Abstract
This chapter briefly explores the usefulness of Deleuze’s idea of exhaustion for thinking about cultural policy and the cultural and creative industries. It draws on recent research into small-scale cultural and creative production in Scotland to demonstrate that exhaustion is increasingly characteristic of the experience of working in the cultural and creative industries. First, it shows that extant models of cultural policy and cultural funding close down the possibility for creativity and expression on both the part of creatives and audiences. Second, it emphasises the exhaustion that stems from the patterns of working, exacerbated by distance from so-called ‘hub’ cities. Third it discusses how concern about the exhaustion of the natural environment is driving change in the cultural and creative industries.
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Notes
- 1.
In the last 10 years there have been significant improvements in ICTs, leading to growth in digital creative production, distribution, and consumption. The established creative industries and newer ‘digital industries’ are often grouped together as a separate economic sector—the ‘creative economy’.
- 2.
The chapter draws on material gathered as part of two research projects concerned with the support landscape for creative practitioners in Scotland. The first, ‘Supporting Creative Business’, was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The second, ‘Towards a model of support for the rural creative industries’, was funded by the University of Glasgow.
- 3.
- 4.
Indeed, in Creative Scotland’s (2016, p. 9) Creative Industries Strategy the ‘triple bottom line’ is identified as ‘economic, social and cultural value’ with no mention made of the environment. Creative Scotland, like all government bodies in Scotland, has a statutory requirement under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to contribute to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets. Creative Scotland’s Environment Policy (2013) is primarily concerned with the organization’s own operation, although Creative Scotland has in recent years implemented a number of initiatives relating to sustainability within the sectors they fund, including requiring funded organizations to report on their carbon footprints and sustainability initiatives, and offering advice and support to creative businesses on how to act more sustainably.
- 5.
This has been edited for clarity.
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Munro, E. (2020). ‘Exhaustion’ as a Driver of Change in the Creative Economy. In: Oakley, K., Banks, M. (eds) Cultural Industries and the Environmental Crisis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49384-4_13
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