Culture that works? Creative industries development in a working-class city

Abstract

Creative industries development has been underway in the city of Stoke-on-Trent for the past fifteen years. Two urban quarters, a creative industries network, 'design-led' regeneration initiatives, and live-work spaces for craft businesses are some of the main projects undertaken in this period. In the past year, this raft of developments has been augmented by a creative industries mapping exercise, and a subsequent funding bid that seeks to draw on UK government and European structural funds in order to act on the research findings, and to put their recommendations into operation. This paper reviews this process both in terms of the political, economic, social, cultural and spatial context of the city, and in terms of broader urban agendas. It provides something of a corrective to the rather 'rose-tinted' picture often drawn of the role and significance of the creative industries for future economic and cultural well-being. Stoke-on-Trent: 'The most working-class city in England'

The Turnover Club: locality and identity in the North Staffordshire practice of turning over ceramic ware

“…On the whole, research that explores the local identity of the Potteries has focused on pottery (and mining) exploring the public realm of work (Hart 2005;Popp 2003;Sarsby 1988) and the 'official' museum culture which also primarily focuses on art history and production. However, the experiences of pottery workers, their communities built around the pot banks, the decline of mining and pottery production locally, the urban and heritage legacy (Jayne 2000a(Jayne , 2000b) that developed alongside are all important parts of the local history and provide much basis for local pride, as can be seen in many studies of local knowledge, leisure, and museum visiting (DeBres 1991;Waterton 2011;Williams 2006). …”

“…Often Stoke-on-Trent is considered in the shadow of the cultural and economic regenerations practiced more successfully (Jayne 2004) in Manchester and Birmingham:…”

“…This important tradition in the literature, linking the decline afforded by deindustrialisation with cultural 'lack' focuses primarily on culture as spectacular, collective and public (Jayne 2000a(Jayne , 2000b(Jayne , 2004Edensor 2000). Notions of ordinary 'everyday culture' outside the public spaces of work, leisure palaces and streets -the culture of materiality, consumption, microcommunities -as significant in local stories tends to be neglected, although the attachment to the local food hero -the Staffordshire oatcake -is indeed documented in Edensor's et al (2000) collection.…”

Ancient objects with modern meanings: museums, volunteers, and the Anglo-Saxon ‘Staffordshire Hoard’ as a marker of twenty-first century regional identity

“…Johnson (1993) has suggested that the heritage of the pottery industry is reflected in local interest in craftwork skills. However, some have suggested that the shadow of the pottery industry has hampered efforts at regeneration, a situation exacerbated by the geographical make-up of the city as a conurbation of small towns (Jayne, 2004).…”

Mapping Creative Industries in the Zlin Region

“…'soft' location factors in terms of debate on the competitiveness of regions (Bontje & Musterd, 2009). The Zlín Region is selected for the analysis, with respect to traditional creative industries of the local economy, i.e., film production, design, and glass industry (see e.g., Bell & Jayne, 2003;Jayne, 2004).…”