Creative Entrepreneurs and Creative Clusters in Shanghai

Prof. Justin O’Connor Dr. Xin GuQueensland University of Technology

About the Research• Australian Research Council (Linkage project) – Designing creative

clusters in China and Australia (2009 – 2012)• Five areas:

– Design (using urban informatics tools)– Theorization of cluster models in the west– Methdologies for ‘soft infrastructure’ in China and Australia– Mapping and Statistics– Management and business services– Intercultural policy exchange

‘those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property ’ (Department of Culture, Media and Sports, 1998)

The idea of ‘creative clusters’Initially used to identify why certain places persisted over time and adapted.

Clusters come from a complex set of sources and interpreted in different ways

Clusters about locality and embedded knowledge – not just agglomeration but ‘atmosphere’.

1980s: a way of pro-actively creating such areas.

Creative cluster as policy in UK

It is about:Urban RegenerationCity Branding, Re-imagine the city

It’s also about:Cultural/ Creative Industries – SMEs in particularShifted from generic business support to social networks

development services (eg. CIDS)Local vs. Global

Re-framing Creative Industries in China

China’s Creative Economy Era has arrived!

From ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’

It’s about ‘catching up’ the west; the successful western model have been replicated uncritically – especially ‘creative clusters’

Creative Cluster as policy in China

Post-industrial cities (such as Shanghai) – similar problems to the west, but different ‘language’

Creative Cluster Development Policy as Creative Industries Development Policy – recognize SMEs but gather them in clusters

Justify economic importance of creative clusters

The Shanghai Model

• Definition of Cis in Shanghai: Research and Development; Architecture and Design; Media

Communication; Design Consultancy; Fashion consumption • Industries re-structuring: it’s about value chain – to

retain talent and profits• Re-inventing its colonial past – city branding• Creative Industries as liberating and progressive: an

escape route for ‘cultural’ SMEs

Cluster Fever

Where are the profits in cluster development?

• Tax deduction• Rent deduction• Government Fund (differentiated by districts)• Advertisement• Big events/exhibition• Investment in surrounding properties• Shares in businesses within clusters

M50 – from grassroots to flagship

M50

‘Image Tunnel’

First Wave - From Artist to EntrepreneurArtist : Han Yu QiDirector of Image Tunnel

The Image Tunnel Contradiction

• ‘Han is not a real artist; she is a capitalist’• ‘Image Tunnel is no different to any other

commercial practices’• ‘Image tunnel ripped off my IP’• ‘Han is naïve’

Han: I am an artist first and cultural entrepreneur second!

From work studio to art market

Place of production and Place of consumption combined

It’s good because:• Networking• First hand knowledge about the art market• Co-brandingBut the problems are:• Noisy, increasing rent, disruption by visitors…• Hard to retain Cliché in an ‘open’ market• Being associated with ‘too commercial’

The ‘clustering’ effect

Deja Vu…

• Multimedia artist• It’s alright to make

money for artists• Marketization is good but

it’s a different kind of market

Second wave - Chen Hang Feng

Vitamin water Guy

Separation of Place of production and consumption

• It doesn’t matter whether it’s a cluster or not• It has to be cheap, very very cheap• I like quietness when I am working. So definitely

no visitors• Convenient

Chen: cultural entrepreneur is about learning as you go, you have to find your own way. This has always been the situation in China.

Don’t draw attention to yourself!

• Hideaway space for artists in the city• Limited infrastructure & Resources within the

cluster – it’s a strategy• Cluster has no recognition in the city, artists’

social activity happen elsewhere. It’s purely for production

• Unstable future – owned by the state, prone to be sold to commercial developer

Landscape of cultural economy in the city

• It’s about economic discourse, but also social and cultural ones

• Distinctiveness of local cultural economy• The ecology of ‘creative milieu’• Market embedded in local socio-cultural

context

• Creative clusters is not just place of production nor should it be about cultural consumption.

• The creative ecology demands substances that are able to connect creative entrepreneurs – their work and social life for the exchange of ideas.

• This will then lead to urban issues not vice verse.