Learning to manage creativity: an occupational hazard for the UK's creative industries

Our ability to manage creativity is pivotal to future economic prosperity and social welfare. A fit-for-purpose education system that can enable this is then a ‘must-have’ for policy-makers and practitioners alike. However, the provision of appropriate learning is subject to a number of fundamental structural and cultural challenges. Drawing on empirical evidence from a master's programme in the Creative Industries & the Creative Economy in the United Kingdom, I outline some of the problems facing those involved. The article argues that we should shift attention away from occupational roles and towards the behaviours, knowledge and skills that successful creatives and managers in the creative industries exhibit, and of the specific contexts in which they interact. In particular, we need to provide the space and the environment in our educational institutions, as much as our cultural and creative industries organizations, which can enable interaction and (co)-creation to flourish.