Growing the creative industries in Townsville
Other Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
[Extract] This partnership and project between Townsville City Council and James Cook University focussed on key sub-sectors of the creative industries in Townsville, specifically architecture, design, advertising and marketing, software and digital content and film. Over the course of the 2014 and 2015 calendar years, both Council and JCU staff worked extremely hard to engage with both the creative industries sector and businesses from the wider economy, to develop a stronger understanding of the supply of and demand for creative services in the local economy, as well as what services are exported and imported. The study featured strong interest and support from the local creative industries community. Creatives are typically passionate, motivated and self-driven individuals and Townsville is home to a significant number of such people. The supply of creative industries services is quite strong. While there are some instances where specialist skills are lacking in the city or not easily identifiable, in general the majority of services needed for effective industry activity can be found within the city. At the same time, there is a branding and profiling issue, in that the sector is fragmented and in need of a unified voice. There is a key opportunity for those within the sector to come together and create that brand and voice. In terms of the demand for creative services in the city, there is once again a general feeling that most specialist skills can be found and utilised. Clients of local creative industries businesses are generally satisfied with the products or services they receive. There is a sense of strong support for local businesses in Townsville. Nevertheless, our study confirms that there is a significant loss of creative work to capital cities, online or other providers, with many major projects lost to local practitioners. While at one level this is a challenge, it also represents an opportunity for creative industries practitioners to look at collaborating, clustering and developing a stronger brand presence in order to win some of the lucrative contracts and projects that will continue to be available. This will take time, leadership and effort but is something very achievable for those willing to invest in the process.
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40
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City of Townsville
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Townsville, QLD, Australia
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