The Rise of Cultural Industries..A Curse or A Blessing

"The innovative cities of the coming age will develop a creative union of technology, arts and civics."

–Sir Peter Hall, renowned geographer and authority on the economic, demographic, cultural and management issues facing cities

(i) Behold the tinted blue dimensions of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), in all its architectural magnificence. At the forefront, her pixilated iris scans the outside world, as if picking and choosing who is worthy to enter and who shall remain as mere reflections in her wandering eye. For me, the opaque shield of glass towering high over me, makes me feel excluded. I can’t see them but they can see me….So I use it as a mirror to fix my hair. Her steel skeleton, by force, shelters me from the sun while at the same time casting large, ominous shadows…cold and unloving. Oh, how I’d love to see what lies behind her dense and unwavering gaze. How I long to wear fancy clothes, put on high heels, do my hair up ‘beauty queen’ style and see what wonders wait behind those solid glass doors. Will I walk into a wonderland of music, posh company, little things to eat on little tooth-picks, smiles and warm faces…cultured folk? Or, will I trip on my heels, the air condition making me wish I had walked with a shawl of some sought. Will I meet an overwhelming sea of things I don’t understand, people I can’t talk to, and food I can’t afford? The dark abyss, the bright and glorious portal from whence came ‘the creative class’?
For those who are absolutely confused after reading my unnecessarily cryptic and longwinded breakdown of the photograph I took this week, firstly, thank you for staying. Right, next I hope to discuss based on this picture and my analysis the theme ‘City Economies: The Rise of Cultural Industries’

(ii) In my last post about urban form and post colonial cities, I quoted from the book Urban Geography by Hall and Barrett. I will be using this book mostly, for my academic references for the duration of my ‘Facets of Urban Life’ blog, so bear with me.

City economies are discussed in chapter 4 of their book, and the section I want to relate back to the photograph deals with the emergence of ‘new’ sectors of the modern urban economies, specifically Creative Industries, also known as Cultural Industries.

According to Hubbard (2006), ‘the post industrial economy has been described as ‘dematerialized’ or ‘weightless’, where knowledge and creativity are the raw materials of economic prosperity’. Now, for those wondering exactly what I mean by terms such as ‘creativity’ and ‘creative industry’ used in the context of The Urban, I’m referring generally to the industries such as media, design, fashion, music, film production etc. that have been growing in popularity in some of the world’s major urban centres.

In terms of Trinidad: features such as NAPA (north and south Trinidad), the Naparima Bowl in south Trinidad and the Little Carib Theatre and Queen’s Hall in Port of Spain are symbols of theatre and orchestral activity. Mas Camps such as Hearts, Island People, Mac Farlenes, and Tribe alongside the fashion houses of Meiling (Meiling Inc.) and Claudia Pegus (Claudia Pegus Designs Limited) stand testament of our growing fashion design industry. Skinner Park in San Fernando and the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain both act as major cultural hubs during our Carnival season, which is coincidentally this week. Lastly, Exodus pan yard in Tunapuna and Trinidad All Stars pan yard in Port of Spain are just two of the many that scatter our twin island, reminding us of where the cultural industry in Trindad and Tobago began in the first place.

Referring back to the text, Hall and Barrett talk, from a urban geographical point of view, about the origins of the cultural spaces within cities. There is speculation that development of a creative sector originated from the regeneration of de-industrialized inner cities, however to generalize this statement would be risky as each city has its own story to tell. In light of this, Hubbard (2006) notes that there is little research at the moment on how creativity is produced and how it is practiced. However, whether it be creative individuals taking advantage of empty properties at low rents, urban regeneration programs run by governments or simply a gradual change in the priority of a country at large in terms of where future economies lie, the one thing that is certain is that more and more creativity is becoming an essential and viable aspect of urban economies.

On a final note in terms of the academic side of creative industries, I want circle back around to the idea in my initial analysis of the photograph that I was being excluded from what perks NAPA had to offer. The text mentions that some critics of the overly optimistic view of creative industries point out that in catering to the needs of the ‘well-off creative class’ they may ignore those of disadvantaged groups who may not get a chance to experience the benefits of this type of economic growth. A practical example in my opinion was NAPA itself, which I have only been to twice (one of which only happened because was a free show!). In the cultural sense, some critics are even arguing that certain cultures may be marginalized in the drive to foster the creative sector, leaving those not falling within those boundaries at the wayside. What can we say about this…

(iii) Some things you can take a look at:

• are the creative industries actually the destructive industries? http://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/2011/07/are-creative-industries-actually.html
• David Throsby talks about 'Valuation and the Cultural Sector' at Culture and the Economy (this is a bit long, but interesting) //www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnsZ3_bulqI