The culture of creative enterprise: an exploration of the creative industries in a rural context

The UK creative industries definition arose out of urban centred debates relating to the role of culture and creative enterprise within cities. Over the last twenty years cultural regeneration has been used to attract investment into the development of cultural assets (such as museums and galleries) and to develop the social, cultural infrastructure in which to nurture creative enterprise. These interventions have led to widespread physical and social changes in post-industrial urban settings, widely associated with a creative ''edginess' and 'buzz'. \n \nPolicy makers operating in a rural context aim to replicate these interventions through the application of rural creative industries strategies. Collectively these policies aim to enhance creative networks, facilitated by the role-out of broadband and the development of rural creative industries infrastructure. However, data about the size, scale and nature of creative enterprise in a rural context is difficult to access, owing to the micro, ad-hoc, freelance nature of creative employment. This is acknowledged by rural creative industries policy makers Highlands and Islands Enterprise in their Creative Industries Strategy 2014 - 2019 (HIE 2014). This lack of data means that the full picture of creative work in a rural context remains hidden. This issue is repeatedly raised by a small but growing number of researchers that are looking into creative work in a rural context,these include cultural geographers David Belle and Mark Jayne (2010) and cultural commentator Susan Luckman (2012). \n \nThis study sets out to address these gaps in knowledge. Ethnographic observations made in one distinct rural community, including a series of interviews with divergent creative practitioners, aim to increase our understanding of how creative work is defined,structured and communicated in the rural. In doing so the research explores the tensions between creative industries policy, creative practice and rural regeneration initiatives thatemphasis culture and creativity.