinking reveals an inadequate conception of the creative labour market segments, which still are too narrowly defined in their relationship to the activity of paid work, much less discipline or orientation to for profit or not-for-profit sectors. Nationally constructed governance systems affecting employment regulation, social security and other key aspects of the functioning of creative labour remain important even in increasing globalization. There are marked differences and thus different incentive structures for workers and employers in national practices and institutions governing investment and labour markets (Christopherson, 2004). Even within a country, policy approaches are remarkably fragmented, partially due to the sharply locational effects of economic geography (Innis, 1946) and partly due to the politics of clientelist/corporatist policy systems.27 Indeed, such fragmentation reflects the general finding in a review of 100 policies in 18 countries that the majority of countriesdo not
27

See Leslie A. Pal (2006). Beyond policy analysis. Scarborough. Thomson & Nelson; and Michael Howlett, & M. Ramesh (2003). Studying public policy. Policy cycles and policy subsystems. Oxford.

42 have a comprehensive long-term national strategy for creative industries, despite the growing number of initiatives (in Finland, UK, Singapore, and others) (Quick scan of national policies, 2007). These authors find there is similarly rarely a comprehensive long-term strategy to build the creative labour work force or ease the adjustments to a global creative economy. Such ad hocery is more surprising given shortages in skilled labour facing most OECD countries. With the attendant need to compete internationally for knowledge workers, it is often argued that contemporary labour policy may be more predisposed to be developed from a needs perspective, one that has been lost in social policy more generally after a decade or more of state retrenchment (Harder, 2004). As the review of statistical mapping of the creative labour sector in Part II of this study indicated, there is at least a 7-fold typology of creative workers needs which could be adapted according to relative time spent, to determine intensity of cultural work and patterns of cross subsidy from other paid employment, educational status or voluntary contribution from the social economy. The typology includes:
full time employed full time self employed part time employed part time self-employed not employed but volunteering not employed but practicing ( amateur) not employed, volunteering or practicing cultural activities.

Furthermore, for a more inclusive notion of cultural labour force flow, it would also be important to indicate the degree of the artists cross-over or movement between part time or contract jobs over this lifecycle of engagement in cultural work. Certainly the typologies presented here are intended to provide a useful cross-check on the adequacy of the basket of policy instruments in use. According to the prevailing policy and academic literature envisioning a creative economy approach, the additional crucial element is to identify for-profit or non-profit status - suggesting a simpler, incomplete typology which sets out the range of potential policy instruments used for the basic creative labour segments (Figure 4). Yet, as always there are creative differences between policy theory and policy practice. A deeper look at policy highlights actually deployed for the creative labour forces around the world make this clear. We set out to conduct an examination of policies directed at creative workers, using an overview of 38 countries available from the Council of Europe Compendium (www.culturalpolicies.net) and an excellent quick scan of 100 policies in 18 different countries conducted by the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (Quick scan of national policies, 2007). For the Figure in Appendix C generated from a review of those two sources, we have selected policies of 20 different countries that we believe are representative of policy instruments used around the world. Moreover, we limited ourselves to policies that clearly assume a relationship between creativity and business or, in other words, that assume a commercial or industrial dimension of arts and culture.

43 Figure 4: Taxonomy of policies for a diversified creative labour market (structured by employment status)
Employment Status Employed In for-profit sector (direct commercial orientation) Policies Employees profit from the regular social security policies in place for employees in all sectors of the economy + Mainstream economic policies directed at the creative economy as a sector: promotion innovation and entrepreneurship, access to venture capital, market development Self-employed (freelancing/independent worker/temporary contracts) Employed in non-profit sector (paid, grey or social economy) Develop instruments to measure monetary and nonmonetary contribution of this sub-sector (enable role for the initial creation stage) provide sustained operating support encourage the entry of these organizations into offering pension/other plans link third sector to training/ educational incubators or hubs enable organizations to enter into publicprivate partnerships consistent with arms-length principle, continue permanent standing in representation in policy formulation Volunteer work, charity activities Amateur Practice (unpaid, grey or social economy) Develop instruments to measure non-monetary contribution of this sub-sector to the economy (especially role in the initial creation stage of the cultural value chain) create incentives ( tax deductions for hours worked) loosen professional status considerations for access to certain creative incentives tie to education and specific youth initiatives outreach initiatives to immigrant communities

VAT reductions the taxes payable (in some countries less than half of standard VAT or to a floor of exemptions) special income tax measures (income averaging over up to 10 years; special allowances: income tax deduction or exemption) tax deductions for owning and maintaining musical instruments and other tools enabling creativity tax credits for the invention/creation of commercially valuable creative work laws that acknowledge the needs of selfemployed creative workers pension planning: help with specific websites and free workshops pension supplements unemployment insurance comprehensive social insurance package for self-employed artists public institutions affording full benefits to part time labour

44 Thus, we have not explored traditional arts policies that come in the form of subsidies and other public support based on the assumption of market failure. We can draw several conclusions from this overview of policy practice. First of all, most of the programs or initiatives can grouped into three broad categories which cover education and training or, loosely, a creative capital approach; awards and grants to build a culture of creativity and celebrate its recognition, and business support and entrepreneurial development. This categorization is broadly consistent with existing policy papers such as the Creative economy green paper for the Nordic region (2007) and the very recent Creative economy strategy paper in the UK (2008). As also may be seen in Appendix C, other countries are much farther ahead than Canada in identifying educational and training activities. Arts degrees, research centres and incubation hubs are obviously seen as important inputs to generating clusters. The more advanced programs offer sophisticated and comprehensive networks and online resources to match courses to training needs in various locations, and a cradle to grave delivery lifecycle for citizens of both professional and non-professional status. On February 22, 2008, the UK government announced an aggressive action plan Creative Britain. New talents for the new economy. The focus on creative capital or talent development includes grass roots talent programs, a mandatory 5 hours a week of cultural activity in schools, a talent pathways program to help people who experience barriers in access to getting into the cultural industries, and a pledge of apprentice positions in conjunction with employers. Second, there is extensive consideration given to programs to enhance capacities of individual artists and sole-proprietor or small creative enterprises. The more advanced programs link size of enterprise to delivery of capacity building: coaching, business startup advice, or other aid. There is a tension between countries which offer generalized business start up advice and those which specifically target the sector. In Canada, only Qubec and Ontario offer the latter. Ontario offers good navigation guides to aid artists or arts groups. A litmus test of commitment to such an approach is if a national, regional or local government is also committed to stimulating the supply of venture capital in seeding creative innovation. As the Quick scan of national policies (2007) highlights, there seems to be a global resistance to setting up guarantees for venture capital funds for cultural production around the world. There is obviously a scope concern: many programs are directed at micro enterprises. However, there is a growing focus on fostering publicprivate partnerships (particularly in local infrastructure investments) which suggests new project-driven ways to aggregate financing are being explored. Thirdly, there is an important commitment to promotion and awareness-building. The object of many awards and other programs is to celebrate creative initiative, or stimulate selective creative specialization as a core national competence (for example, the Swedish design award). Canadas use of the Network of Centres of Excellence to stimulate research in design (through the Canadian Design Research Network established in 2005) similarly is intended to build profile for creativity.

