Creative City Strategy Offers Five Key Recommendations
Auckland needs an over-arching strategy to unlock the potential of its creative sectors and grow the economy to make the city more globally competitive. This is a recommendation in the Committee for Auckland’s latest research report, Auckland as a Creative City, launched today (December 11, 2014).
The report follows on from its 2012 business case proposal Unleashing the Creative Economy which suggested that an effective, forward-thinking strategy is vital for Auckland’s success. It advances the case by offering five key recommendations to maximize value from the cultural and creative industries.
The Committee for Auckland is an independent, membership-based organisation established to make Auckland one of the world’s great places to live, work and play. Executive director, Heather Shotter says, “An overarching strategy should be developed in consultation with Auckland’s creative community, to support the development of Auckland as a creative city so we can harness value and compete with other global cities around the world for investment, talent and tourism”.
She says, Auckland has many incredible visionaries working within the creative sector. “However, creative leaders tend to perform their roles in silos. An assessment of current investment and funding sources would tell us if funding models are as effective as they could be, or whether alignment is needed to reflect the mutual importance of all creative activities.”
The report notes Auckland holds the majority of New Zealand’s creative talent, and the scale of the creative economy in Auckland is larger than anywhere else in New Zealand. Design, digital technology and film production have the potential to contribute significantly to growing Auckland’s economy, while other creative industries - music and the visual and performing arts - offer positive social outcomes as well as creating a city where talented people want to live. Film, literature, photography, theatre, visual art, dance and digital representation drive innovation and growth. Arts and culture are not only forms of entertainment for us to watch and participate in, they also influence how we see ourselves.
Reasons for investing in the creative sector are numerous, adds Ms Shotter. They include regenerating neglected urban space, celebrating a vibrant and diverse cultural scene, promoting economic development, improving sustainability, increasing tourist numbers, promoting participation in the arts, promoting social cohesion, developing small businesses and attracting skilled migrants.
Social benefits include establishing a sense of identity for the city, helping integrate newcomers and all citizens in city life, encouraging civic engagement and enhancing the quality of life.
The Auckland as a Creative City report acknowledges the considerable work already done by Auckland’s creative leaders and organisations to document the importance of Auckland’s creative industries and to establish their importance in developing a liveable city. But, an overarching strategy could “build on current creative activity to outline how to further develop and accelerate growth in Auckland’s creative industries”.
Ms Shotter says, “The key learning from this report is that Auckland must focus on what it wants to achieve and get the metrics in place to measure progress.”
The report recommends a mapping exercise to establish a comprehensive understanding of the scope of Auckland’s creative activity, current investment and funding sources to support and align activity.
By looking at seven large international creative cities, the research revealed some proven initiatives Auckland could share and examples of how to implement them. They included for example: establishing one office as the point of contact for the creative sector with connections to all organisations involved; supporting the co-location of creative/cultural clusters of talent; developing a Maori cultural centre; putting more signage around the city pointing the way to museums, green space and historic sites; producing an annual ‘Creative Auckland’ publication; creating new cultural walks and cycle trails and creating a forum for creative practitioners to collaborate and connect internationally.
To implement a strategy for Auckland as a Creative City, the report recommends establishing an advisory board to advise Auckland Council and its relevant Council Controlled Organisations, to ensure their plans and priorities are well-integrated.
“The advisory board, and the creative sector, needs a champion to drive implementation of a strategy,” says Ms Shotter.
