So what do you do?

Does this sound familiar?

So, what do you do? If creativity plays a big role in your life, it’s probably not an easy question to answer. If you work in the creative industries, it’s probably even harder. Reworking concepts,
information, ideas and knowledge for a living often doesn’t lend itself to a job title that adequately explains what you do. If you work in the creative industries, the chances are you work for yourself, for a small organisation or for a small team in a big organisation. You’re probably working in a close network of collaborators and associates. You probably find yourself working on several different things at the same time, and many of those activities are often one-offs not to be repeated. Your job makes sense to people you work with but explaining it to people at parties becomes almost like relaying a joke that you ‘really had to be there’ to get.

or how about this?

Over the last ten years public policy has paid considerable attention to supporting creativity through the provision of education and skills, a copyright framework, business and innovation support,public agencies and the funding of work. But among employers, entrants and people working in the creative industries many of these interventions are resulting in confusion, indifference and, in some cases, irritation. Why? The aggregate result of jobs that are hard to
understand is a sector that is hard to understand, and therefore hard to support.

These are quotes from the new Demos publication So What Do You Do? available for download at their site. I’ve only just skimmed the document and am looking forward to a more thorough read over the next week or so but so far I’m impressed with their thinking on how creativity can be resourced through increased access to resources, spaces and meeting places and most interestingly stories of how this community actually works in practice, not in theory.
I’m hoping it may also help me answer that age old chestnut “what do you do” – I really need an elevator pitch!

Hat tip to Mark at Wishful Thinking