Culture and creativity are key resources in many developing economies, whether this is intangible cultural heritage relating to a particularly ethnic group or the creativity of the so-called ‘Cultural and Creative Industries’ such as film, music, and fashion. How can businesses and organisations leverage these cultural and creative resources for sustainable development in the global South? What role does culture and creativity play in realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? What is at stake in using the culture of ‘others’ and what value can this add to businesses? What are the possibilities and problematics of commodifying and selling culture? What can we learn from cultural entrepreneurs in developing economies? Students will learn to reflect critically on these questions and gain practical skills needed to work in businesses and organisations that seek to leverage the power of culture and creativity.

In terms of theory, this course will make a significant contribution to students’ understandings of culture and creativity. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of perspectives on culture and creativity (e.g. Richard Florida on how creativity is essential to economic growth) and learn to evaluate them critically. Students will be introduced to foundational cultural theories (e.g. Edward Said on Orientalism, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o on decolonizing the mind, Michel Foucault on authorship) particularly suited for cultural analysis in the global South and postcolonial contexts. This emphasis on culture will be grounded in a strong foundation of socioeconomic theories of business and development in order to enable students to critically apply cultural theory to business cases.

This course will cover the following key topics in the business of culture and creativity including:

• Dynamics of creative industries in the global South: How do markets for culture and creativity work in the global South? What is the role of informality in businesses? What constraints and opportunities does informality provide? E.g. Nollywood (the Nigerian film industry) is now among the top three film producers globally, and yet it arose without any of the typical industrial infrastructure needed to make movies e.g. no studios, no arts funding.
• Cultural appropriation and intellectual property rights:  Making use of ‘other’ cultures can add unique value to businesses, but it can also lead to major controversy and negative publicity. How can businesses minimize these risks? What factors should they consider when being inspired by other cultures and seeking to commodify that inspiration?
• Innovative business models: How are business models configured to generate cultural, social and/or economic value. How may culture and creativity be used in commercial enterprises and social entrepreneurship (e.g. ethical fashion firms and social enterprises) that seek to work in respectful and ethical ways.
• Socially engaged art and culture for development: What role do cultural and creative industries play in development work? E.g. how do development organizations and creative producers work together on, for example, theatre for development projects?
• Digital creativity in business models and firms in the global South: How do creative entrepreneurs and firms imagine the power of digital technology for their businesses? How do they use digital and data-driven technologies today, particularly social media, web-shops, and digital media platforms?

Methodologically, students will be introduced to arts-based methods and use the business model canvas to understand creative industries and other business cases.

Geographically, the course will focus on the global South and will include various cases from different countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The course has a blended learning format based on face-to-face lectures while integrating different online features (e.g. videos).