While many initiatives will need to be seed funded at the outset, this document supports the philosophical stance that creative industries must be self-sustaining over time. It is not intended to instigate a series of initiatives that will rely on either public or private funding in order to continue. Partnership and tolerant ‘arms length’ involvement is to be encouraged. It is necessary to accept longer term, intangible benefits from investment.
In terms of large scale attempts to stimulate economies, it is believed that, subject to certain conditions being met, the creative economy can be funded at relatively modest levels in comparison to heavy or manufacturing industries and produce a much longer term result. The nature of creative industry is that it must adapt and change in order to survive. While this could be said of almost any industry, creative industries have these values at their core and deal with new ideas as a fundamental part of their existence.
In terms of evaluating the worth of the creative economy, there are many secondary factors that must be taken into account. While creative economic activity may be necessarily fragmented and seemingly frail, with many small companies forming and failing at regular intervals, the creative output of the companies and individuals will be on-going and vibrant. This brings very high associated values to a region in terms of public perception and branding. The economic and cultural effect of this is far reaching. Any region that specifically targets creative people and succeeds in stimulating the economy in this way will automatically become an international destination for people around the world.
location specific comments; Sapporo, Melbourne
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