COMM 2311U – The Creative Industries: Ideas, Art, Tech, Money, Power

From Hollywood to Silicon Valley to the whole wide world, creativity is now core to the largest and fastest growing industries on the planet and part of our everyday lives. New ideas, styles, artworks, devices, and media products move from major studios to smartphones to theatres to social media sites to the streets. Creativity is now said to be everywhere and in everything, and many creative works are made and sold each day to inform, entertain, inspire, and move millions to think, feel and act in old and new ways. But what exactly is creativity? How does the creative process happen? If everyone is creative, why do only a few get to do what they love and get paid? This course introduces students to creativity and the creative industries in the digital age and provides a foundation in the fields of creative and media economics, media and cultural industries, and the political economy of communication.