AFTRS chair Russel Howcroft calls for the establishment of a Creativity Commission
Chair of the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, Russel Howcroft, has today called for the establishment of a federal Creativity Commission to drive economic growth and ensure Australia is not left behind.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Howcroft – who is also chief creative officer at PwC – said that Australia needs a federally supported body dedicated to creative capacity building to combat what he describes as the country’s ‘creative deficit’.
Says Howcroft: “Creativity is our greatest potential area of growth but not enough of us have understood how vital new ideas, strong IP and creative-thinking skills will be in the future. Today Australia is the world’s 13th largest economy and a member of the G20. But we’re going backwards.”
Howcroft pointed to PwC’s 2050 report, which predicted that by 2030 Australia will be only the 29th biggest economy, roughly swapping positions with Bangladesh.
Says Howcroft: “We will be out of the G20 and most other global elite clubs. Being a global leader in creativity can arrest the slide. Creativity should be the driver of our future growth and competitiveness. We can no longer just rely on our natural attributes. We have to go up the value chain. We must use our human assets.”
Howcroft outlined four primary functions for a Creative Commission:
- To support the growth of the creative economy.
- To build creative capacities and ideas to help inform policy, initiatives and industry.
- To recognise the interests of the community and how we can use creativity to facilitate better outcomes for the nation.
- To support the development of creative and internationally competitive Australian businesses.
In 2016, the CSIRO predicted 44% of Australian jobs were under threat by the new industrial revolution. International predictive data on work released by the UK’s NESTA recently revealed creative jobs are likely to see a growth rate of 87% by 2030, contrasted with a sharp decline across more traditional industries.
However, in education, last year, the UN ranked Australia 39th of 41 affluent nations in providing quality education.
Says Howcroft: “Our focus on the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – rather than STEAM (which include the Arts) is limiting us, particularly when we know other countries are doing STEM way better than us.
“Employment in the creative sector is growing almost twice the rate of employment across all sectors. Other sectors are increasingly relying on workers with creative skills for their own growth and innovation. Creative jobs are jobs of the future.”
Howcroft defined creativity as using new and imaginative ideas to create something: “We need to imagine and create lateral connections between industries, new approaches to R&D, focus on building talent and developing IP and finding ways to commercialise it. We should be always stretching, challenging ourselves, thinking bigger, and extending our ideas in every possible direction.
“We have the opportunity to be as visionary and courageous, and bipartisan, as they were in establishing AFTRS back in 1973. If we don’t, we may rapidly face another cultural drought and a rapid decline in our economic growth. “
The full speech is available here.
Today the school is launching AFTRS White Papers from our Applied Innovation Research arm focussing on emerging fields where technology and storytelling intersect. They are AFTRS White Papers for VR Noir and Precipice, a binaural podcast, and are available at the following links:
White paper #1 – VR Noir – https://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/research-and-innovation/vr-noir/
White paper #2 – Precipice – https://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/research-and-innovation/precipice
13 Comments
Australia is stuffed. A KPMG study recently reported that 60% of Australians are no longer net contributors to tax revenue. That is, 60% of Australians don’t contribute to tax revenue because either don’t earn enough and fall under the threshold, or receive more in benefits and rebates than they pay in tax. Is it any wonder we can’t attract capital and even Australians are investing elsewhere. As for education standards,
I’m surprised we’re ranked as high as 39. Has anyone read about the disgracefully low standards now being accepted for entry into teaching degrees? The only things we lead the world in is sanctimonious PC chest-beating and finding new ways to ensure we have zero hope of a prosperous future. Russel is right. Let’s hope he’s not too late.
This is the best idea I’ve heard in ages. Do it before it’s too late.
Great delivery at National Press Club. A worry that some attendees were just linking creativity to the Arts sector, or confusing it with Innovation, instead of seeing the more wide-spread, creative idea he is suggesting. It’s hard to get a new idea to go beyond old style thinkers.
Innovation; using something existing in a new way; a cave person tying a rock to a stick to make a better hammer.
Creativity; doing/making something that wasn’t there yesterday; e.g. the first cave person to use a burnt stick on a wall (innovation) to make a drawing of a rock tied to a stick, so that other cave people can share and develop the idea. Creativity being: a new media of communication that didn’t exist until that first person did it.
It’s about time we break out of old machinery-thinking and see the value in creativity, especially now that we have such great technology tools for it.
I tuned in to Russell’s speech after he had made it but heard his answers to questions. That’s why I am getting in touch. I think I can help him.
I am about to publish a book about how anyone can develop creativity ability at any age. The contents are based on experience in over 200 schools and has been used at all age levels from preschool to adults.
I look forward to hearing from Russell.
The first thing you’ll want to do to get him onside is to get the spelling of his name correct.
Finally …. someone focusing the word ‘creativity’ and starting a dialogue about what this country so desperately needs. Creativity in science, business, technology and not just in the arts.
Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
Creativity breeds hope and progression towards positive changes.
As discussed in the comments on Damien Stapleton’s most recent piece on this blog, few people have an innate understanding of what creativity is.
You’d think that advertising creatives would be closest to unanimity on what constitutes creativity.
Yet judging by the dross served up on TV every night, even creatives working in agencies don’t have a universal definition of creativity.
99% of the work is rubbish.
So good luck with that, Russel.
99% of your comments are rubbish and we still put up with them.
@old cd guy:
Yes but the 1% are GOLD.
Your turn.
Please give us your most succinct definition of ‘creativity’. I am almost 99% certain you will be unable to nail it in a simple and succinct answer, even though it was your job title back when Mo was a boy.
I’m so over advertising people claiming the high ground in creativity.
Creativity IS everywhere Russel, except in most Australian advertising.
How many major breakthroughs have our science/ medical people made this year alone? How many have our advertising people made? Anyone?
The advertising industry have deluded themselves that a funny comedy sketch or clever wordplay is a big idea, worthy of award glory.
At least n the film industry awarded success requires over an hour of sustained brilliance. Not a pissy 30 seconds.
Russell’s “idea” for a Creativity Commission is another hopelessly arrogant parry from an industry who is in love with the idea of ideas, but produces less of them than just about any other industry, including agriculture.
.
You do realise Russel doesn’t work in ‘advertising’ don’t you?