45 However, this exploration of actual policies deployed confirms that a fourth category is underdeveloped: the social and labour policy category. Policy programs or instruments falling under education and training, awards and grants and business support and entrepreneurial development are all directed at generating GDP from creative activities. In contrast, social and labour policies are a long-term infrastructural investment for governments in social security, providing no immediate economic gain. In other words, contemporary creative industry policies are strong in offering voluntary measures, in stimulating participation in creative education and the development of entrepreneurship. At the same time, these policies are rather weak in providing universal, stable and mandatory support in the areas of labour relations and social and income security as implied in a creative ecology approach. The asymmetry is often due to the underlying neo-liberalism of a creative economy approach, increasingly coming under fire. The premise in some of the most advanced of the creative economy literature is that a new concept of social security has to adjust to the increasing flexibility of the creative work force: what some call flexicurity. Rethinking the creative state and flexicurity as policy principle Anthony Giddens work on Globalization and the European social model (2007) sets out the core values which could drive a cultural ecology policy framework. He argues for a new conception of social security something called flexicurity to ease the labour force transitions to the creative economy. Giddens, a noted sociologist and one of the conceptual architects for the renaissance of New Labour in Britain in the 1990s, also explores the different factors in relative contributions to productivity, defined in terms of GDP per capita, employment rates, hours of work and adjustments for immigrants. Flexibility which in its neoliberal face, is nothing more than downloading the costs of adjustment to globalization on workers has to get a good name by protecting basic security guarantees28 to the right to representation, to consultation, to laws against discrimination, and working conditions in this view. Giddens is arguing for why we need a new welfare state conception in the knowledge economy a fourth way. The ideal type of such a policy, in Giddens view, involves positive welfare safety nets addressing income inequality, a system of incentives specific to increased workforce differentiation, and obligations to provide for basic economic security not passive unemployment rights or other partial steps. His social model thus presents an effort to turn the tables back on the State in its responsibilities for the provision of social goods needed for daily survival, individual growth and development from the market and family, with profound implications for equity, fairness and quality of life (McKeen & Porter, 2003). Such a new Creative State need not fit the stereotype of the bloated Keynsian era of the past. Significant progress is being made by mainstream economists, endogenous growth theorists and some variants of neo liberal thinkers in understanding the dynamics of economic growth: as Giddens maintains, the postulate that government spending on welfare is inversely related to productivity has been turned on its head by some areas of the European experience. The superiority of Nordic countries in reducing disparities in
28

In Canada, these include the Old Age Security provisions, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Canada Pension Plan, Child Tax, Workmans Compensation,, plus tax credits, allowable deductions and retirement plans, and finally medicare, hospital insurance, national hosing and provincial shelters.

46 quality of life is not due to transfers from taxes and welfare redistribution, but investment in education, and a fuller matrix of other creative labour supporting policies and programs. Design is all. Giddens view is that the future of the European Social Model in the creative economy does not lie in more countries becoming like the UK. Britain still has a high rate of unemployment, and while learning from the Nordic example of investment in education and other public services, reducing its poverty rate, it still lags behind Continental best practice and levels of income inequality remain high in spite of progress made (Ibid:158). The Creative Economy push in the UK has to be read against this backdrop. Andrew Calabrese, a noted US communication scholar, argues that the fourth generation of the rights revolution in the midst of assaults on updating notions of the welfare state turns on rejecting the idea that the state can only be a negotiator, venture capitalist and corporate lawyer in the creative economy, rather than anything else. In general, aside from the observation that social spending as a proportion of the GDP remains low in Canada against the G-8 except for the US and Japan, and that Canada has been a laggard in introducing social legislation due to the division of powers, and British Colonial heritage of liberalism (Armitage, 2003; Harder, 2004), comparative social welfare policies cannot be explored here in detail. But it is fair to say that the history of their evolution worldwide and especially in Canada has been that they have developed in a piecemeal and fragmentary fashion (McKeen & Porter; 2003, Shaw 2004). It is also fair to say that the reengineering of the complex systems of intergovernmental transfers to fund provincial social programs (the Canada Health and Social Transfer) redesigned programs to make them more compatible with economic growth models, and collided with large retraction of federal funding with adverse impacts which have been castigated by the UN (Hankivsky, 2004). Feminists, left academics and neo liberals weigh in with different evaluations, but the statistical evidence, particularly for its intersection with poverty among artists, women, youth, aboriginal and minority groups of the type which so concerns the Canadian Cultural Human Resource Council is still unclear. The jury is still out, but this lack of public debate in Canada may not be surprising since retraction of social policy over the last decade was policy by stealth (Prince,1996). Certainly, the data for an informed policy review is insufficient. Experiences of other countries with different social democratic29 or market authoritarian regimes of capitalism may be illustrative of the current thinking in policy networks about creative labour flexicurity.

29

Somewhat tendentiously, Giddens accepts four main types of welfare capitalism in Europe: the Nordic type, based on high taxation and job opportunities in the state itself; the Central European type of Germany and France based mainly on payroll contributions, and the Anglo Saxon type, having a lower taxation base and using more targeted policies. The fourth type is Mediterranean, which also has a low tax base, but depends heavily upon provision from the family. A fifth type ought to be added: Eastern Europe, and especially the states in the EU. The impact of a recent directive on EU free trade in services is controversial for its proposed effects on universal public social services. What is totally missing in regional policy meta-analysis is Asian, Latin American and other analysis. The creative economy cult is very Eurocentric.

47 There is extensive devolution of authority at stake in considering flexicurity. Shared labour jurisdictions (like Canadas) pose complex challenges in policy coordination, as do horizontal policy subfields across cultural industries, labour and social economy areas, increasingly required in addition to the usual economic and industrial innovation policies for a comprehensive cultural ecology approach. The Status of the Artist legislative approach Historically, a series of measures to protect the special status of the cultural worker have been put in place, largely as a result of external pressure from arts advocates. Initially, the Status of the Artist push was twofold: arguing for an exceptional status (that is usually predicated on the special character of the need to protect freedom of expression and foster creative diversity) and for parity or equity: that is, in recognition of the marginal status of artists, the need to extend the same minimum protections (for example, access to universal social welfare programs) as are afforded other workers. As the following review will show, the dissemination of such an approach is still limited. In no other sector is multi-level governance moving as quickly to insinuate itself in policy networks by mediating global, national and sub-national policy agendas than in creative labour. UNESCO began the push internationally to a special recognition of the need to protect artists in 1982. Among 38 countries included in the Council or Europes Compendium, the minority (16) do have the beginnings of such a Status of the Artist framework: Including France which has the oldest such law (1977) and Finland (1985) followed by Austria (2001) and Estonia (2004) (see Appendix C). There are sharp differences in later versions of Status of the Artist legislative instruments. Nevertheless, the majority of countries (the remaining 22) do not have comprehensive social security legislation for creative workers and only offer partial and limited measures such as a form of pension supplement or unemployment insurance. Apart from tax measures and social security policies, the question of labour relations and collective bargaining is also a significant one when exploring policies for the creative labour force. We look at the Status of the Artist legislation as an example of one way to recognize the economic rights of artists and establish a labour relations regime by setting out a regulatory category of eligibility of independent arts contractors for professional standing through membership in a nationally certified association. More than a decade after the UNESCO had first introduced the idea of Status of the Artist, Canada followed with its own Status of the Artist Act that came into force in 1995. Consonant with international practice, the Canadian Act recognizes the contributions of artists to the cultural fabric of life and also sets out a policy on the professional status of the artist, based on the rights of freedom of association (removing any impediment to collective bargaining) and creative expression (including moral, economic and social rights). While there was intended to be a permanent council advising the Minister of Canadian Heritage on creative labour policy, this has never been enacted: a victim of insufficient resources and resistance to cede policy jurisdiction. Instead, there is a Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal which can adjudicate disputes between artists and producers involving institutions within federal jurisdiction,

