Mobilities of creativity: mobile artists, urban knowledge and policies in two arts districts in China

This paper bridges geographical scholarship on the global mobilities of policy concepts related to culture and creativity and that on the mobilities of artists and creative practitioners to analyse the roles that geographically mobile artists and creative practitioners can play in policy mobilities. While these two sets of literature have both extensively examined geographical mobilities in the cultural and creative realms – the former on relevant policy concepts and the latter on the practitioners – there is, however, limited discussion that connects these two aspects. This paper develops understandings of this connection through a study of two arts districts in China. It argues that some artists are able to use their global mobilities, which are sometimes required for their profession, to cast themselves as experts in urban knowledge and policy to influence policymaking and enable mobilities of selective policy concepts, when it serves their political economic interests. However, such ability is unequally distributed within artists communities, and the advocacy of selective policy ideas in this case in China has reinforced the global hierarchy of ‘global North’ cities in policy mobilities. The paper concludes that attending to the mobilities of creative practitioners is needed for better understanding of the mobilities of creativity policies.