Cultural Economy

Abstract

The contemporary cultural industries comprise publishing, film, TV, music, and theater, in both their recorded and their live forms. Historically, culture was restricted to immaterial and material cultural heritage and the fine arts. The notion of the cultural economy encompasses both usages. The terminology “cultural economy” is new but derives from terms like “culture industry,” “cultural industries,” “creative industries,” “cultural and creative industries,” and “creative economy.” This field of activity spans the economic and social/cultural, for‐profit/not‐for‐profit, and formal/informal. Academics and policymakers have struggled to conceptualize and operationalize definitions; however, in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, agreement has been reached. The cultural economy has an unusual organizational structure related to a fluid, fast‐changing, and high‐risk environment. Novel organizational forms have developed; a characteristic one is temporary, project‐based working. This organizational form has distinct implications for the nature of work, and for the spatialities and governance of the cultural economy.