48 for those with self-employed status.30 Qubec has introduced its own variant of the legislation, and Saskatchewan tried to do so, but its legislation has been withdrawn. In 2007, Ontario also began considering a new bill to protect those who create, construct, design, and perform, adapted from the federal Status model, and indeed cited it in the 2007 budget, but suspended its development. In the Ontario version is the standard basket of policy instruments in the labour relations regime, extended to self-employed artists, including certification standards, along with a new voluntary floor approach to intellectual property contracts which suggests minimum terms agreements to do with royalties, advances and other rights. Such initiatives are strongly supported by collective associations like the Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Writers Union of Canada. However, other provinces (and especially BC) have been loath to introduce such legislation after a decade or more of lobbying. Various recommendations for reform in the review of the federal model suggest a choice of dual status (allowing artists to retain their self-employed status and access employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan, for example) be afforded, income averaging be extended31, access to employment insurance be provided, improved access to pension, occupational health and safety and other programs widened, and a new recognition of artists as preferred or secured creditors in the event of a bankruptcy (for example, Stoddart Publishers). Among the more interesting developments are the trends in the semi-professional or non-technical occupations to negotiating special agreements. While journalism is not one of the most highly developed and prestigious of professions (see Murray, 2007), there are increasing signs of professional maturity, and recognition. The CBC, for example, has been pressured to introduce a charter of rights for its independent producers, at the behest of the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association. Recently, the trend to consolidation of ownership and oligopoly power in news journalism has led to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to push for standards and codes of editorial independence which are important markers of licensed autonomy for journalists and independent documentary producers (see the Canadian Association of Journalists website). Indeed, the ILOs Study on the future quality of work in the media, culture and graphic sectors (conducted in the preparations leading up to the world information summit in October, 2004) suggests that unions in the media and entertainment industries have the most experience in organizing those who are not employees of a specific employer (whether freelance, independent or self-employed and provide important models for future collective organization in other sectors of the knowledge economy (ILO, 2004, p. 76). The Canadian record on a special status of the artist approach, then, is moot. A status of the artist approach at the federal level has not made a material impact on the overall condition of artists: it currently excludes too many from its ambit, Indeed, the impact of the legislative benefits conferred may have had the perverse effect of widening the gap between professional classes of artists (usually in the unionized/or high status
30

While the tribunal has been somewhat active (ruling on 14 or so disputes and reporting to the Minister of Labour in Parliament) it has not yet had any apparent effect on salaries or standards of living (see: the 2007 European Compendium, Canada Report, www.culturalpolicies.net. /retrreieved 02/21/2008 ). A subsequent review in 20022003 found it too narrow to make a material impact on artistic well-being, and other measures need to b e explored. Section 5.1.4. 31 Qubec is the most aggressive in its averaging. See the Canadian Report in the Compendium (2007).

49 recognized professions) who have been able to use it to improve their status, and those without access to similar organizational clout in the Canadian case. It is thus, at heart, an approach more targeting artistic institutions than it is creative workers. Rethinking of Status of the Artist approach? The limited dissemination in Canada and around the world of such special legislation contrasts with UNESCOs creation in 2003 of a World Observatory on the Condition of the Artist to promote greater international mobilization.32 Slow take up of the UNESCO, and partial regional diffusion suggest deep underlying conceptual problems in application of a specialized status of the artist approach, or in using it as a base from which to generalize security for cultural /knowledge workers. The problem with the regime is that it is partial and schizophrenic33. In theory, it is consistent with changes in tax legislation in Canada34and other countries which are predicated on the argument that artists are entitled to the same treatment as other taxpayers in comparable economic situations. In practice, there are residual ideological tinges of protectionism and exceptionalism, that is, arguments that what artists do is both different and more important to democratic values of diversity of expression than other classes of workers, and that economic situations continue not to be comparable. The UN guidelines walk this tightrope uneasily, and indeed, it may be said they are internally inconsistent and flawed, representing the same problems inherent in the 80s under the separate drive to a Fair Flow of Information, and one which several scholars contend has substantively shifted with the passage of the UNESCO Convention to Protect the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of which Canada was the first to ratify (2005). In particular, the UN framework is said by some policy analysts to allow for too many derogations or exceptions. In some respects, it falls short of the affirmative principles of cultural diversity at the heart of the spirit of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity which guarantee access to the means of creative expression for all citizens. It furthermore has proved a tough political sell at the provincial level in Canada, (and arguably in countries as varied as the UK, Russian Federation or other countries) for a variety of reasons, but not the least of which is that the larger problem of generalized labour contingency itself may require other solutions. The faint beginnings of a fuller blown conception of a new approach may be found in the new term in the lexicon of principles in the creative economy: flexicurity. What is needed is a way to take the economic rights of artists, and then generalize them to other precarious creators.35
32

According to the Observatory, a survey of the International Labour Office and the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) on The social situation of musical performers in Africa, Asia and Latin America, made apparent that the status of musicians as independent workers entails great absence of social security, with the exception of Japan and Argentina. Precariousness is increasingly common among artists of world music, despite the emergence of this genre as a successful one for the highly concentrated sound recording industry. 33 We are endebted to Keith Kelly and Guillaume Sirois of the Canadian Conference of the Arts for refining these ideas, and particularly to Kellys draft backgrounder, Status of the Artist A Model for Professional Relations in the Creative Economy?, undated. 34 See Joseph Jackson, et al, 1999. The Arts and Cultural Policy, Library of Parliament, October 15. In addition to the special deductions for musicians (without cap) and gifts, salaried artists may deduct expenses incurred in carrying on artistic activity to a maximum of $1,000 or 20% of income, patently low. 35 Danielle Clich. 1996. Status of the Artist or of Arts Organizations? A Brief Discussion of the Canadian Status of

