Examining the global creative and cultural industries (CCIs), this book seeks to help readers understand key policy challenges faced by the sector.
It reveals a key contradiction: while the sector is praised for flexibility and innovation, it suffers from job insecurity and unequal value distribution due to its close ties with neoliberal economics. The book proposes a justice-focused ecosystem approach that reshapes cultural policy to prioritise fair working conditions, inclusive participation, and public cultural benefits. Readers will develop analytical skills to understand the sector's contradictions and gain practical tools for building stronger local creative ecosystems. The work helps readers assess how policy measures and organisational structures affect creative workers, while showing how to align cultural policy with labour rights, platform regulation, climate action, diversity, and decolonial practices. It uses multiple research methods, including historical policy analysis, theoretical frameworks, and systematic examination of policy definitions across national and global contexts. It reframes local policy through ecosystem thinking, focusing on support networks, affordable workspace, funding, and fair employment. It examines how digital platforms and new technologies like AI, VR, and AR affect creative ownership and contracts.
Finally, whether academics, students or industry professionals, readers of this book will gain a holistic understanding of global policy as it pertains to the creative and cultural industries.