The UAE emirate of Fujairah has anounced plans for a completely new media innovation cluster called ‘Creative City’. According to the TradeArabia News Service
“Creative City will complement existing media clusters in the region, and further facilitate creativity in all fields, for both freelancers as well as companies in a variety of specialties, such as training, […]

Here is a nice commentary on creative industries and the Jamaican economy. Clyde McKenzie starts by illustrating Jamaica’s problem as follows:
“The problem to me is akin to man who has great athletic potential but has an injury to his feet and is waiting on his limbs to heal themselves without his intervention.”
McKenzie’s main concern […]

Another chapter on how China is strolling away from the industrial economy:
Shanghai to invest in creative industries by Zhang Shunyi — THE Shanghai government will invest more in creative industries to reduce reliance on the manufacturing sector.

Interesting article by Marty Logan about different perspectives on the global obsession to protect (national) cultures as a way of preserving diversity.
I really like the comment made by Gerfried Stocker, director of the Ars Electronica cultural institute in Austria: “by this fury of preservation we forget how to create. We don’t ask what are the […]

New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs has released a report titled ‘Current Trends & the Economic Status of Pacific Peoples’. The report serves as a first step towards a Pacific Prosperity Strategy. That strategy is defined by the Ministry as ‘a planned strategic economic framework for increasing the economic contribution of Pacific peoples’.
The creative […]

Today, at the Rotterdam CityLive2005 Conference, Amsterdam’s creative advisor Evert Verhagen presented a new book on creativity and the city. Coinciding with that presentation the new CreativeCity.nl website was launched. A couple of weeks ago Evert, KL’s Joeri van den Steenhoven, NIROV’s Anne Hemker and I came up with the idea to revive the Creative […]

Competition in creative industries can also come from works that are very old. This is what Dutch writers and publishers experienced today. The new Dutch translation of the Bible has been chosen as the Book of the Year 2005.
In an open contest, people could vote for their favourite book. Six Dutch books had been nominated […]

Yesterday, Auckland City published the results of an in-depth analysis of creative industries in the Auckland region.
Of New Zealand’s estimated 36,540 creative sector full time employees, 18,730 are located in the Auckland region, with 73 per cent of these located in Auckland City. Full time positions in these industries in Auckland City have been growing […]