Cultural and creative industry in the Szigetköz area

Abstract

Cultural and creative economy contributes to wealth creation in the 21st century at the local and regional levels. This study examines the situation of the cultural and creative economy of Szigetköz for the period of 2015-2020. Its aim is to explore the strengths and unexplored potentials of the narrowly defined cultural and creative industries in 35 municipalities in the Szigetköz region. Our paper presents a novel approach to studying creative economy by focusing on the micro-level. Similar analysis has been conducted by Egedy (2021) who elaborated on the urban geography of the creative economy through the example of the Budapest agglomeration. Our study shares this research agenda by presenting the local specificities of the creative class in the region of Szigetköz, located in the West-Hungarian region. The analysis starts by exploring the concept of cultural and creative industries (CCI) as defined by the literature, followed by the statistical analysis of self-employed entrepreneurs and companies to determine its weight and importance in the Szigetköz. For the analysis of local characteristics we rely on in-depth qualitative interviews (n=21).

Our research findings indicate that the number of companies is steadily decreasing and the number of self-employed is steadily increasing, although most of their activities are less visible (and therefore less accessible) to the wider public. The paper also highlights the problems and gaps in the cultural and creative industries of Szigetköz, which can be grouped into four main categories: the localisation of the CCI, the meeting points' of supply and demand, cooperation and communication, and the operational and managerial issues of the CCI.

The results of this research may contribute to the long-term improvement of the labour market and economic position of the region. Our study also aims to inform the leaders of the region’s municipalities and encourage them to draw inspiration from good practices for the development of their own rural areas. The study concludes with recommendations for the development of the cultural and creative industries in the Szigetköz area, for which attracting the creative class to the region is essential.