Last week, the Center for American Progress held a well-attended session entitled How to Keep the Fuel of Creation and Innovation Burning and the definition of creative economy included folk arts, film architecture, the video game industry and publishing. In an example given of how creative economy does not just employ "creative types," there was mention that movies also involve truck drivers and accountants.
The forum was moderated by Judy Woodruff (The NewsHour on PBS) and the panelists were:
Paris Barclay (First Vice President, Directors Guild of America and Emmy-Award winning Movie and Television Director and Producer, whose credits include Glee);
Thomas L. Friedman (Foreign Affairs Columnist, The New York Times);
Bill Ivey (Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University; former chairman of the NEA); and
Stephen Siwek (Principal, Economists Incorporated and author of Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software).
Individuals on the panel differed in their opinions of whether or not the creative economy is ailing and of course tended to remark on their particular segment of the creative economy. Friedman stated that it the creative economy is thriving, but it is being stifled by a lack of government policy to usher it through. Siwek touched on this idea later, stating that education is not keeping up with technological innovation.
There was talk of copyright and Siwek uses the production of copyrighted works in his definition of creative economy. Barclay mentioned that hit movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was downloaded 11 million times and noted that if a product was not profitable (ie. losing out on possible profits because it is available for free), investors won't give money. He added that we would not make cars and give them out for free. This went along with his conclusion that we need to recognize that creative people can make a living. (During the Q&A, an audience member, who self-identified as a millennial, took Barclay to task asking how could he talk about creativity and complain about internet piracy).
Ivey tied some of the lack of profitability to the aggressive marketing of U.S. culture and at one point there was a question about whether or not the discussion centered on creativity in the economy or the creative economy.
Perhaps the best advice for creative types (or for anyone really) is what Friedman said about how
'average work will not produce average wages; it will bring in below average returns.' He told the story of a Camden Yards lemonade vendor who sold the same product as other vendors, but did it with so much pizzazz, he was able to outearn his colleagues.
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