Creative Business Wrap – June 2024

The longest night of the year has passed and the end of the financial year is just a few sleeps away. It’s a good time to reflect on what your business has achieved already in the first 183 days of the year and celebrate those wins with your team This month’s newsletter features some articles and resources that inspired or amused me this month. Enjoy!

(And a quick shoutout this month to our friends at Performing Lines who secured a place in the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, and the 8 years of funding that goes with it. Sharpe Advisory was delighted to assist with the planning and financial modelling behind PL’s efforts to enter this leading group of Australian performing arts organisations. *wild applause*) 

Cultural strategy for Sydney 

What can 20 million dollars achieve in a city that is too expensive for the average creative worker to afford the rent? The City of Sydney’s newly announced Cultural Strategy 2025-2035 includes a long list of initiatives including the establishment of a creative land trust which would acquire and create affordable space for creative and cultural purposes for the long term. It’s worked successfully in London and New York. Another more low-cost and low-risk initiative is increasing the use of existing libraries and community centres for performances and residencies. This article in Arts Hub breaks down the detail and includes a link to the full strategy. 

Pick up a book

If you are travelling on public transport in Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth from this week you might find a free book by an Australian woman or non-binary author on your seat. You are free to read it then keep it, pass it on to a friend or leave it in a public place for someone else. Stella on the go is a simple and joyful initiative by Stella as part of their vision to promote books by Australian women and non-binary writers, support greater participation in the world of literature, and create a more equitable and vibrant national culture.

Trends in home design 2024

What is your go-to comfort reading or viewing when the days are short and the weather is cold? I can get absorbed in anything architectural and enjoyed this article on design trends. The themes for 2024 in the architecture and design worlds are keeping costs down though adaptive reuse and utilising natural, reclaimed and sustainable materials. I whiled away some time looking at the beautiful photos of tiny homes in New Zealand, a reclaimed 1700’s farm house in New Jersey and a hempcrete house in the Czech Republic. I was drawn to the use of textured materials like clay and fibre as a contrast to the hard surfaces of screens and keyboards that we touch all day. The other cosy trend is outdoor wellness spaces that make home a retreat, think showers, cold plunges, spas, small pools, saunas, and meditation rocks. I wonder if they have meditation rocks at our local Bunnings?   

Photographer beats the machine 

Photography competitions should have a category for AI generated images, right? The twist in this tale is that the winning photo in an AI generated photo award was actually a photo taken by a human. Photographer Miles Astray explains on his website: “I entered this actual photo […] to prove that human-made content has not lost its relevance, that Mother Nature and her human interpreters can still beat the machine, and that creativity and emotion are more than just a string of digits.” He was disqualified of course, but the competition organiser emailed him to say she appreciated the powerful and timely message he was making. 

Explosion of podcasts

Anyone contemplating starting a podcast should read these statistics from Exploding topics which proves it’s a fast growing and highly competitive sector. Worldwide there are over 500 million podcast listeners, and an estimated 4.3 million podcasts. The average American listens to 8 podcasts per week but the Swedes are the winners with 47% of the population listening to podcasts compared to Australians between 30-39%. The website has plenty more interesting reading on trending topics in tech and business.

Tasty review 

I started reading this review of a hip vegan restaurant in Melbourne out of curiosity because my nephew works there but I kept reading for rich and unctuous language. It’s one part Margaret Pomeranz blended with 2 parts Posh Nosh. If you are not tempted by the slumped vegetables, great slabs of charred cabbage or mushrooms that look so much like steak that suspicious vegans have sent it back to the kitchen, you might have an appetite for the eclectic post punk clutter of the décor or the service that’s “a little arch”. Great to see that the art of writing entertaining reviews is alive and well. 

Quote of the month

Having made it to the milestone age of 50 this year, I loved this quote from From Strength to Strength: Finding success, happiness and deep purpose in the second half of life by Arthur C Brooks: “Devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom. Get old sharing the things you believe are most important’”. Brooks explores the idea that as we age we will inevitably decline in our achievements however the “second curve” of life is the time to take up teaching and mentoring roles that rely on “crystallised intelligence”.

Things to do this month

• Business awards and recognition can be powerful marketing tools. Make a list of upcoming awards and celebrate what you do best by applying for an award in your industry
• Protect the value in your ideas and get professional advice on intellectual property
• If business is slow, use the time to research the latest developments and trends in your industry, get up to speed and get a better understanding of what your customers want