Regional creative industries: transforming the Steel City into a Creative City in Newcastle, Australia

The 'Steel City' of Newcastle, Australia, is transforming into a 'Creative City'. Renew Newcastle provides a unique and innovative success story of the reactivation of 150 empty retail shops that were populated by 'makers' who could use those spaces as both studios and retail outlets to sell their authentic handmade products. Renew's story sits comfortably alongside four in-depth interviews with other Creative Industry (CI) business owners from fashion, graphic and web design, accounting and film. This research reveals strategies used by regional businesses to survive, and connects a city's cultural identity with business confidence. This research builds the argument that opposites should be seen as being complementary so that binaries like competitors versus collaborators could be seen as competitors working together and sharing knowledge and skills. This research is supported by a systemic approach to creativity that places the individual as part of creative system where success and failure can be seen as complementary and where the community is just as important as the individual to achieve creative outcomes