50 Social security for creative labourers Evidence from the Council of Europes Compendium (www.culturalpolicies.net) suggests that there are indeed efforts to modernize status of the artist legislation to make it more relevant to the broader self employed and part-time labour sectors. Austria passed a new law in 2001 which generalized security measures to other cultural disciplines beyond its usually protected music and visual arts. A new Austrian social security insurance fund for arts established the same year set too high a level of eligibility and is currently under review. Belgium also acted with legislation coming into effect in 2003, which provides complete coverage, and an opt-in provision. Organizations can apply to get their share of the costs subsidized. Adjustment to time frames and other models are still under discussion. Bulgaria has had a special code on social security for liberal professions in general, and artists may choose between compulsory or voluntary contributions on a preset scale. A revision to the seasonal floor for eligibility was reduced to 4 of the past 12 months. Croatia, which already had conveyed a right to health, pension and disability insurance to artists successfully fought the drafting of a new law which excluded them on retirement benefits and health insurance. Estonia acted on new legislation which came into force in 2005, and amended it to include subsidies for artists unions. Finland was among the first to act in 1985 for both artists and short-term workers, and is now looking at reform in UIC, pension and improving the rights of freelancers. Hungary has innovated in the creation of a limited partnership company for its creative sector (called Teteti Tasagag) to become eligible for a flat tax(a self-described radical simplification) and health benefits can be topped up by paying into a private pension fund. Ireland, feted for its liberal tax regime for artists, is criticized for an archaic means test for eligibility for social security which requires artists must actually be looking for work in their field which constricts non-artistic options especially in an economic downturn. Lithuania (2004) Macedonia (1982) and Serbia (1998: not enacted) are also active in setting up special measures to benefit artists. Another country that has a comprehensive system of social security measures for creative workers in place is Germany, with its Artists Social Fund. This fund offers statutory social insurance for artists, where the corporate or individual users of creative content cover the employers contribution to the fund, together with the state. By contrast, the situation in the Russian federation has been one of repealing special privileges, and two failed attempts of a status of the artist type legislative protection. The self-proclaimed (and probable) leader in creative economy initiatives, the UK, has resisted a general move to flexicurity provisions under the Labour government despite the best intentions of its intellectual lodestar Anthony Giddens. Yet in 2004, in language reminiscent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the UK Blair Government introduced a New Deal Program to subsidize unemployed young musicians, suggesting a cautious way forward. The social security policies reviewed above may be described as broadening the content of the creative economy approach to other precarious workers, marrying it with more

the Artist Act. In The Canadian Journal of Communication. Vol. 21 No. 2.

51 robust social assistance instruments, and providing more choice to artists than the first wave of Status of the Artist protection. Tax incentives for creators Also evident from the scan of existing policies world-wide is a growing but small number of countries who are making over the tax system to be more attractive to individual creative workers (Appendix C). This overview shows Canada is ahead of many in its use of the equivalent to the Value Added Tax (GST) to give breaks for artists making under $30,000 per annum, but is behind in its broadening of the period for income averaging into longer artistic life cycles, and making a comparatively small allowance for special equipment for arts, culture or heritage production. No country would seem to be very far ahead in targeting specific tax/or other instruments to intellectual property value explicitly, treating investment in the development of a story, performance or heritage collection as the equivalent in research and development tax credit for the information technology sector, for example. Qubec exempts the first $15,000 of copyright or other residual income from its provincial income tax, on the Irish model, but no other level of jurisdiction in Canada has similarly acted. The UK has always exempted grant income if it may be proven to be relevant to research and development, and can be averaged. However, in 2001 rather than income, the averaging formula was amended to pertain only to profits. While there is a thick policy field of taxation instruments directed at the cultural industries (and especially film and TV production around the world), there are as yet isolated examples of tax incentives for individual creators in the primary creative arts, culture and heritage sectors. For example, sliding scales of income deductions for individual artists are available in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Austria, although no country has gone as far as Ireland. In a move counter to other countries, Hungary voted to end its 100% copyright deduction in 2007. Ireland, by contrast has upheld its 1969 provision in the Finance Act to exempt all intellectual property royalties, bursaries, or foreign earnings. Lauded internationally, there has now been a cap imposed of a quarter of a million dollars, so it is no longer a victim of its success. Poland similarly allows a 50% deduction for creative work (1998) which despite attempts to dismantle it prevailed. What is also evident is that tax breaks and deductions are regularly reviewed (and despite efforts to claw them back, tend to have remained in place). In Canada, recent amendments to the federal income tax act allow only limited capital cost allowance or employment expenses for artists. Disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency revolve around the requirement of reasonable expectation of profit for a self-employed artist, leading to the development of various aids to interpretation.36 Social economy initiatives to support creative labour Not surprisingly, the last two segments in the 7-fold typology introduced above (amateur or community arts and volunteer sectors) are under-theorized and mapped, with little
36

CCA has a backgrounder on Taxation and the Artist under development.

52 value attached to them in official statistical accounts (however one might quibble with the derivation of the estimates). It is deeply telling that we have found no mapping documents or statistics exploring the work of volunteers or non-profit workers in the creative, sometimes termed social economy in any of the literature on the turn to the creative economy. Their contribution to the cultural value chain is widely unknown although the culture sector has an exceptionally high number of both volunteers and non-profit organizations. As a consequence, there is a need to examine other policy instruments to support or promote this hidden share of the creative labour force. Like many European countries, Canada during Chrtiens Liberal government became interested in the voluntary sector, both individual and collective. This came to be defined as the social economy, directed towards the grass-roots entrepreneurial, not-for-profit sector. The concept is particularly important in Europe and Qubec. Social economy initiatives seek to enhance the social, economic, and environmental conditions of communities, often with a focus on their disadvantaged members (see Appendix D). The Liberal Government sought a wide range of capacity-building policies in the period between 1995 and 2005 under the umbrella of the Voluntary Sector Initiative (Phillips, 2004). Various provincial arts agencies also took up the capacity question to build managerial strength in arts culture and heritage in partnerships with various foundations and others. The Caledon Institute of Social Policy, one of Canadas leading think tanks from a leftsocial democratic and humanist perspective, conducted a major review of an evaluation framework for federal investment in the social economy (a term and approach much favoured in Qubec) in January of 2006, precisely at the time when the new minority Conservative government appeared to be turning its back on the Liberal approach. The first Martin-Prime Ministerial budget (largely inherited but unchallenged from the Chrtien legacy) in the 2004 budget promised a major capital infusion to the voluntary sector initiative to build the capacity and breadth of the civil society in Canada. Nascent since the mid 90s, and part of an extensive horizontal policy coordination framework, the Voluntary Sector Initiative involved over 7 departments and agencies. The diversity and evolutionary nature of the policy initiatives directed at enhancing the capacity of the social economy was clear, as well as the need to employ them simultaneously, over long-term time frames and demand the development of indicators for outcomes measurement,37 To be fair, such a review followed a series of Fraser Institute inspired studies (William Stanbury, Stephen Globerman) which dismissed all such policy intervention to help arts groups as classic rent-seeking among a clientelest/corporatist policy field. The ideological field of cultural politics in most countries, and especially Canada, tends to continue to be sharply polarized, but supported by a soft middle consensus among voters culture which is important for its generational asset value. Under the minority Conservative government, the Voluntary Sector Initiatives emphasis on building the capacity of autonomous arts, culture and heritage groups has been

37

For policy wonks, the richest contribution is the Caledon Institutes Social Economy Logic Model, which sets up a framework for conceptualising results. See Eric Leviten-Reid, Sherri Torjam,2006. Evaluation Framework for Federal Investment in the Social Economy: A Discussion Paper. Caledon Institute of Social Policy. See appendix D.

