Supporting the creative industries: The rationale for an exchange of thinking between the art and business schools

Increasing interest in the concept of the ‘Creative Industries’ with emphasis upon the ‘industry’ aspect, presents questions as to how Art Schools can best prepare students. Indeed the industrial aspect encourages consideration of business and entrepreneurship and by adopting a conceptual approach to draw together different strands of literature from art, design, business and entrepreneurship research, this article explores the issues and challenges in supporting students in a creative context. Areas where an exchange of thinking could occur between the Art and Business Schools are identified and where the cross-fertilization of ideas and teaching practices could offer new methods to support students to engage in the Creative Industries. Barriers remain in teaching entrepreneurship, but viewing it as a process, utilizing the Theory of Effectuation and drawing attention to the prevalence of entrepreneurial teams proffers insights.