Putting creative production in place? Policy, creativity and artist villages

Abstract

This paper presents a critical discussion of the relationship between place and creative production. Drawing on interviews with creative workers and ethnography conducted in two governmental places, Hong Kong’s Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre and Taipei’s Treasure Hill Village, the paper demonstrates how individual creative work are linked to three particularities of place: physical elements, live-work arrangements and government’s approach to the place. Interdisciplinary analyses have identified working practice as a critical factor in developing creative industries, but little attention has been paid to individual creative work processes at local level. The paper argues that place with live-work provisions facilitates creative production by fostering social exchange useful to artists, while orientation and milieu of place shaped by government impacts on the manifestation of creativity. The empirical findings have implications for the development of creative industries by showing how place can be central to creative production in specific ways.