53 abandoned at the federal level. It remains strong in Quebec and BC, albeit driven by very different collectivist or individualist values.38 Clearly, then, the desire to enable the third voluntary sector (of not-for-profit arts professional associations, for example, which may or may not enter the field of delivery of pension plans for its members) has stalled in Canada with few exceptions. It cannot be said to supply for the absence of state-led security measures for the arts culture and heritage sector. Safety, security and creative live/work space Just as most social economy/voluntary sector initiatives seem to emerge at regional or city levels, so too does the impact of municipal control over zoning, building and health and safety standards of work places important to the creative process. Urban planning influences from the creative city movement in cultural theory change the conception of policy instruments needed to foster creativity. Devolution of policy responsibilities in culture in Canada has been underway as one strategic reaction to the processes of globalization. Over the past decade, combined provincial and municipal spending in culture has surpassed federal spending. Since 1995, more municipalities have developed specialised responsibility for planning of cultural resources, infrastructure and amenities; and in certain cities (Montral, Vancouver) compelled cultural impact statements from all other operating policy arms. The gradual professionalization of the field and development of the national Creative City Network (created in 2001), combined with various degrees of recognition of culture as the fourth pillar of sustainability among provincial associations of municipalities, have breathed new life into the consideration of a place-based strategy to stimulate cultural activity. Influenced by the work of Richard Florida, the recognition is that a lively cultural sector will attract knowledge workers and provide an important input to overall quality of life, and is one of the most effective ways to retain these workers. As a part of this planning cycle, cultural infrastructure is emerging as a key factor in smoothing the transition to the creative economy, a driver from gentrification, and in keeping artists and creative workers in the urban core. Artist live-work space, and policies to promote cross subsidy from urban land developers are increasingly moving to the head of the arsenal of municipal policy instruments. There are a number of tools in use in Canada and around the world. In Vancouver, for example, (one of the first Canadian cities to use creative city language in 1986) amenity bonusing systems allow developers to exchange public facilities for artists (performance, rehearsal or live work space) or other social groups in exchange for greater density. A three year centre of expertise (2005-2008), funded by Infrastructure Canada, will map the various activities underway in municipalities in Canada and around the world (www.cultureandcommunities.ca). However, in the absence of a comprehensive creative ecology approach, with a review of flexicurity and attention to the legislative reform
38

Monica Gattinger and Diane Saint Pierre eds., Cultural Policy and Cultural Public Administration in Provincial and Territorial Governments in Canada. Institute of Public Administration in Canada. Forthcoming 2008.

54 necessary to entrench responsibility to provide cultural services at the municipal level, little can be expected from ad hoc initiatives. Gaps remain in place-based policies to promote creative workers access to adequate space of sufficient quality necessary to practice their craft.39 As a consequence, there is a demand for overhauling the various provincial acts setting out the powers of the municipalities to compel them to provide universal access to cultural services, on the model of several Library Acts across the country, but even with this fairly radical affirmative policy devolution of responsibility to provide access to cultural expression, there would still need to be a co-ordinated flexicurity approach. Conclusions & recommendations This survey of best practices among a creative economy policy formulation around the world illustrates that creativity all too often is operationalized in a way in many policy regimes which makes it exceptionally vulnerable to critiques of propaganda to justify the increasingly precarious notion of work domestically, and the international division of labour which disappears jobs (Kapur in McKercher et al., 2007). Certainly, the ideological function of creativity and innovation in capitalism is part of its awesome social and economic power among social institutions: capitalism promises to realize the creativity of all even as it accelerates the creative, social and economic divides among its citizens. Yet cultural politics are far from conceded to neo-liberal hegemony.40 As this study suggests, there is an urgent need to rethink the social model of the creative economy, and in particular, how to design policy interventions to promote it within a publicly debated ethical context. Whether that ethical framework is sustainability (as the fourth pillar of urban planning), cultural diversity (as the new UNESCO convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions which Canada was the first to endorse suggests) or flexicurity in a new creative labour policy has yet to be determined. What is suggested here is that a specialized, autonomous strategy of the type of the early Status of the Artist legislative approach endorsed by UNESCO is insufficient for the challenges of the cultural turn to the economy. The Nordic approach has much to commend it, since it seems to embody in its framework a potential to evolve to a more comprehensive approach to creative welfare and creative innovation. Anthony Giddens call for more comparative analysis, however, has as yet been unanswered by theorists and policy analysts. The trap in much of the creative economy literature is to recognize that an education approach does not necessarily promise a way to overcome the growing economic gap between the situations of different classes of cultural workers. An enterprise approach does not bridge well to the large numbers of sole-proprietorships, or self-employed artists. We argue that a full creative labour policy is needed, sensitive to the creative ecology represented by creative cities and spaces.
39

See the Report on the Regional Roundtables on the State of Cultural Infrastructure. http://www.cultureandcommunities.ca 40 The EuroMayDay Movement since 2003 had young people from France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Italy protesting against inadequate welfare and unemployment benefits together with immigrant labour. The slogan? No borders: No precarity (Kapur in McKerchner and Mosco, 173).

55 The framework for such an ecological approach should be designed from a needs-based perspective, consonant with the positive right to cultural expression which is now solidly entrenched in international and national diversity law. In Figure 4 we set out the range of policy instruments which have emerged from this survey. More thought is needed to develop these or other models for assessing the coherence and completeness of the creative economy policy field. There are a range of possible recommendations which arise out of this survey. However, we restrict ourselves to the main theoretical ones which we believe are essential to the transition to a creative economy. First, we need to broaden our understanding of the creative processes away from a cultural economy to a creative ecology framework, introducing a reflexive rethinking about the role of a Creative State, integrating a generalized flexicurity scheme and finding new ways to coordinate policy devolution and policy networks. Second, a creative ecology framework must include the social economy and voluntary and amateur sectors. An ecology approach both recognizes and values the contribution to the GDP provided by both. Third, social security and employment policies should be developed on the basis of need, and evaluation of their effectiveness. In this, the sensible policy questions about the creative economy proposed by researchers at the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research about the creative economy are equally relevant to the addition of creative labour to an ecological model:
What is the economic impact of creative work and what are key strengths of creative workers? What are crucial elements in a national strategic framework for the creative ecology? What is to be preferred: a generic economic/labour/social policy with the assumption that it caters for the creative workers versus special policy schemes for creative workers in the various modes of practice? What sub-sectors of creative practice should be prioritized? How should we integrate explicit policies for (parts of) creative workers in both mainstream economic/labour and social policies and cultural policies? What is the best way to deliver these policies? How should they be evaluated

