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This article examines the renewed popularity of the handmade by examining the current renaissance in the street credibility of previously disparaged women's craft practices, particularly those employing yarn (for example knitting, crochet, needlepoint and weaving) and fabric (sewing, felting). The author historically locates current debates around craft production and creative work by drawing upon the British Arts and Crafts movement, with its own longstanding association with women's' labour in the home and desire to realise sustainable ethical labour practices. Notably, both the periods under discussion mark profound shifts in the economic organisation of society – then, the Industrial Revolution; now the de-industrialisation of much of the 'industrialised' world and the rise of the (digitised) knowledge economy – and see a concurrent increase in the popularity of the handmade original as a desirable aesthetic object.

This article examines remoteness and proximity as geographical conditions and metaphors. It stems from a large government-funded research project which sought to examine the extent and uniqueness of the creative industries in Darwin*a small but important city in Australia's tropical Top End region, and government and administration capital of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. In talking to creative artists from diverse fields about their work and inspiration, it became clear that geographical positionality was a key framing device through which people understood themselves and their relationships with others. Remoteness and proximity were tangible in the sense of physical distances (Darwin is remote from southern States, and yet proximate to Asia and Aboriginal country). But Darwin's location was also perceived and imagined, in cultural texts, in creative workers' discussions of Darwin in relation to the outside world, and in their sense of the aesthetic qualities of the city's creative output (particularly shaped by multicultural and Aboriginal influences). We develop our analysis from 98 interviews with creative workers and postal surveys returned by 13 festival organisers in Darwin. Qualities of distance, proximity, isolation and connection materially shape a political economy of creative industry production, and infuse how creative workers view their activities within networks of trade, exchange and mobility.

This paper contributes to recent debates about whether urban policy discourses are transferable and what is at stake in their translation. It draws on discussion of Darwin (Northwest Territory, Australia), a tropical savanna location that the local government wants to promote as a 'creative city', without quite knowing what this might require. We discuss relevant debates on research knowledge construction, the creative city and the path-dependent character of neoliberal governmental objectives. We then turn to the geographical, demographic and cultural characteristics that make Darwin a challenging and distinct context for translation of global theories of creative city rejuvenation. As well as arguing a case for more nuanced, locationally specific, analysis of the capacity of places to embrace travelling policy discourses, we suggest ways in which creative city research can be refreshed through engaging with literatures on (post)colonial urban politics and intersections with policy initiatives other than those targeted at 'creative industries' per se. We systematically outline the particular challenges that tropical cities in remote locations provide to accepted wisdom about creativity-led urban planning.

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Australia has witnessed long-standing cuts in the arts and culture federal budget. Most recently, the disappearance of the arts portfolio into a "super-ministry" along with infrastructure, transport, regional development and communications further signals the lack of support, both ideologically through public rhetoric, and financially through (absent) support packages, the current federal government holds towards the arts and arts workers. This paper accounts for how such ideological fractures have underserved freelancers, casuals, temporary and part-time workers in the arts who missed out on the critical initial support packages, and how state governments were more willing to make up for this initial shortfall. This paper further accounts for how the federal government lacks the necessary understanding of working patterns of those engaged in creative occupations, and over emphasizes funding bailouts for primary industry. This also has broader implications for how women are disproportionately impacted by sectors the federal government chooses to support.