Framework for ideas

In the planned economy that dominated China for more than three decades since 1949, some viewed the creative arts as an indulgence that had little monetary worth.

This mindset of culture being elitist changed gradually over the last 30 years, and with the dawn of the new century came a realization that culture and creativity could be lucrative.

Now, creative industries are hot and dozens of cities have identified the sector as being a "point of growth" during the 11th Five-year Plan (2006-2010).

Recently, Beijing hosted its second annual Cultural and Creative Industry Expo. Also, last Friday saw the launch of the International Creative Industries Alliance (ICIA), which will work initially as a platform for sharing information and investment channeling for creative institutions such as design firms and digital arts studios.

These moves may follow calls from the central government to build an "innovative society", but do such industries have real economic potential? Is it possible for creativity to be profitable in this ancient nation?

More specifically: how can Beijing's ICIA enrich a city that is already hotbed of creativity? And, how will the capital make money from its status as China's cultural heartland?

Officials are optimistic. "Creative industries will contribute up to 12 percent of the Beijing's GDP by the end of the 2010, and become the real cornerstone of the capital's economy," says Chen Dong, deputy director of the municipal government's Creative Industry Development Group.

Chen, who is also deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Beijing Municipal Communist Party Committee, says that to reach this goal Beijing can learn a lot from creative giants like London.

In the United Kingdom, where the term "creative industries" was first coined, the creative sector is growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy and contributes 8.2 percent of GDP. It should be noted that, unlike China, the UK government does not include traditional sectors like tourism under its banner of "creative industries".

The UK definition encompasses advertising, architecture, art and antiques markets, design, fashion, film, music, the performing arts, software, and television and radio.

Last week leading creative industry thinkers from the UK were invited to advise Beijing officials.

Michael Bichard, president of the University of the Arts, London, says that the creative sector is unique because more than 90 percent of its businesses are very small. "It is believed that a business cannot be creative enough when it is large," he says. "It is also important for the health of the economy to have a lot of successful small

businesses."

A prime example of this is in the UK's publishing industry, where more than 85 percent of the country's 3,500 publishing houses employ less than 10 people, and only 2 percent employ more than 100 people, according to the UK Trade and Investment Creative Industries Unit.

Another common characteristic of creative businesses is uncertainty, says unit head Claire Williamson.

"If you write a book and if a publisher agrees to publish it, he will take a risk without knowing whether it will be a success or not. He sells 100 books that don't work out, and then one goes well and covers the cost," she says. "That applies to arts in general. The risk is big and risk management is very important."

She cited the publisher of the Harry Potter series - Bloomsbury Publishing Plc - as an example. The 21-year-old independent, London-based publishing house was known for literary novels, but its growth is mainly due to the adventures of the boy wizard. Globally, the Harry Potter series has been translated into more than 60 languages and prompted sales of 325 million books, earning $6 billion. "It is a real example of British-ness," Williamson says.

For creative industries to develop, there needs to be a nationwide belief that "culture and creativity are the foundations of the society," she says. "People need to highly value individuality, and feel the desire for the cutting edge end of creativity. There needs to be a stage for the most bizarre, the most controversial and the newest. All the creative industries flow from this attitude. Business people are exploiting it."

As for the government, it has to decide which specific creativity industry it should focus on. It then must set up a framework to support a range of creativity businesses, Williamson says.

The framework should include changes to education policy to encourage creativity, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, helping businesses source investment, new trade and tax regulations, and the establishment of international connections in the creative sector.

Within this framework, Bichard believes that it is vital for the business world to be involved in the education system. "Most of our lecturers are also business people," he says. "It is our rule that lecturers are not to be left out of what is going on in the business world, if we want our students to be well informed and creative."

This way, talented creative students will have better access to industry players, he said, adding that 60 percent of the designers who made their presence at the London Fashion Week were lecturers and students at his university.

Martin Darbyshire, president of leading design firm Tangerine, agrees. "We should combine business education with design education, and have designers better understand the commercial world," he says. "The iconic designers know best about trading their names. They are very sharp business people, and their brand is themselves."

Darbyshire, who is famous for his work with Samsung and British Airways, says that the greatest asset Chinese design firms have is their speed - they can react quickly. But he also stresses that they must be more strategic and need to be included in boardroom discussions about their manufacturer clients.

"The process of designing is questioning where the product should be positioned in the market," he says.

Darbyshire's firm and Bichard's university were both involved in Beijing's ICIA, which is made up of more than 80 creative organizations from over 20 countries, such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, the Hong Kong Film Development Committee and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

For Beijing to develop its creative industries the most important step is develop an environment where trial and error is an accepted process, says Wang Yudong, director of the Beijing Gehua Cultural and Creative Industries Center.

"What we want most is tolerance," he says. "Mistakes must be accepted as a stage of growth."

(China Daily 11/14/2007 page20)