New Development Models Based in Culture, Creative Industries and Education: A Global South-Global North Knowledge Exchange Agenda

This UK–Brazil programme builds a knowledge-exchange platform to redesign policy at the intersection of culture, Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) and education. It is structured around four connected briefings and advances two overarching strands: (1) CCIs as catalysts for inclusive development; (2) the new world of work in the creative economy (AI, platforms, skills, curricula).
PB1 — CCIs & Multidimensional Development.
Reframes CCIs as drivers of capabilities, inclusion and place-based prosperity, integrating culture with education, health, skills and local industrial strategy across the UK and Latin America.
• Focus: policy linkages (culture–education–skills), participation, creative entrepreneurship.
• Methods: comparative policy mapping; place-based cases; stakeholder interviews.
• Outputs: policy options and an adoption checklist for integrated CCI–development plans.
PB2 — CCIs, Digitisation, AI & the Future of Work.
Analyses platformisation and AI across creative value chains to co-produce fair-work standards, skills roadmaps and options for data/IP/competition policy that support innovation while reducing precarity.
• Focus: labour conditions, algorithmic governance, skills & curricula renewal.
• Methods: labour pathway mapping; producer/worker interviews; regulatory scan.
• Outputs: skills and teaching frameworks; actionable levers for fair, innovative labour markets.
PB3 — Valuing CCIs: New Frameworks of Impact & Measurement.
Develops a hybrid evidence approach joining economic, cultural and social outcomes with environmental indicators to inform funding, procurement and regulation.
• Focus: beyond-GDP metrics, decision-useful indicators, data standards.
• Methods: indicator review; prototype dashboard; partner testing for usability.
• Outputs: open measurement framework and guidance for funders and city/regional teams.
PB4 — CCIs, Development & Climate Change.
Positions CCIs as levers for climate-compatible development—decarbonisation, adaptation and a just transition—through circular design, resilient cultural infrastructures and community participation.
• Focus: climate–development coherence, creative value-chain hotspots, just-transition skills.
• Methods: comparative policy scan; sector/place case studies; light carbon/material hotspotting.
• Outputs: policy recommendations and a practical set of actions for low-carbon, resilient CCIs.
A binational team—two PIs (CCIs & development economics; Brazil-based education/labour policy), senior researchers in policy analysis, AI/creative work, cultural participation/social inclusion, a UK-based senior assistant researcher (education–CCI interface) and RAs (platforms, data, qualitative fieldwork)—will deliver the programme through mapping, case studies (screen, festivals/touring, circular/design hubs, community arts for adaptation), 25–40 interviews/focus groups, and participatory workshops in Manchester and São Paulo. Expected outcomes include a durable South–North network; evidence-based recommendations for integrating education, culture and CCIs into development strategies; practical implementation frameworks; curriculum resources and ECR training; and open-access policy briefs targeted to policymakers and industry. The programme supports scalable, just and sustainable models for the creative economy.