Your cart is empty.
Your cart is empty.
The progressive improvement of products, systems, and ways of working and living drive productivity, social and economic impact, and future success. These cornerstones of innovation are driven by creativity and culture. Artistic practice sparks new ways of thinking about and navigating scientific problems. Similarly, arts and technology have always had a symbiotic relationship. Creativity generates new ideas and approaches while innovation implements them.
Because the arts are so firmly rooted in creative expression, they have an immense possible impact on science, technology and innovation, as well as on the economy. Creative industries that use and expand new technology generate billions of dollars each year around the world. Technologists and artists often collaborate on projects that create new tools and technologies, while inventing entirely new artistic media. When asked, 60% of CEOs cite creativity as the most important leadership quality needed today.
Innovation is the cornerstone of much of the South Australian Government’s policies and programs. This includes the South Australian Economic Statement which states ‘We want South Australia to be known as an ambitious and capable state that embraces technology and drives innovation’.
The Department for Industry, Innovation and Science is the lead agency for supporting science and innovation across our economy and recognises our state’s creative industries as an the economic driver which creates jobs and exports, attracts investment, drives innovation, entertains audiences, boosts tourism, enhances our wellbeing and showcases our unique culture to the world. Festivals (creative and cultural) are recognised by the Department as one of the ten sectors of South Australia’s creative industries.
Furthermore, the government’s Arts & Culture Plan South Australia 2019 – 2024 makes steadfast its position on the role of arts and culture influencing the future success of our workforce, businesses and industries:
Major economic changes have had a dramatic impact on South Australia, with a shift away from traditional manufacturing industries towards knowledge-intensive services, such as finance, law, tertiary education, computer and data science, and towards new industries, among them renewable energy and aerospace. The arts need to be a vital part of this transformation. Research indicates that arts and creativity will have a major role to play in the future of the workforce, which will prioritise human creative capacity, problem-solving skills, and collaboration.
While the 1970s were described as a ‘social laboratory for the arts’ for South Australia, fifty years on this laboratory now encompasses technology, innovation and the creative industries. If the past two decades have seen the creative industries move to centre stage in arts policy settings, reflecting the growth of new media, advertising, design and screen industries, it is now widely recognised that creativity is not only important to the arts, but is central to our society’s capacity to innovate, connect and prosper.
Creativity is now being embraced across education. Furthermore, creativity is becoming more widely recognised as fundamental to future industries and future generations, who will compete not only with a more globalised workforce, but also one that includes artificial intelligence and robotic industries… When a society supports creativity, and enables it to flourish, many positive benefits can flow, whether in the form of personal wellbeing and inspiration, strengthening community, new insights, problem-solving and innovations, or simply unforgettable experiences. As new industries are emerging and audiences are changing, there is an opportunity to usher in a new generation of makers, creators, educators and thinkers, and in doing so, enliven and stimulate the arts and cultural landscape of South Australia in many ways.
Further statistics:
Deloitte Access Economics established that Adelaide’s festivals may contribute to innovation across South Australia’s creative economy by acting as a ‘laboratory’ for new ideas. Open-access and multi-arts festivals can provide a platform for new and experimental artistic content, incentivising producers to invest in novel productions which may not otherwise come to market, and helping to circulate new artistic content to wider audiences.
Festivals play an important role in supporting and sustaining South Australia’s creative industries — a key sector for the state — and contribute to South Australia’s cultural identity. Adelaide’s festivals contribute to the stock of ‘cultural capital’ within South Australia by promoting wider participation in cultural and creative activities. Festival attendance may even be linked to an increased engagement with the arts after the festival, particularly among non-university educated consumers. Adelaide’s festivals play a role in encouraging a broader range of South Australians to engage in culture and the arts, expanding these benefits throughout the broader population. SALA Festival, for example, engages school aged children through its school exhibitions, of which 40 were registered in 2019.
Importantly, many of our festivals use their programming to help share and explain complex concepts and global challenges to the general public, to help drive community understanding and alternative ways of looking at problems and to help illuminate analytical challenges in creative ways.
Adelaide’s festivals may also contribute to innovation in the South Australian economy by incentivising business development and investment within festival and event management and production. Given tight budgets, festival organisers need to innovate across areas such as programming, financial planning, marketing and service provision.
