Creative Networks in Regional Australia

Abstract

Much recent academic and public discourse has centred on the fate of non-metropolitan Australia under successive federal neoliberal reform agendas. This paper discusses creative networks in non-metropolitan areas in light of this, with a focus on issues of youth unemployment and out-migration. First, it draws on research on creative industry development on the New South Wales Far North Coast to assess the efficacy of creative networks as a source of new job growth in rural areas. Second, and more broadly, the paper discusses the North Coast Entertainment Industry Association (NCEIA), a nascent creative network in the region. Several observations are drawn from its experiences. Creative networks in non-metropolitan areas face problems of informal and itinerant membership, and anti-socialisation attitudes, Yet they appear to have a substantial role in improving the conditions of viability for vulnerable cultural producers. When conceived as part of interventionist strategies to promote youth employment and to stem the youth exodus from rural areas, they may also have sociodemographic implications beyond the scope of their original intent.

Governing creative industries in the post-normative cultural condition

“…This rhetoric of markets, city branding and economic measurement is not new to cultural policy of the last 15 years. And it has been this predominance of economic value, at the expense of aesthetic or social values, that has been the primary concern of critique in the academic literature over this time (Belfiore 2018;Luckman 2018;O'Connor 2016;Gibson and Robinson 2004;Gibson 2002). These critiques could easily be applied to Creative State, which, in the course of its 36 pages uses the word 'markets' 26 times.…”

Mosquitoes in the mix: How transferable is creative city thinking?

“…Darwin's size and location provide direct challenges to the normative model of creative cities. In Australia, prior research has focussed on either major metropolitan centres of over one million people (Flew et al ., 2001; Landry, 2003; Hearn et al ., 2004), locations within striking distance of these capitals (Henkel, 2000; Cunningham et al ., 2003; Gibson & Robinson, 2004), or largely metropolitan‐based industries (Jacka, 2001; Goldsmith & O'Regan, 2003; Johnson & Homan, 2003). With a population of barely 75 000, including military personnel and families on extremely short rotations, Darwin does not have the human resource opportunities of other Australian cities.…”

Youthful Creativity in Regional Australia: Panacea for Unemployment and Out‐Migration?

“…Compounding these trends, in all local government areas within the region, youth unemployment rates remain well above the state average, in some cases even threefold (Gibson and Robinson, 2004). Unemployment rates for all ages are higher, but they are much worse for young people.…”