The cultural and creative sector through a global production network lens An analysis of production networks in the architecture, visual arts, festival and performing arts industries

This dissertation investigates the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) through the global production network (GPN) approach. The GPN approach, developed by Neil Coe and Henry Yeung, serves as a heuristic tool to analyse fragmented production networks involving interdependent actors and locations. While the GPN approach has typically been applied to more traditional industries, its application to the CCS is relatively novel. By focussing on the key building blocks – value, power, and embeddedness – the GPN approach provides insights into complex, project-based collaborations that generate cultural and creative goods and services, capturing a wide range of activities, roles, and relationships in every phase of the production process. The central research question is: How can production networks in the CCS be understood from a Global Production Network approach? Using in-depth case studies, the dissertation examines production networks in architecture, visual arts, and festivals and performing arts. Its dual aim is to enhance our understanding of these industries by means of the GPN approach as well as to refine the GPN approach based on insights drawn from specific production networks within the CCS. The dissertation concludes that with slight reinterpretations of the GPN approach’s building blocks – notably by expanding the focus from an economic perspective to one that also emphasises cultural and social flows – it allows for a rich analysis of what binds actors together and motivates their collaborations in the CCS. The approach helps to grasp how challenges like precarity, casualised labour, and fragmentation are met with resilience strategies, including cultivating long-term personal relationships and fostering recurring, latent collaborations.