Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities

It is well known within the creative industries that a pilgrimage overseas can be an important part of career development. All too often, however, the pilgrimage is a one-way journey and crucial talent is lost. Just as creative capital is lost overseas, the dominance of cities as the centres of Aust...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bennett, Dawn
Other Authors: Paul Maginn
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14426
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author Bennett, Dawn
author2 Paul Maginn
author_facet Paul Maginn
Bennett, Dawn
author_sort Bennett, Dawn
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It is well known within the creative industries that a pilgrimage overseas can be an important part of career development. All too often, however, the pilgrimage is a one-way journey and crucial talent is lost. Just as creative capital is lost overseas, the dominance of cities as the centres of Australia's knowledge- or experience-based economy leads to migration of the creative workforce from regional centres and smaller cities such as Perth, lessening the potential for those areas to sustain economic growth. Given the globalised nature of creative industries and the emergence of new technologies, this study asks whether migration loss could be turned into cultural gain. The study involves Western Australians living and working overseas or 'over East' in a wide variety of artistic fields. Participants answered questions relating to personal and professional connectedness, the career impact of their migration, future plans, and their perceptions of the Western Australian cultural environment. Initial results revealed that most creative migration is due to a lack of opportunities and the appeal of larger markets. Despite retaining strong personal connections with their place of origin, participants artistic connections were tenuous and artistic involvement was negligible. Implications from the study, which is ongoing, include the need to actively value and engage with creative migrants and to foster their continued involvement in the cultural life of our cities and regions. In doing so, there is the potential for creative migration to become a positive element of our cultural identities.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-144262022-12-09T05:23:42Z Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities Bennett, Dawn Paul Maginn Roy Jones creative cities creative workforce creative capital It is well known within the creative industries that a pilgrimage overseas can be an important part of career development. All too often, however, the pilgrimage is a one-way journey and crucial talent is lost. Just as creative capital is lost overseas, the dominance of cities as the centres of Australia's knowledge- or experience-based economy leads to migration of the creative workforce from regional centres and smaller cities such as Perth, lessening the potential for those areas to sustain economic growth. Given the globalised nature of creative industries and the emergence of new technologies, this study asks whether migration loss could be turned into cultural gain. The study involves Western Australians living and working overseas or 'over East' in a wide variety of artistic fields. Participants answered questions relating to personal and professional connectedness, the career impact of their migration, future plans, and their perceptions of the Western Australian cultural environment. Initial results revealed that most creative migration is due to a lack of opportunities and the appeal of larger markets. Despite retaining strong personal connections with their place of origin, participants artistic connections were tenuous and artistic involvement was negligible. Implications from the study, which is ongoing, include the need to actively value and engage with creative migrants and to foster their continued involvement in the cultural life of our cities and regions. In doing so, there is the potential for creative migration to become a positive element of our cultural identities. 2009 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14426 Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd fulltext
spellingShingle creative cities
creative workforce
creative capital
Bennett, Dawn
Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title_full Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title_fullStr Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title_full_unstemmed Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title_short Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities
title_sort creative ex-pats: globalisation and creative communities
topic creative cities
creative workforce
creative capital
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14426