The disappearing arts: creativity and innovation after the creative industries

Since the birth of the ‘creative industries’ a decade ago, there has been a series of attempts to link the cultural sectors with innovation policy and to downplay the connection between them and traditional arts or cultural policy. The theory appears to be that innovation is where the big money is, and that the cultural sectors can only benefit by being rescued from the ‘ghetto’ of arts funding. This paper seeks to query this notion and to draw attention to some of the problems that have resulted and may result from it.