MAPPING THE CREATIVE EDGE

Kemi Tornio region of Finland

West of Ireland

Mapping the creative economy in the Creative Edge partner regions is a central part of work package 2 of the Creative Edge project. This work was led by the Whitaker Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway.

To map the creative economy a diverse range of data on culture and creative industries had to be collected.  Two databases were constructed, the first focusing on creative industries, and the second on culture. The databases are an inventory of cultural and creative industries in the project partner regions and are where data was sourced for mapping the creative economy.

Mapping was carried out for each of the partner regions creative industries and also their festivals and cultural spaces. The result is a set of online, dynamic maps that show the breath of creative and cultural industries in the Creative Edge region.

Visit our mapping site: http://mapping.creative-edge.eu

Västerbotten county in Sweden

SEED area in Northern Ireland

Cultural mapping projects have benefited the creative economy when carried out in other places. Cultural mapping was pioneered in Britain in the late 1990s, by the UK Department for Culture Media and Sport . This focused attention on the sector and its importance, and led to  further measurement of the sector. Creative industries also began to gain recognition through policy measures.

We hope that our mapping of the creative economy catches the attention of policymakers so that more focus is placed on supporting and developing the creative economy in peripheral places.