Premium
Time, rhythm and the creative economy
Author(s) -
Jones Phil,
Warren Saskia
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/tran.12122
Subject(s) - austerity , intermediary , bureaucracy , contradiction , inclusion (mineral) , creative work , sociology , creative industries , creative economy , work (physics) , economics , economy , political science , social science , creativity , politics , law , finance , philosophy , epistemology , mechanical engineering , engineering
Creative practice is fetishised in the policy discourse of post‐industrial economies as a driver of growth and social inclusion. Conceptually, we advance Lefebvre's incomplete rhythmanalysis project by combining the ideas of dressage and arrhythmia to give novel insights into contradictions within the contemporary creative economy. Our analysis shows dressage (practices learned through repetition) being used as a means to impose unsustainable (‘arrhythmic’) patterns of working within the creative sector. Cultural intermediaries, practitioners whose work focuses on engaging communities with the benefits of the creative economy, are today finding themselves chasing short‐term, bureaucratic demands on their time, which operate counter to the rhythms of creative production. This paper draws on interviews and activity diaries kept by intermediaries collected as part of a large AHRC ‐funded project. We conclude that the rhythmic regimes being imposed on intermediaries by policymakers and funders are in fact driving out the very creative practices they are intended to foster. This contradiction has major implications for growth, social inclusion and wellbeing in an age of neoliberal austerity.