Developing Creative Economies in Africa

Spaces and Working Practices

Brian J. Hracs, Roberta Comunian, Lauren England

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000441048
• Subtopic: Media & Communications Industry
• Index: Business

Bringing together the experience of academics and practitioners, this book discusses creative economies in Africa, focusing on changing dynamics related to working, co-working and clustering.

The contributors in this volume examine how strategies and opportunities such as co-working spaces, clustering and hubs facilitate the emergence of creative industries in a range of African countries including Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa. They also consider the importance of creative intermediaries in providing opportunities and platforms for the development of creative economies in Africa. The chapters present a range of case studies and practices that engage with how creative and cultural producers embrace some of the limits and challenges of their local context to creatively deliver opportunities for economic as well as social and cultural development in their cities and regions.

This book will be of interest to students, scholars and professionals researching the creative economies in Africa across the humanities and social sciences.

All the royalties from the publication of this book will be donated to the not-for-profit organisation The Craft and Design Institute (CDI) (https://www.thecdi.org.za/) in South Africa, supporting capacity building for young creative practitioners from disadvantaged backgrounds.

1 Introduction

Brian J. Hracs, Roberta Comunian and Lauren England

The research journey

This book is the second of two edited collections that have emerged as a result of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded international research network connected to the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) entitled Understanding and Supporting Creative Economies in Africa: Education, Networks and Policy (2018–2020). The network has allowed the authors to not only engage with the current research, knowledge and practices of African creative economies but also to collect data first-hand about their development and trajectories. We have tried to adopt an inclusive perspective and definition of creative economies, beginning by mapping current knowledge and approaches but also considering how the newly established network could contribute to a better understanding of the sector. We nevertheless remain aware of its limitations, particularly regarding the geographical scope of the book as well as the methodological perspective adopted.

Researching in Africa and writing about Africa

Throughout the project we have been conscious of the claim of researching creative economies in Africa. The size of Africa and the impossibility for our chapter selection to represent all its diversity of contexts, histories and conditions is a clear challenge for the research and this edited book. Our research network limited its activities to three African countries, where fieldwork was undertaken in 2019: Nigeria (April 2019), South Africa (June 2019) and Kenya (September 2019). However, within this book the contributions stretch to a broader range of countries, namely Kenya (Chapter 2) Uganda and South Sudan (Chapter 3), Nigeria (Chapters 5 and 6), Uganda and Tanzania (Chapter 7) and South Africa (Chapters 8 and 9). While the contributions can still only represent a few African countries and case studies, we believe the value of the themes and approaches discussed can not only have an impact across many other African countries but also provide broader lessons beyond the African continent.

Researching complex creative economies

Having previously studied creative economies extensively (but not in the context of Africa), we were very aware that studying creative economies requires a complex understanding of a range of factors and forces across various scales (Comunian, 2019). At the micro-scale, we had previously looked at dynamics of work (Comunian, 2009), learning practices (England, 2020) and markets for creative individuals (Hauge and Hracs, 2010). By extension we were also very aware of the role of place (Brydges and Hracs, 2019) as well as policy frameworks (Comunian et al., 2021) in supporting or hindering the development of creative economies. However, given limitations on time (a two-year project) and resources, the best approach was for us to focus on the meso-level and the role of networks and intermediaries (Hracs, 2015; Comunian et al., 2022) in creative economies. While this remains a partial perspective on the whole system, it nevertheless gave insights into the activities of creative and cultural practitioners (micro-level) and the high-level policy frameworks in which these intermediaries operated (macro-level). This provided a bird’s-eye view on creative economies from the perspective of different organisations and individuals that work towards supporting and developing them.

With the specific framework provided by these two considerations, four key themes emerged in our research and exchanges with colleagues and researchers in Africa.

In the first book (Comunian et al., 2021) we considered the role of higher education and policy for the development of creative economies in Africa. In this book we explored the role of creative spaces, such as hubs and clusters, and the working practices, such as coworking and collaboration, that underpin the development of creative economies in Africa.

Defining the sector for inclusivity and sustainability

In order to understand the chapters included in this book and the contribution they make it is vital to define what we mean by creative economies. It is crucial to clarify how this term connects with other terms used in the literature and by different authors in this book, namely creative and cultural industries (CCIs), creative economy and creative and cultural policy (CCP).

Since the 1998 DCMS Mapping Document attempted to define the creative industries in the UK, much attention has been paid to trying to measure and define the sector internationally. The creative industries have, however, been considered a very narrow model to adopt internationally and have been widely criticised for their commercial focus (DCMS, 1998). The use of the term creative and cultural industries or CCIs in the book acknowledges a broader and more encompassing understanding.

UNCTAD (2010) and UNDP and UNESCO (2013) position the creative economy in an international framework and as an evolving concept connecting creative activities and goods with the potential for development. We build on the work of UNDP and UNESCO (2013: 12) who acknowledge a “multitude of different local trajectories found in cities and regions in developing countries”. We assert that it is crucial to acknowledge that there is not one single creative economy but a multiplicity of creative economies which can feature overlapping and diverging agendas. This accounts for the range of business models and objectives which often expose the connection between creativity and cultural development (Wilson et al., 2020).

