Management of art and creative industry

Introduction

With this course students will develop insight into areas that will give them a broader foundation for leading organizations in the creative industries. Creative industry embraces a broad segment of cultural and economic activities, such as music, design, film, dance, theater, visual arts, and games. Here we find aesthetic expressions that challenge and entertain, art that is created for its own purpose, and creative products and services generated on a commercial platform. In these are organizations for which state funding makes up a substantial element of their financing we also find businesses that more or less exclusively generate their income on the market. But what these divisions of the art and creative industries have in common is that they are perceived by many as existentially meaningful. This is given expression by the energy spent by businesses to create content that contributes to covering our need to find meaning in what we do.    

Management can be found at many levels in creative industries -- from management of large companies and institutions, via management of teams, groups and smaller companies, to self-management where freelancers and self-employed assume responsibility for their own activities. Moreover, management and consultation are offered as services such as those we find in the area of management and agent services for artists, authors, actors and others.   

The course provides an introduction to central definitions, structures, logics and transitions that management in art and the creative industries should be aware of. As well as providing access to knowledge regarding the internal aspects of the creative industries, it also provides insight into the industry’s role in society and in the value of art and creative skills in other areas of working life.

Course content

The course approaches four topics, with emphasis on the three first:

1. What is creative industry?

• Businesses that are part of creative industry and their characteristics
• Creative industry in Norway and internationally
• How creative industry is distinguished from other activities
• Important distinctions of businesses and activities in creative industry

2. How do you create value in creative industry?

• Values based on art and creativity
• Commercial and cultural values
• Understanding the public and the market
• Facilitating and managing creative activities
• Organizing creative activities and production

3. What special framework conditions must be taken into consideration in creative industry?

• Historical anchoring
• Basic economic and technological prerequisites  
• National and international markets  
• Private and public players
• Political and social contexts: cultural policy and copyright

4. What relevance do art and creative skills have outside the scope of creative industry?

• The value of art and creative skills  

The facilitation and organization of creativity