Can creativity save the British economy? A talk by James Heartfield

Images from the event. A transcript will follow soon.

Since the election of New Labour in 1997 creatives have been lauded as an increasingly important asset in the British economy, and creativity has been pushed as key characteristic business needs to adopt. In his Blueprint Broadside, ‘The Creativity Gap’, James Heartfield examined this contention statistically and critically. (The Broadside can be downloaded as a PDF or ordered via email from the Blueprint site.) He concluded that creativity would at best be only one component of a successful economic strategy, and that creatives shouldn’t expect to retain their current favour. In ‘Can creativity save the British economy?’ Heartfield will present and discuss his controversial thesis.

Respondents:

• Peter York, SRU Limited
  Kate Oakley, freelance writer and consultant

When: Wednesday 21 September, 6:30 for 7 PM (until 8:45 PM)
Where: The Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL (opposite the Royal Opera House) Map
RSVP by email
There is no payment to attend. Please email all enquiries to the RSVP address, not the Design Council.

James Heartfield has written extensively on regeneration and the creative industries, for Blueprint, the Guardian, and elsewhere. He published Creativity Gap with Blueprint this May, Great Expectations: the creative industries in the New Economy (Design Agenda, 2000) and Need and Desire in the Postmaterial Economy (Sheffield, 1998). He has worked with Seymour Powell Foresight, is a director of Audacity.org and is currently based at the Centre for the Study of Democracy.

This event is part of the London Design Festival, and supported by Blueprint magazine.

AIGA Experience Design
A collaboration with US-based AIGA (formerly the the American Institute of Graphic Arts), AIGA Experience Design is a forum investigating design using digital and networked technologies, in theory and in practice. Events are typically bi-monthly, at the Design Council in Bow Street, London WC2. Presenters are drawn from within the group, and a critical discussion is encouraged. There is no charge for attendance at most events. The audience is typically fifty to a hundred people, drawn from Web agencies, design companies, business consultancies, public companies, and institutions (such as the BBC).