A New Generation Of Creative Hotspots

A New Generation Of Creative Hotspots

 

Value Chains and Creative Industries

 

Thinking in terms of value chains is becoming more and more important for the creative economy. This has consequences for cities in organising their creative hotspots. After all, where can you find THE hotspot for architects? Or for fashion designers? Quality, incubation and up-or-out systems play an important role in a new strategy for incubators. Together with the creative sector in Amsterdam, Stipo has come up with advice for the Amsterdam Bureau Broedplaatsen (The Creative Hotspots Team). It will now become a major cornerstone in Amsterdam’s strategy for the creative industries.

Clustering, Interaction and Quality

The larger Dutch cities, with Amsterdam as forerunner, are biotopes for creativity. Employment in the creative sector increases. The sector is an important contribution to the cities’ liveability. But the creative sector is also diverse, small-scaled and, often, poorly organised. Few businesses have a workforce of over 50 people and the creative industry largely consists of small organisations or ‘SMEs’ (small and medium enterprises i.e. freelancers, entrepreneurs and one-man start-ups without employees). These face difficulty in scaling up and breaking through at an international scale. The full creative potential of cities is underutilised.

 

In forming a more thriving creative industry, with more, bigger and better businesses, it is important to look at the housing and accommodation provisions, and to define the conditions of interaction and quality. However, there’s more. A distinguishing difference with other economic sectors is the role that informal actors play in the creative industries. In the creative industries, the social environment is more than just a pleasant by-product: it forms the basis in which creative products are created, evaluated and brought into the market. The success of creative industries therefore lies largely in the level of (often informal) interactions and clustering.

Partnership Chains For A Stronger International Position

In order to understand the mechanisms of interaction and quality within the creative industry, one should look at value chains. A value chain is the journey that a (creative) product makes: from the initial thinking and planning phase, to creating the product and distributing it amongst the public. In the creative industry, this could be the route starting at an art studio in a creative hotspot to the MoMa, or the route from a Research and Development Centre to a commercial product, with all the intermediate steps, collaborations and phases along the way. Cultivating partnership chains is an important means for growth and the creation of a stronger international position of creative industries. 

Bureau Broedplaatsen Amsterdam

Although being strong in its strategy for creating creative buildings, until recently, Amsterdam lacked a strong, explicit steering on these value chains, the interaction within buildings and the quality of talents selected. The ‘Bureau Broedplaatsen’ (‘Broedplaats’ literally translates as ‘breeding ground’ and means incubator or hotspot) was set up ten years ago to house and preserve the foundation of the creative industry: i.e. professional artists, shelters and artists groups. Currently these have spread all over the city, with the realisation of approximately 50 ‘broedplaatsen’ in Amsterdam alone. The demand for vacant space remains high and quality selection often takes place at the own initiative of the different breeding ground groups. In many cases, intake happens by means of co-optation.

 

On basis of a programme agreement in 2010, the municipality has set up means to facilitate and enable the creation of new ‘broedplaatsen’ in an easier manner. The city is now questioning what strategies should be adopted to enable the creative industries to progress from ‘more’ to ‘better’, and from ‘breadth’ to ‘depth’ in terms of breeding ground policy.

 

Researching Value Chains: The Creative Sector Speaking

At the request of Bureau Broedplaatsen, and on the basis of recommendation of Lucas Hendricks (Kairos Co.), Stipo has researched how the value of chains can be improved and extended for creative hotspots such as the Amsterdam ‘broedplaatsen’. Stipo has done this in association with Jaap Schoufour and Mehtap Karasu of Bureau Broedplaatsen. More than thirty cultural market leaders were interviewed about the mechanisms of chains, the quality of their discipline and the meaning this has for the setting up of breeding grounds. In this report, their stories, ideas, initiatives and quotes are incorporated. 

 

We spoke with Thijmen van Grootheest of the Rietveld Academie (University of Applied Sciences for Fine Arts and Design); Joris Laarman; Marloes Krijnen (of FOAM Photography Museum); Martin de Ronde (OneBigGame), Duncan Stutterheim (ID&T, the entertainment company behind Sensation White), Rob Malasch (Serieuze Zaken Studios), Andries Mulder (Conservatory of Amsterdam), Harm Sas (SidLee Amsterdam), Nico van Bockhoven en Machiel Spaan (Academy of Architecture), Nannet van der Kleijn and Jemma Land (Amsterdam Fashion Institute), Michiel van Iersel (Non Fiction, Office for Cultural Innovation), Paul Meijer (Xpositron Foundation), Geleyn Meijer (IIP/Create), Els van Odijk (the Rijksakademie), Jo Houben (Cultuur-Ondernemen Foundation), Egbert Fransen  (Cultuurfabriek), Jaspar Roos (ABN Amro Dialogues House), Rob Huisman (Association of Dutch Designers -BNO), Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam), Pieter Tordoir (Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam), Nachoem Wijnberg and Joris Ebbers (Business School, University of Amsterdam) and Eva Olde Monnikhof (Creative Cities Amsterdam Area).

