Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the aspirants and novices. Creativity and creative work had become very important economically. A report published by the London Development Agency described London as a 'creative hub' and a global city in the new sector of the creative industries. The industries have been credited with the capacity for exceptional growth and also the potential to regenerate depressed local economies, particularly in urban areas. The empirical work on which this book draws was conducted in three separate projects which all employed a similar approach. The participants' areas of specialism included fashion, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, animation, ceramics, glass, product design, industrial design and engineering. Like the art college student intake, our sample of participants reflected the international context of creative work.