Fourth, this call for evaluation raises questions of adequacy of evidence. Both the ILO and the Canadian Cultural Human Resources Sectoral Council have placed a high priority on the appropriate measurement and development of a fuller insight into the stratification and employment/activity patterns of creative workers in the new economy. This should be a top priority for the CHRSC which has had no in-depth comprehensive study of the sector since 1993. Evidence-based policy development is preferable to the piecemeal approach seen around the world. While this study suggests a seven-fold typology of creative workers/non-workers, it should be amenable to empirical testing. What is certain is that the issue of dual status, part time and serial movement through the formal cultural labour force has to be captured by new methods of measurement, including a time spent standard as suggested by economists like David Throsby. Fifth, more light should be shed by policy meta-analysis on the range of innovations at work on policy development for the creative economy. We find the Nordic attempts to

56 develop a creative policy matrix for the Nordic region all too infrequent in creative economy thinking. The matrix integrates connecting horizontal economic theme to policy problem, proposed action and evidence requirements for policy monitoring and evaluation (see Appendix B). Sixth, it is clear that various jurisdictions are revising their old systems of policy governance, and introducing new bodies such as Creative Scotland a new body outside of the Scottish Arts Council charged with the responsibility to develop the countrys creative talent and excellence. Do such new institutions marginalize or enhance the power of the existing ones in cultural sectors? Are they unintentionally blocking broader flexicurity approaches or enabling them? Finally, policy makers have to realize that they need to use the policy instruments at their disposal in new ways and in new partnerships with other stakeholders. To adapt David Throsby:
This in turn suggests a de-emphasis on arts policy or the economic earning power of the arts and a shift of that policy focus to where creative activity has the greatest scope to generate economic and social rewards, to employment policy, to regional and urban development policy, to industry policy and other fields like labour and the social economy (2002).

What is needed is an entire change of creativity governance, away from attention on the individual to collective creativity and its interactions. The goal is a theoretically and practically elegant integration of culture and the economy in policy practice.

57 Appendix A: Official documents mapping or exploring (the impact of) creative industries
United Kingdom: Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Creative Industries. Mapping Document 1998 + 2001 + Creative Britain. New talents for the new economy, 2008 Denmark: The Ministry of Trade and Industry and The Ministry of Culture: Denmarks Creative Potential. Culture and Business Policy Report 2000 Germany - North Rhine-Westphalia: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: th 4 Culture Industries Report 2002 Australia: Australian Government Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the National Office for the Information Economy: The Creative Industries Cluster Study 2002-2003 New Zealand New Zealand Institute of Economic Research: Creative industries in New Zealand. Economic contribution 2002 Spain/Catalonia: Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries: Handbook on the Cultural Industries of Catalonia 2002 Austria: Mandl, I. et al. for Federal Chancellery, Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour of the Republic of Austria, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber: First Austrian Report on Creative Industries (Erster sterreichischer Kreativwirtschaftsbericht) 2003 + + Second Austrian Report on Creative Industries (Zweiter sterreichischer Kreativwirtschaftsbericht) 2006 Austria City of Vienna: Ratzenbck, V. et al. for City of Vienna (MA 27)/Chamber of Commerce Vienna/Filmfonds Wien: Untersuchung des konomischen Potenzials der Creative Industries in Wien (Survey of the economic potential of Creative Industries in Vienna) 2004 Singapore: Ministry of Trade & Industry: Economic contributions of Singapores Creative Industries 2003 The Netherlands: Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science: Culture & Economy. Our Creative potential 2005 Creatieve Industrie in Vlaanderen 2006

Source: Quick scan of national policies, 2007, p.13-14

58 Appendix B: A Creative Policy Map for the Nordic Region

Research (Data and Intelligence)
Under-developed, under-connected, localised and/or sub-sectoral

Entrepreneurialism and Creativity

Growing Creative Businesses

Building Creative Clusters

Multiple most major towns & cities: Education at the centre: e.g. Turku Science Park & Roskilde Sub-sector-specific e.g. Aarhus Film City or Oresund Entrepreneurship Academy Focusing on convergence e.g. Lillehammer Kunnskapspark Small business centred e.g. Naeringshage in Oslo Transforming industrial landscapes e.g. Cable Factory & Arabianranta, Helsinki

Building Creative Places

Multiple most major towns and cities and many smaller places. Themes 1-3 are often central. In addition: Culture and creativity sit at the heart of many strategic plans and are being used as the main driver for talent and inward investment strategies from Malmo to Kristiansand; Vejle to Tampere. Initiatives range from holistic cultural and creativity planning to strategic approaches to public art, place-marketing, and maximising the increasing diversity of the local population.

Local
Multiple policies & initiatives: Incubation & knowledge transfer initiatives in universities Creativity in education as a core part of the syllabus Targeted business support, such as business advice and inter-firm networks to build confidence and business knowledge Connecting creative businesses with other industries Seed investment and support for R&D in creative businesses National Few national initiatives outside education & cultural policy: National campaigns & specialist support e.g. Swedish Design Office, the Finnish Design for All network, Finnish Strategy for Craft Entrepreneurship & Danish Design Centre Linking innovation & creativity, e.g. FI in Denmark; Innovation Norway Research e.g. Finnish Strategy for Entrepreneurship in CIs

Local
Multiple policies & initiatives: Targeted Creative Industries funds e.g. Danish Regional Film Funds IPR support programmes underdeveloped Market development initiatives, such as placemarketing: e.g. Wonderful Copenhagens promotion of the citys creative assets

National Much on Innovation; less on Creativity: Targeted funds e.g. Icelandic Software Fund and Norwegian software fund Business support e.g. Sile in Finland Tax e.g. VAT exemption for literature in Norway Market development: multiple initiatives, e.g. Design for All Network, Finland & the Finnish Programme for Cultural Export Promotion 2007 2011; Creative Nation (Denmark) Continuous learning: e.g. LearningLab Denmark Multiple innovation & technology initiatives e.g. Innovation Norway

Nordic Low level connectivity and very few pan-Nordic policies and interventions other than pilot or short-term projects: Initiatives include: - Jenka network connecting creative businesses, building knowledge and confidence - VirlncCreate Virtual Incubator Project - Nordic Innovation Centre (NICe) initiatives leading the way in establishing pan-Nordic cooperation and partnership.