 

The first series of interviews has been bundled together and published under the title ‘Creative Sector Amsterdam: Interviews on value chains and breeding grounds in Amsterdam’ (In Dutch, PDF, 4Mb).

 

 

International best practices

Besides interviews, expert meetings were also held. These primarily focussed on the theory of value chain formation and looked at best practices around the world, including: Modestad Antwerpen, 22@Barcelona, Smart Project Space, Caballerofabriek The Hague, Nachtlab Sloterdijk, Xpositron, The Hub and Dialogues House, Dutch Game Garden, Mode Incubator, Kennedy van der Laan and the Cultural Industries Development Agency in London.

The New Value Chain Creative Hotspot

The ambition to organise the ‘Broedplaatsen’ more effectively, especially with regard to content, leads to a new type of creative hotspots besides the existing ones: the Value Chain Broedplaats. By basing tenant selection on value chains, the structures of the breeding grounds become more logical (content-specific), which also increases the possibilities for interaction, up-scaling and success. Thinking in terms of chains also enables new bonds and linkages with manufacturing industries: to select internationally, form new connections with other creative cities in Europe and elsewhere in The Netherlands, to enhance new and upcoming industries (such as creative technologies) and to organise the acquisitional aspects (i.e. manifestations and festivals). Besides this, it also makes it easier to develop entrepreneurship, which is crucial for a successful creative industry.

 

 

Eight Selection Methods To Ensure Quality

With a more logical and content-specific structure comes a more rigid selection of quality. The (often extremely strict) selection mechanisms for training institutions, platforms, galleries, museums, foundations and the business world should also be applicable to the majority of ‘broedplaatsen’: especially in a city like Amsterdam where these often make use of (some) public funding.

 

So quality selection is crucial. The local authority and developers of the breeding grounds should not assign this role to themselves, but there are several possibilities for others to take on the responsibility. The Stipo report proposes eight different selection methods: by independent parties, top talents, market leaders, educational art institutes, museums, galleries, trusts, branch organisations and experts. Besides, the interviews in Amsterdam made clear that there is a lot of willingness from the interviewees, the leaders of the city’s creative sector, to take on this role.

 

In order to achieve real structural quality and to keep creative potential linked to the city, it is important to develop an appealing image over more years.  Artists must want to have been part of the creative hotspot. By profiling the Amsterdam ‘broedplaatsen’ more internationally, they broaden their reach. This enables them to attract and select top talents. In short: a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Innovation and Incubation Hotspots

 

Besides Value Chain Hotspots, with one sub-sector of the creative industries as starting point, the Stipo report also lists two other possible models: the Innovation Hotspot and Incubation Hotspot. The former incorporates an innovative group that focuses on societal issues (i.e. the ‘ man on the moon’  principle). Here different means are linked, through the innovation programmes for example. The latter focuses on achieving an accelerated kick-start and offering a breath of fresh air to existing entrepreneurs in the creative industries, supported by business partners.

Up-Or-Out

The three models are all geared at enhancing four aspects that currently need more structurally presence in breeding grounds: entrepreneurship (boss vs. companion relationship, tenant selection, the introduction of business market leaders), interaction (spaces for interaction and programmers in every breeding ground), internationalisation (up-scaling, city collaborations, selection and housing) and Up-Or-Out systems (further development with success, departure with failure).

 

Determining where the different types of breeding ground should be placed will heavily depend on five factors: 1. What does the city consider important? 2. What do the market leaders think? 3. Who needs what location to find partners, suppliers, employees and clients?, 4. Who is already there?, and 5. Where are the training institutions and platforms located?

Local authority: New networks

These new strategies make an appeal to the way in which Bureau Broedplaatsen is organised. There are new networks to support and maintain with market leaders, top talents, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, innovation programmes, other creative cities, ministries and municipal services. In order to ensure the collaboration of these networks in organising and realising new breeding grounds, the existing (property-based) organisation of Bureau Broedplaatsen has expanded. It now involves a person from the Department of Economic Affairs who acts as a ‘connector’: (s)he is fully aware of the latest developments and understands these networks completely. The new policy input leads to a new, comprehensible role distribution, particularly between the Department of Economic Affairs, the Economic Development Board Amsterdam (EDBA), the Commission for Ateliers and Work and Living Spaces for artists in Amsterdam (CAWA) and Bureau Broedplaatsen.

 

 

More Information?

Download the ‘Creative Sector Amsterdam: Interviews on value chains and breeding grounds in Amsterdam hier The Breeding Ground Chain: Breeding grounds and value chains, Stipo, in request of Bureau Broedplaatsen Amsterdam, 2011 (in Dutch PDF, 4Mb)

 

Also see the article on Amsterdam’s Creative Economy: "Amsterdam, get out of your comfort zone!" in Pakhuis de Zwijger (the basis of our research).

 

The website of Bureau Broedplaatsen Amsterdam (in Dutch).

 

Contact person: Hans Karssenberg
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