Creative Economy:
Diving Deeper

November 22, 2022 | CREATIVE ECONOMY, CALGARY

Oh ho ho!  You’re a brave bunch!

That tracks, because it takes courage to live creatively, especially in a world that doesn’t often know how to identify, measure, or value the creative economy.

Bear with us for a brief refresher.  

In July we explored three threads to describe the creative economy: creative industries, creative talents, and creative occupations (missed it? catch up here).  While creative industries have a high concentration of creative talent and occupations, we showed that creative talent and occupations exist beyond creative industries: think of graphic designers in oil and gas, user experience designers in tech start-ups, content writers for every business with a blog (hmm, that’s familiar). 

Our conclusion: The creative economy and its impacts are not limited to any single industry.

Still with us?  

Very good.  Get your flippers on because we’re swimming toward the deep end now.  If the creative economy isn’t limited to creative industries, then what are its limits? In a 2020 paper, Dr. AnneMarie Dorland and Dr. David Finch used the amazing research at Nesta, work from Heritage Canada, and EU models to propose a 4-sector Nesta Model of the creative economy that captured all the sub-sectors that have been identified so far.

Let’s have a look…

4-Sector Nesta Model

Why does this matter? 

A good model can:

• Help us identify what is contributing, what is growing

• Help us look at the large-scale outputs (e.g., cultural industries create culture!)

• Identify stakeholders and important creative economy players

• Focus the search for effective measures, policies, and actions

• Give us a more accurate vision of the creative economy’s reach and impact

This model isn’t the final word on the creative economy. Dr. Finch says, “there is no universally accepted topology (or "right" answer) to define and organize the scope of the creative economy [...] as a synthesis model, it should be considered dynamic and evolving as the space evolves.”  This reflects Dr. Dorland’s enthusiasm around the creative economy’s “sense of permeability, the way that people are able to move between sectors, the collaborations that happen”.  

Despite the evolving nature of this model and the creative economy, it’s important to address how people envision the creative economy because some models fail to recognize the full extent of the creative economy—artificially shrinking its impact. If the model used does not capture the full creative economy then it misses its full impact and growth. In that case, it’s kind of challenging for policymakers to understand why this burgeoning sector of the economy is a key player in economic diversification. Be sure to check out our interview with Dr. Dorland where she details the Nesta model in depth.

Dr. Dorland touches on the Nesta Model, as well as some of the drivers of Calgary’s creative economy (e.g., the need for innovation, attracting and retaining talented workers) and many other questions we lobbed her way.

Notable timestamps:

What inspires you to work in the creative economy?: 1:35

Regarding Alberta’s creative space, what makes it unique?: 3:15

Is there a sector in Calgary’s Creative Economy that is seeing the largest growth?: 4:38

Are different sectors valuing creativity more?: 7:10

An in-depth discussion on the NESTA Model: 9:20

What are you most hopeful for regarding Calgary’s growth in the creative economy?: 27:50