LOW LEVEL CONNECTIVITY

Source: A creative economy green paper for the Nordic region, 2007

59 Appendix C: Selected policies directed at creative workers and artists (scan of 20 countries)41

Education and training

Programmes for younger adults Cultural Leadership Programme 2006-2008: multifaceted educational programme directed at emerging artists and creative labourers in the UK to develop entrepreneurial skills: two year programme with a six-strand approach: work placements, creative knowledge lab online, leadership development, black and ethnic minority development, governance development, developing entrepreneurs as leaders (source: www.culturalleadership.org.uk, jointly led by the Arts Council England, Creative & Cultural Skills and the Museums and Libraries and Archives Council) Denmarks Roskilde University offers a new 2-year Master of Experience Management and Performance Design (emphasis on managerial skills + own practice) (source: www.ruk.dk) The Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) offers a Master programme in Management of Creative Business Processes (source: www.cbs.dk/imagine) Creation of the Innovation University in Finland (a merger of the Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics, and the University of Arts & Design, Helsikini) (source: www.innovaatioyliopisto.info) Helsinki School of Creative Entrepreneurship: students can take courses in entrepreneurship that are credited at their home university, entrepreneurs can take courses to develop creative thinking as a tool to solve business solutions (www.hsce.fl) Manchester Metropolitan University first in UK to teach arts students how to draft business plans and assess the market (source: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.31) Popakademie in Germany: First academic institution in Germany teaching pop music and music business combined (lecturers from industry: Sony, MTV, AOL) (source: Quick scan, p.31, and www.popakademie.de, 2008) Flanders District of Creativity programme offers scholarships for creative workers for attending a Management School Master class in innovation & entrepreneurship (source: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.34) Initiative of the Danish government to include business orientation in arts studies to help candidates adjust to the reality of the labour market and a life as freelancer or self-employed worker (source: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006, p.34) Workshops Workshops on script-writing and funding for half-hour documentaries for film makers aged 35 and under to be then shown on ABC (source: Australian Film Commission Annual Report 20052006, can be found at www.afc.gov.au) iP ImpulsProgramm of the creative wirtschaft Austria (www.impulsprogramm.at, an initiative of the chamber of commerce of Austria; offers workshops on raising management skills of creative entrepreneurs) Programme Insight out by UK National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, offered in every region in the UK, it is specifically designed for creative individuals who want to set up a business within the creative industries (source: http://www.nesta.org.uk/programmes/insight_out/insight_out_learning.aspx)
41

Examples from the UK, Canada, Germany, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Norway, Korea, Finland, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia

60
Arts education for children (fosters creativity in the young and provides income for creative workers) Integration of creativity in schools: UK links designers with schools (source: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006) Turkey introduced a three-year Technology and design component in the public education curriculum (source: Quick scan of national policies, 2007) The governmental agency KulturKontakt in Austria provides advice on how to conduct arts and culture projects in Austrian schools (source: www.kulturkontakt.or.at) Singapores Ministry of the Arts has an initiative within its the Creative Industries Development strategy 2003 that aims at building creative capabilities through embedding arts, design and media within all levels of education Five hours of quality arts and culture for every child every week in and out of school, new initiative by UK government, Feburary 2008, funding secured, in the process of finding partners to develop and implement (www.creative-partnerships.com/offer) Online course finders Online training course finder of the Australian government for the cultural sector (source: www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au) with over 1000 different workshops and degree programmes Creative & cultural skills for professionals in the creative industries, containing course database and Learn Direct Advisor via phone (initiative of the UK Department of source: http://www.ccskills.org.uk/)

Awards/grants/contests/artists in residence
Promoting business capabilities: Grants for consultancy on entrepreneurship directed at Museums (Australia, New SW) Awards for improving company performance and stability (film and tv sector, Western Australia, (source: http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/about/organisation/portfolio_organisations/screenwest) Promoting creative capabilities : Visual art support/new technology support: Arts Council Norway Cultural medallion grant/national artist award/ emerging artist Fund National Arts Council of Singapore Swedish Design Award Games of the month and Korea game grand awards: game content creation contests held by the government-founded Korea Game Industry Agency (source: www.kogia.or.kr, since 1999) National Scriptwriting Competition (for film, by Media Development Authority, Singapore) Mobility and Residential Programme for artists and cultural players offered by the Nordic culture point, a governmental cooperation among the Nordic countries, to promote professional networking (source: www.kulturkontaktnord.org) Online grants and services search databases (self-updating, provided by the Australian government (source: www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/grantsandservices/)

Business support and entrepreneurial development (for SMEs and self-employed individuals)
Business advice/consulting: Go! Programme supplies advice on business start-ups (business plan, registration, permits, marketing strategies, etc.), special category for creative businesses within this programme,

61
special cultural start-up centers throughout province provide advice (founded by the Province of North Rhine Westphalia in Germany, source: www.go.nrw.de) Kulturkontakt: Consultancy services for artists and the business community, goal: bringing the two parties together (Austria, Ministry of Culture, since 1989, source: www.kulturkontakt.or.at) consulting services offered (Centre of Audiovisual Development, Catalonia, source: The economy of culture, p.33) or funding for accessing such services partly provided (Departure Experts Programme Vienna, source: www.departure.at) Intellectual property website for creative individuals and businesses where they can find the latest information on copyright, trademarks, etc. (source: UK Department for Culture, Sport and Media, www.culture.gov.uk) Funding programmes for creative industries: Funding programme for creative SMEs with a commercial orientation, annual call for submission of business plans, if accepted up 70% of project costs can come from subsidies: iP ImpulsProgramm of the creativ wirtschaft Austria (www.afc.gov.au): Advantage creative fund: venture capital fund for creative SMEs who have problems attracting funding from banks, does not offer grants and loans, invests on strictly commercial terms (www.advantagecreativefund.co.uk, an initiative within the frame of the UK creative economy programme) Venture capital and project funding designated for creative businesses has been made available by the following governments (combining public + private money) have founded specific agencies to administer the capital and re-invest the profits made into less profitable cultural projects (Cultural Exportation Project 2005-2010 by Finland, source: www.minedu.fi, Cultuur Invest in Belgium, source: www.cultuurinvest.be, Repayable Contributions Programme by the Catalan Institute of Cultural industries (source: The economy of culture in Europe, 2006) These same programmes also offer management support and coaching for creative entrepreneurs in Catalonia, Finland, Belgium Online funding information databases: Money map Advice on access to finance, regularly updated file (source: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, source: www.culture.gov.uk) for businesses in the music industry Funding Information Service for creative businesses (online search engine, offered by Creative New Zealand and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage since 2007, source: www.NZLive.com)

Tax policies and social security policies

Tax policies VAT reductions on the Earnings of Self-Employed Authors and Visual Artists: Artists play less than half of the standard VAT in many countries, for example in Austria, France, Germany or Belgium. They are largely excluded from any VAT at all in, for instance, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark. In Canada and the UK, artists pay the standard VAT rate. (source www.culturalpolicies.net/, 2007) Special Income Tax Measures for FreelanceArtists (referring here to independent creators and performing artists): income averageing in place in the following countries: UK (over 2 years), Denmark (up to 10), Austria, Netherlands, France (3), Germany, Finland (several years), no income averaging in Canada, Belgium, Italy (source www.culturalpolicies.net/, 2007) 2. Special allowances: no significant deductions or exemptions in place in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium, 50% income tax deduction, 30% in Germany, total tax exemption in Ireland, 25% in Italy, 5-7% in Austria Tax credit for creation of games by French government (source: www.legifrance.gouv.fr.)

