Prof. Stuart W. Macdonald
APPLIED CREATIVITY: ARTS, EDUCATION AND THE CULTURAL ECONOMY

ABSTRACT
This presentation looks at design as “Applied Creativity” and its role in the 
wider Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs), including cinema and film. The 
context is Scotland, its cultural economy and cultural regeneration, and the 
little studied creative rural economy. Case-studies and exemplars are offered 
drawing particularly on the presenter’s experience as founder of the Lighthouse, 
Scotland’s National Architecture and Design Centre (a key element in Glasgow’s 
reign as UK City of Architecture and Design 1999) and its strategic function in 
engaging diverse communities through innovating festivals, exhibitions, educational 
outreach, research and its Creative Entrepreneurs Network. Creative Industries 
policy is also examined, especially building creative capacity and assets, and 
recent developments in creating a new narrative that interconnects creative 
people, place, spaces and projects.