Understanding Creative Industries Management and Policy

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: Simone Wesner
• Assessment: a 1500-word essay and a 3500-word essay

In this module we introduce concepts, structures and key elements of the creative industries that are required to run cultural organisations, including programming, strategic planning, budgeting and fundraising, evaluation, as well as policy development and analysis of policy implementation. We will cover conceptual approaches to current issues such as cultural diversity, sustainability and organisational identity, and seek answers to questions such as:

• What exactly are the creative industries and who defines them?
• Who are the key players in shaping cultural policy?
• What are the current trends in creative industries policy and management, and what are the underlying theoretical concepts influencing decision-making processes?
• What gets prioritised, and why do governments, funders and cultural organisations act in certain ways and not in others?

You will actively engage with developments across the wider arts sector, draw upon and share your own experiences, and contrast and compare examples from different cultural sectors and contexts. Throughout the module sets of case studies will be discussed, analysing managerial practice through a cultural policy perspective and understanding policy from a cultural business point of view. We fully encourage and foster an international perspective and strongly welcome assignments that focus on international issues and case studies. This module will underpin and enable your interpretations of creative industries policy and management in general, and facilitate your understanding of further modules.

Indicative syllabus

• Money and democracy
• Cultural diversity and leadership
• Ideology: managing value, beliefs in the creative industries
• Cultural identity and corporate culture
• Policy evaluation and big data in creative industries organisations
• Creative labour and management structures
• The notion of time and memory in the creative industries

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• understand and engage with interdisciplinary and international approaches to cultural policy and management
• demonstrate awareness of distinct theoretical perspectives and the relations and tensions between them
• critically analyse the way policy and management approaches intersect in practice
• demonstrate knowledge of analytical paradigms associated with managing cultural organisations.