TASA 2015 PLENARY
‘CREATIVITY AND REGIONAL INNOVATION: CULTURE, ECONOMY AND
PLACE’
One of the interesting paradoxes regarding globalization, and growing levels of cultural
and economic interconnectedness, is that place seems to matter more and more.
Concepts like regionalism, regional identities and regional development have gained
traction in sociology, geography, economics, marketing, tourism, urban and cultural
planning. These days everything from the making, selling and marketing of agrifoods
to the ability to mobilize human, and other types of, capital seems to hang on the
importance of regionality and the dynamics place. Regions have come to be
appreciated for their character and traditions, as well as for their capacity for innovation
and renewal. In keeping with these themes, this plenary will address questions such
as: to what extent is regional social, cultural, ecological and economic futures
predicated on embracing the challenges of creativity and innovation? Is it enough to
pursue so-called ‘iconic’ projects and build new stadiums, new ports or airports, new
museums that photograph well, or for governments to pour money into regional
universities? Is regional innovation by definition place-specific and, if so, how are
governments, corporations, civic organizations and communities meant to design and
implement place-specific models of renewal? And, what is the difference between
projects that provide a short-term dose of glamour and/or increased sense of
dynamism and those that are sustainable and likely to contribute to a richer experience
of place and the long-term wellbeing of the community?
CONVENOR:
Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Senior Lecturer in Creativity and Innovation, James Cook
University
PRESENTERS:
Professor Terry Flew, Professor of Media and Communication, Queensland University
of Technology
Professor Susan Luckman, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of South Australia
Professor Adrian Franklin, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania
Mr Warwick Powell, Chairman of Sister City Partners and Director of Urban Analytics,
and Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Senior Lecturer in Creativity and Innovation, James
Cook University
PRESENTATIONS
Title: "Cultural Economy and Uneven Development: Reclaiming the Economic
Potential of Regions Through Culture"
Presenter: Professor Terry Flew, Professor of Media and Communication,
Queensland University of Technology
Abstract: It is increasingly apparent that culture in a variety of forms is playing an
increasingly important role in national economies, particularly in those areas where it
intersects with digital technologies. In considering how these developments interact
with issues of place, there are two distinctive, and possibly contradictory trends, at
work. On the one hand, the combined effect of clustering effects, agglomeration
economics, and the dynamics of global city-regions have generated powerful
centralising tendencies in the global cultural economy. The London-centric nature of
economic and cultural development in the United Kingdom over the last two
decades, in the context of many of the most active policies to develop creative
industries and the cultural economy, is one of the clearest examples of this. At the
same time, there are a variety of developments taking place around culture-led
development in smaller cities and regions, particularly in North America, but also in
parts of Australia. This presentation will consider the trends and counter-trends, and
some possible implications for policy-makers, civic organisations and communities
undertaking culture-led and place-specific modes of renewal through cultural
economy strategies.
Title: “Crafting ‘Bottom-Up’ Cultural Industries: The opportunities for, and challenges
of, artisanal regional and rural economies”
Presenter: Professor Susan Luckman, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of
South Australia
Abstract: The economic re-structuring of the 1970s which saw the decline of
industrial cities and jobs in many urban centres as cheaper labour was found
offshore, has had a parallel economic shift in the countryside in the global West
which, as Bell and Jayne write, has seen the rise of diversified rural economies
aimed at least in part at ‘attempting to offset declines in traditional rural production’
(Bell and Jayne, 2010, p. 210). For many regions, this has led to the cultivation of
artisanal food and other cultural consumption activities which tap into current
consumer demand for shortened supply chains (as per farmer’s markets), and a
greater sense of locational provenance as the basis of enhanced value to the (middle
class) consumer. Local rural and regional cultural industries development, and with it
the attraction and retention of creative workers, fits neatly into such models of a
‘post-productivist countryside’ (Halfacree, 1997; Wilson, 2001), which acknowledge a
shift in local economic foundations from purely agricultural production to an emphasis
on the countryside as also a site for ‘consumption, tourism and recreation’ (Bell and
Jayne, 2010a). As I’ve argued previously (Luckman et al. 2009), there are limits to
the transferability of creative policy ideas and only so many high profile cultural
institutions to go around, thus local governments should look to organically develop
existing local strengths in order to encourage sustainable development. Such
grounded, nuanced, locationally specific, approaches have the added benefit of
offering points of difference in a global marketplace where even creative placemaking scripts (including potentially those around regional artisanal consumption)
can start to replicate one another, at the expense of offering visitors a sense of the
unique. In light of the recent federal budget’s emphasis on small business as a key
feature Australia’s economic, this presentations draws upon my research into craft
economies, rural, regional and remote cultural practitioners and tropical creative
cities to consider both the richness and complexities involved in the nurturing of local
sole traders and SMEs as the basis of regional artisanal economies.
Title: “Museum Effect? Regional Sources of Success at the Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao and MONA”
Presenter: Professor Adrian Franklin, School of Social Sciences, University of
Tasmania
Abstract: Given its decidedly unreliable track record the 'just add a smart museum'
formula for urban regeneration has had surprising traction and influence. Though
numerous scholars have pointed out the pitfalls and foolishness of seeking to
recreate the Bilbao Effect elsewhere, rather less attention has been paid to the icon
itself, or other variants of the 'museum effect' such as MONA. Why did they
succeed? We know that the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was very much part of a
wider and lavishly funded regeneration package and that MONA succeeded despite
not having one at all. We do not why these two both succeeded in the way they did.
Both projects were primarily designed to attract tourists and in both museums 88% of
their visitors are tourists travelling long distances to get there. In both places they
are considered worthwhile flows of art tourists. Richard Rogers and Anne Power's
take on the GMB was that if a rustbelt town like Bilbao with no experience of tourism
could do it, 'then so can Britain's ex-industrial cities'. It was as if the experience of
hosting visitors was not a prerequisite; that places travellers had always visited held
no particular advantage – and vice versa. This presentation examines these
assumptions and finds them wanting, spectacularly so in the case of Bilbao. Equally,
as a very particular kind of place Hobart offered MONA considerable advantages that
few other places have. In both places, their regional history and culture were vital to
their life chances as a museum.
Title: “The Spectre of Tropical Embodiment: Townsville’s Strand and Urban
Renewal Mythology”
Presenters: Mr Warwick Powell, Chairman of Sister City Partners and Director of
Urban Analytics, and Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Senior Lecturer in Creativity and
Innovation, James Cook University
Abstract: The cultural spectre of the Strand casts a long shadow in dry tropical
Townsville. It has been 15 years since 2.2km of oceanfront was redeveloped into
public parklands, bicycle and running tracks and water playgrounds after cyclones
damaged the previous rock walls. It remains as popular today as it was when it first
opened. As a totem of a city government’s successful foray into experimental urban
decoration, the Strand is now invoked as an iconic project that speaks to the
boldness of civic leaders in the face of a hostile and skeptical public. When in doubt
invoke the Strand seems to be the dominant political-cultural rhetorical trope. This
paper critically interrogates this rhetorical trope by re-considering the Strand’s
success through phenomenological and socio-aesthetic lenses. In doing so, it places
the invocation of the Strand in the context of current debates about CBD renewal as
reflected in proposed public funding of a new stadium, convention centre and
associated boardwalks on the south bank of the Townsville CBD Ross Creek.
Through these lenses, we are able to understand what it is that makes the Strand
“work”, and why crucially that its invocation falls short of the ambitions of those who
seek to enroll it into the larger cause of urban renewal.