In existing literature and policies two often overlapping and fuzzy terms are used: creative hubs and creative clusters. There are multiple definitions of each in the literature (Chapain and Sagot-Duvauroux, 2020) but little agreement on the boundaries and scale of the activities they might include. Adopting an inclusive perspective, focusing not on definitions but on models that make these entities sustainable, might improve our overall understanding. In this book, there is a clear acknowledgement that hubs and clusters need to be understood in context and not seen as top-down policy tools. In many cases, their development and history pre-date the growing popularity of the creative economy and connect to a community-based sociality of work and creativity in those contexts (Chapters 5 and 9). Similarly, their success and impact are shown not to be dependent on specific global business models or formats but on how they are shaped and made fit to address local issues and agendas (Chapters 6 and 9). Therefore, the book does not impose a prescriptive definition, but asserts that the value of these entities is determined by how they are studied, understood and experienced on the ground.

About this book

The book contains eight contributions from a multidisciplinary network involving both academic researchers and practitioners engaged in research across the African continent. They provide a critical platform to examine a range of creative spaces and working practices within the CCIs in a dialogical way, connecting theories to African-specific practices, approaches and challenges. The book is structured in three parts. The first section focuses on creative work, the second considers coworking and the third explores creative spaces.

Creative work: networks, careers and finance

The first part of the book includes three chapters which reflect on the nature of work, careers and business development in different countries (Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda) and industries (fashion, film, visual arts) within Africa’s creative economy. Although these chapters highlight some of the specificities of different locations, industries and workers, the findings and policy recommendations are also applicable to wider contexts within Africa and beyond. Combined, these chapters make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the multiple strategies and struggles that allow creatives to make a living.

In the second chapter, Steedman focuses on the challenges that female filmmakers face while operating in Kenya’s film industry, including limited distribution networks, access to funding and governmental support. Drawing on eight months of fieldwork in Nairobi, which included participant observation at film-related events and 31 interviews with female filmmakers, the chapter demonstrates how these creative entrepreneurs practise radical flexibility through forms of diversification and crowdfunding. The chapter also highlights important policy recommendations for how the government can help support and sustain the industry.

In marketplaces within East Africa, networks, institutions and supports commonly found in the Global North are lacking and many creatives are sole traders who work in isolation. In the third chapter Burton et al. explore how visual artists construct sustainable livelihoods both through art (where artistic practice is the livelihood) and for art (where the livelihood enables art practice). Drawing on 21 interviews with a range of working artists from Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda and action research with 60 participants during three workshops in Kenya and Uganda, the chapter highlights the importance of assembling diverse portfolios of work and income streams. Networks, professional mentoring and skills related to curation, communication and entrepreneurship are also crucial and the chapter offers a set of recommendations, including generating more opportunities for knowledge exchange, resource sharing and collaboration, which may enhance the sustainability of the region’s visual arts ecology.

In the fourth chapter Njunga et al. examine the role and importance of finance in supporting CCIs in Kenya. In a context characterised by high rates of start-ups by young entrepreneurs, it is clear that traditional commercial financing models that require securitisation cannot work for the sector. Through a case study of HEVA, a Nairobi-based creative finance organisation established in 2014, the chapter outlines the current finance landscape for CCIs in Kenya, highlights key challenges – especially for young women in the sector – and illustrates how new intermediaries can contribute to the innovative development and provision of funding for CCIs across Africa.

Coworking: policy and development

The second part of the book includes three chapters which focus on the emergence, importance and dynamics of coworking within Africa and how it can be used as a tool for cultivating creativity, economic development and social empowerment. Through case studies of spaces and practices within different political and economic contexts, policy recommendations about how to support and harness hubs, incubation spaces and networks are formulated. A key aim is to nuance existing studies on coworking from the Global North by contributing valuable African perspectives and developing poorly understood themes such as the experiences of women.

In the fifth chapter Adegoke and Comunian explore the development and specificities of coworking in the Nigerian context. An analysis of Google Trends data is combined with an online survey of coworking hubs in Lagos and Abuja, highlighting the range of business models and challenges these spaces face, including poor physical and technological infrastructure. In particular, the chapter links four factors – economic, socio-psychological, environmental and technological – to the recent expansion of coworking spaces in Nigeria. In so doing, it provides specific policy recommendations and joins the call made by others for the need to “de-Westernise” knowledge about creative coworking.

In the sixth chapter England et al. assert the need to contextualise the development of coworking and its role in supporting entrepreneurship in Africa with the role of gender. Indeed, while entrepreneurship and coworking are widely spread in Nigeria, women do not benefit from equality at the political level which impacts their access to funding, networks, spaces and mentorship. Data is presented from an in-depth case study, including interviews and observation, of Tribe XX Lab in Lagos, which is the only coworking space in the city that specifically targets women. The case reveals how the organisation seeks to address the challenges facing female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, but also the multifunctionality of the space acting as a platform for activism and advocacy.

In the seventh chapter Wangusa et al. consider the emergence of creative hubs and coworking spaces in East Africa. Insights are drawn from ethnographies, involving participant observation and interviews with managers and creative entrepreneurs, of three specific hubs: the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi (Kenya), the Culture and Dev...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• 1 Introduction
• Part I Creative work: Networks, careers and finance
• Part II Coworking: Policy and development
• Part III Clustering and creative spaces
• Index