The Editors, Our Thanks, and the Creative Commons Licence

The editors of 'After The Crunch' are Tom Bewick of Creative & Cultural Skills, and John Holden, John Kieffer, John Newbigin & Shelagh Wright.

The three Johns and Sheila describe themselves thus:

"We four work in the creative economy and the arts as writers, policy-developers, consultants – and do-ers. Synergies in our thinking, overlaps in our interests and networks have led us to look for projects on which we can collaborate, for our mutual advantage and because we believe the values and business styles of much of the creative sector offer a way forward for the global economy. We’re not a company, or a club or a consultancy, but we do have a common interest, crystallised for the moment as www.creative-economy.org.uk"

Foreword to the book

You have always got to know where you are going. And that sense of direction is as important now – in the middle of a recession – as it ever has been.

Who knows what the shape of a new British economy will be? No one does. But we do know that an ever growing proportion of that new economy will depend on creativity. It’s surprised me that so far there has not been more debate in the UK about what we aim to be and how we intend to get there. I hope this collection of provocations will help stimulate that argument.

Creative & Cultural Skills is dedicated to improving skills, promoting diversity and assisting career paths in the creative and cultural sector. We care passionately about the people who work and who will work in this area, and see it as our responsibility to address the wider issues that determine how those people will learn, grow and prosper.

This collection of words and pictures brings together many of the most incisive and intelligent voices from the creative sector in the UK and around the globe. The contributors were given total freedom to say whatever they felt needed to be said about the current state of the economy, and how our sector should respond in order to create a better future.

I think it is amazing and heart-warming that we have been able to attract so many high quality contributions to add to the debate in this way. I also see it as a mark of maturity that we have encouraged a completely free and open discussion. This is not a time to mince words, but to be bold and challenging – and our contributors have certainly offered challenges. But they have come up with new ideas, fresh thinking, and practical solutions as well.

This book, supported by Creative & Cultural Skills and the British Council, is only one of the ways in which we are encouraging debate – we have set up a website at www.creative-economy.org.uk where everyone can have their say. New circumstances demand new solutions, and collaboration will be one of the keys to finding a way out of our economic and social troubles. I hope that as many people as possible engage with us in finding constructive ways to make the sector flourish, and to bring some of its values into wider society. I also trust that these contributions will build a sense of hope that we all need in a strong creative future for the British economy. There’s been a credit crunch, not a creative crunch. We must build now for the future.

Tony Hall, CBE 

Thanks to the contributors...

 The creative industries are often paraded as harbingers of a more networked world – as much a series of informal partnerships as they are a major sector of the economy. We have shamelessly exploited as many of those informal partnerships as we could in the preparation of this book – pleading, cajoling and harassing the dozens who have so generously contributed their time and wisdom to what’s in thesepages. We thank them. It is their commitment, and that of countless others who share their perspective, that makes real the exciting possibility of a different kind of economy, and world, After The Crunch. 

More thanks to those who made it happen...

We would also like to thank Creative & Cultural Skills (Tom Bewick, Barney Roe and their colleagues) and the British Council think tank, Counterpoint (particularly Catherine Fieschi, and also Nick Wadham-Smith), for making this project possible with their support and willingness to make it a creative venture. And thanks also to the designers of this work, Elmwood, for their brilliance and patience, and to Paul Davis for illustrating so colourfully.

The creative commons licence

All work has been contributed under Creative Commons.  We want you to download it, distribute it to friends and associates by email, and add it as a resource to your website so that your readers can download it and distribute it too.

You are invited to copy this free e-book, distribute it and print it – provided you do not claim it as your own work, amend it, or sell it. More information