Executive Summary

This policy brief results from a collaboration between the University of Southampton (The School of Geography and Environmental Science) and Friends of Cobbett Road Library. This work intended to address local challenges around the threats and opportunities faced by a community managed library - Cobbett Road Library - in Southampton. However, while engaging with local communities and stakeholders, we discovered that CMLs have emerged – slowly and almost invisibly but with scale – in the national landscape of library provision in England without being fully acknowledged, regulated or supported by local or national policy. So, while engaging with library users and imagining the future of a local library, the research team also explored broader questions about CMLs. In particular – through qualitative interviews and creative engagement activities – the project unveiled how the contributions of CMLs to the socio-cultural landscape of rural and urban areas need to be fully acknowledged.

Abstract

This report critically reflects on the collaborative activities, impact and shared learning that emerged during a two-year international follow-on grant funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the UK (AH/W00688X/1).

The African Hub for Sustainable Creative Economies project (AHSCE) was proposed and established with the overall aim of supporting the development of sustainable creative economies in Africa by engaging African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and empowering them to interact with their local creative economies.

In this report, we highlight the collaborative activities and journey undertaken with our international academic team across King’s College London (UK), University of Southampton (UK), University of Nairobi (Kenya), University of Lagos (Nigeria) and University of Witwatersrand (South Africa). We also illustrate the ways in which each African partner – supported by key intermediaries and sector partners – engaged with their respective creative sectors: Fashion, Theatre, and Film and Digital Media. 

In the central part of the report, we reflect on the range of impacts that the overall project and the creative projects supported through the Collaborative Voucher Scheme had. In the final part of the report, we reflect on the shared learning that the AHSCE supported and the legacy of the project. We share important policy reflections in relation to the importance of funding and business support; enhancing knowledge and skills; protecting creative workers, valuing creative careers and celebrating and supporting creativity. 

Table of Contents 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

RESEARCHING CREATIVE ECONOMIES IN AFRICA: OUR JOURNEY

• Beyond the globalisation of creative economy research and policy: creative economies

• Focus on creative intermediaries. The African puzzle

• Methodology and research journey

CREATIVE ECONOMIES IN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF INTERMEDIARIES IN SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT

• Who are creative intermediaries

• Africa: A fertile ground for creative intermediaries

• What creative intermediaries do

CREATIVE ECONOMIES IN AFRICA: SHOWCASING THE WORK OF INTERMEDIARIES

• Creative intermediaries and the role of higher education

• Creative intermediaries and creative workforce development in action

• Creative intermediaries, co-working, finance and networks

• Creative intermediaries, communities and development agendas

CONCLUDING REMARKS

• The central role of higher education

• Networks and spaces for creative work

• Intermediaries: connecting development agendas

POLICIES FOR THRIVING CREATIVE ECONOMIES

REFERENCES

Abstract

The report provides a summary of the research journey undertaken, including the methodology and data collected across the three cities involved in the network activities: Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town.
It presents a critical discussion on the role of creative intermediaries, focusing specifically on their contribution to the development of creative economies in Africa.

Eight case studies of creative intermediaries at work are presented under four headings: Creative intermediaries and the role of higher education; creative intermediaries and creative workforce development in action; creative intermediaries, co-working, finance and networks and finally creative intermediaries, communities and development agendas.

The report concludes by highlighting the key role those creative intermediaries can play in connecting development agendas (cultural, social and economic) in Africa. It also presents five cornerstones for policy considerations to enable creative economies to thrive. This includes (1) recognising the value that creative economies bring to communities, society and the economy; (2) recognise the role of creative intermediaries in bringing together policymakers, communities and entrepreneurs; (3) investment in higher education collaborations and partnerships; (4) strengthening continental and international collaborations through research and network building to support knowledge sharing and (5) creating accessible and inclusive infrastructure to support creative economies that are open to everyone.