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Tax credit for interactive digital media and for computer animation and special effects (Canada, Ontario, source: www.omdc.on.ca) Tax deductions: cost for owning and maintaining a musical, instruments and annual employment expenses up to $1.000 can be deducted, artistic work can be donated for a tax credit of its market value source: CCA backgrounder taxation of artists and the arts, 2008)

Creative/Social Security policies

Social Security Laws and Measures to Support Self-Employed Artists: quantitative overview of 38 Eastern and Western European countries plus Canada and Russia, the majority (22) do not have any law for self-employed artists in place (among them: UK, Italy, Norway, Sweden Portugal). For those countries that have such laws, the extent and nature of measures differ widely from country to country. Examples of countries which have laws for self-employed artists: Austria Law on Social Security for Artists (2001) Estonia: Act on Creative Artists and Creative Artists' Unions (2004) Finland: Act on the Pensions of Artists and Some Particular Groups of Short -Time Workers (1985) France Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Artists (1977) The following are examples of countries which supply: 1. Pension supplements: Canada, Austria, France, Germany (22 out of 38) 2. Unemployment insurance: Estonia, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland (5 out of 38) 3. Both: 4 out of 38 (source www.culturalpolicies.net/, 2007) Website for artists where they can calculate the pension they can expect plus UK-wide free seminars on Pensions for artists which provide advice pension planning (source: www.pensionsforartists.org, 2008) Germany: Artists Social Fund (source: www.kuenstlersozialkasse.de), unique in Europe, offers statutory social insurance for self-employed artists /creative labourers. The artist only has to pay the employee part (in contrast to other self-employed workers who have to pay both employer and employee part) since industry users of the creative products together with the state pay the employer part, founded in 1982, revised in 2007) Status of the Artist legislation (addresses labour relations for self-employed professional artists, would make collective bargaining possible for self-employed artists, is a UNESCO initiative, adoption at different levels in different countries (example: Canada, source: Canadian Conference of the Arts (source: http://www.ccarts.ca/en/advocacy/bulletins/2007/1707.htm, 2007)

Appendix D:

A Social Economy Logic Model

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Vision: An expanded social economy able to make its full contribution to building resilient communities offering a good quality of life to all members. Societal Objectives Greater Social Inclusion Enhanced Self-Sufficiency Greater Equity of Outcome Inputs Financial Capital Knowledge/ Research Opportunities for Learning Activities and Structures Community Organizing and Planning Social Economy Enterprises Development of Community Infrastructure CED Organizations Human Capital Development Social Enterprise Development Organizational and Community Learning Private and Public Sector Partners Enabling Policies Infrastructure and Partnerships Improved Human Health Wealth Generation through Social Ownership

Sector Support Organizations and Networks Results Four Levels

1.. Economic and Social Benefits for HouseHolds 2. Organizational Capacity Building and Enterprise Development

3. Community and Systemic Changes

4. Measures for Building the Social Economy Sector

Examples: Employability and employment; earned income; knowledge and skills; enterprise development; affordable housing; child care; participation in civic affairs. Examples: Creation, expansion and modernization of social economy enterprises; revenue generation for reinvestment; management capacity of boards especially for enterprise development; community organizing, planning and learning; recruitment and retention of development organization boards and staff. Examples: Citizen participation in community building; partnerships and networks; community visions and strategic plans; integration of programs/ services; new structures and institutional capacities; community resilience. Examples: Enhanced capacity for communication and organizing within the sector; identification of priority issues for sector development; opportunities for peer learning and scaling up of effective practices; communication and collaboration with government; formulation of supportive policies and reduction of policy barriers.

Feedback loop for continuous learning and change: Check if 2. Organizational Capacity Building and Enterprise Development and 3. Community and Systemic Changes are contributing to fulfilling the outlined Vision.
Source: Caledonian Institute of Social Policy: http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/566ENG%2Epdf

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Policy papers Americans for the Arts (2007): Arts and economic prosperity III: The economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences. Retrieved Feb 5, 2008, from: http://www.artsusa.org/information_resources/ Australian Government (2003). Creative industries cluster study. Retrieved Feb 26, 2008, from: http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/cics/ Braun, Erik & Lavanga, Mariangela (2007). An international comparative quick scan of national policies for creative industries. Rotterdam. European Institute for Comparative Urban Research at the Erasmus University. Canadian Human Resource Council. 2002. Face of the future. A study of human resource issues in Canadas cultural sector. Ottawa. Retrieved Feb 18, 2008, from: http://www.culturalhrc.ca/research/ Cheney, Terry (2004). Cultural sector fast stats. Report to the Cultural Human Resources Council. Ottawa. Retrieved Feb 24, 2008, from: www.culturalhrc.ca/research/ Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2008). Creative Britain. New talents for the economy. Retrieved Feb 27, 2008, from: http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/ Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2006).Creative economy programme. Infrastructure report. Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: http://www.cep.culture.gov.uk Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2001). Creative industries mapping document. Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/ Department for Culture, Media and Sport (1998). Creative industries mapping document. Retrieved Feb 25, 2008, from: http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/ European Commission (2006). The economy of culture in Europe. Retrieved Feb 15, 2008, from: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/eac/sources_info/studies/economy_en.html Greater London Authority (2004). Londons creative sector. 2004 update. Retrieved Feb 15, 2008 From: http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/economy.jsp#creative Harvey, Jocelyn (2002). Creative management in the arts and heritage. Sustaining and renewing professional manage for the 21st century. Final report phase 1. Retrieved Feb 25, 2008, from: www.ccarts.ca/en/advocacy/publications/conference/documents/

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International Labour Organization (2004). The future of work and quality in the information society. The media, culture, graphical sector. Retrieved Feb 22, 2008, from: www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/ Leviten-Reid, Eric & Torjman, Sherri (2006). Evaluation framework for federal investment in the Social Economy. A discussion paper. Caledonian Institute. Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/566ENG%2Epdf Nordic Innovation Centre (2007). A creative economy green paper for the Nordic region. Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: http://www.nordicinnovation.net/prosjekt.cfm?Id=1-4415-272 Statistics Canada (2004). Economic Contribution of Culture in Canada. Retrieved Feb 10, 2008, from: www.statcan.ca/english/research/81-595-MIE/81-595-MIE2004023.pdf Statistics Canada (2004). Focus on Culture. Quarterly Bulletin from the Culture Statistics Programme, 15 (2). Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: www.dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/Statcan/87-004-XIE/ Statistics Canada (2004). Census metropolitan areas as culture clusters. In Trends and conditions of census metropolitan areas 89-613-MWE. Retrieved Feb 20, 2008, from: www.statcan.ca/english/research/89-613-MIE

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Selected online resources related to the creative economy Canadian Cultural Observatory : www.culturescope.ca The Conference Board of Canada: www.conferenceboard.ca International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies: www.ificca.org Creative Infrastructure report related to the UKs Creative Economy Programme: http://www.cep.culture.gov.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewBlogEntry&intMTEntryID=2989 United Nations Volunteer Programme: http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/browse/volunteering-issues/ Canadian Culture Statistics: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/87-008-GIE/about.htm http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/89-613-MIE/2004004/summary.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060612/d060612c.htm Cultural human resources in Canada: http://www.culturalhrc.ca/research/default-e.asp Information on the social economy: http://www.socialeconomyhub.ca/hub/index.php?page_id=9 Canadian non-profit sector: http://www.gdsourcing.ca/CIP/Websites-NP.htm