What are creative industries?
Creative industries include those activities that are rooted in human creativity, skill and talent, and those that have the potential to multiply wealth and create new jobs through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.
The search for links between culture, science and business has resulted in the development of a new sector of the economy, called in the literature the sector/industry or creative industry. This concept began to develop relatively recently – at the end of the last century with the development of the concept of knowledge-based economy.
The World Intellectual Property Organization defines the creative sector as all industries whose activities include the creation, production, manufacture, presentation, broadcasting, exhibition, distribution and sale of goods protected by copyright. The combination of creativity with entrepreneurship, i.e. the ability to translate a developed idea into concrete action bringing benefits, is the basis for the emergence of the creative industry.
What subsectors belong to the creative sector?
The classification of creative sectors according to UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) is:
- Creative services (architecture, advertising, cultural services, creative R&D, recreation);
- New media (computer software, video games, digital creative content);
- Design (interior, graphic design, fashion, jewelry, toys);
- Publishing and print media (books, newspapers and other publications);
- Audiovisual media (film, television, radio, other broadcasting);
- Visual art (paintings, sculptures, photographs, antiques);
- Performance art (live music, theater, dance, opera, circus, etc.);
- Cultural sites (archaeological sites, museums, galleries, exhibitions, libraries);
- Traditional, cultural expressions (arts and crafts, festivals and celebrations).
What do creative industries look like in Lublin
Conducted researches (quantitative and qualitative) and analyses unanimously show great potential of Lublin as a city of creative and creative people. Creative sector has a potential to be a showcase of Lublin – not only a place of inspiration, but also a city famous for creative people, full of passion, commitment and quality in action.
At the end of 2017, there were 3364 registered creative sector entities in Lublin, while for the entire Lublin Functional Area it was already nearly 4400 entities. The report covering the period from 2009 to 2017 shows that the creative sector is growing by an average of 8% each year in the LOF, which, with an increase of 1.7% for all entities, is a very good result.
The report characterized ten subsectors: architecture, design, publishing market, film, music, radio and television, artistic events, games and software, advertising, and cultural institutions. The games and software subsector has the largest percentage share of the sector (32.6%), followed by advertising with 19.6% of the creative sector.
The creative sector is very diverse in terms of the form of activity, with a noticeable share of freelancers in the structure. The sector consists mainly of young enterprises – both in terms of the age of persons running it, and the length of time they have been operating in the market. A typical form of employment in the creative sectors are more often short-term contracts: a contract of specific work or a contract of mandate, than an employment contract, which results from the task/project specificity of the sector. The recipients of the activities of this sector are mainly local clients (40%), but 39% of persons have clients in different regions of Poland and/or abroad, which in the absence of specialisation and high dispersion of the sector should be regarded as a very positive phenomenon.
The main advantages of the city in the opinion of the respondents are: its size, cost of living, inspiring and eager to act people, observed positive changes over the past years in the city, the operation of many international organizations and initiatives, the gradual opening of entrepreneurs to the exchange of experiences (including FackUp Nights), and the large academic potential.
Conducted surveys and analyses have also shown many problems, which are faced by Lublin’s creative sector. The respondents paid attention to the lack of local demand and the lack of big orders from business (in effect the lack of challenges). Lublin is assessed as a “good place to start” city, but there are problems with stopping the outflow of valuable creative individuals to other cities. Apart from the aforementioned, the respondents indicated low salaries, low customer awareness, and lack of support for the sector. The most strongly felt needs are: integration of environment, help in gaining business knowledge and help in promotion, as well as financial support.