On 30 July 2010 I attended a great event hosted by the University of Sydney as part of the Sydney Ideas conference. The topic was “What makes a creative entrepreneur?”.
It brought together siblings Dare and Kate Jennings with long time friend, James Valentine, as moderator to look at businesses which have become successful without following traditional guidelines.
Dare was a creator behind the hugely successful brand Mambo. He now runs Deus Ex Machina, a company, which develops customised motorcycles and clothing lines. His sister Kate who has carved out a careers as a professional writer and currently lives in New York.
Both have explored life and worked to harness their own creativity in unconventional ways. Having rubbed shoulders with “war street warlords” in New York, Kate sees her brother embodying the true essence of entrepreneurship.
Hesistant to call himself an entrepreneur, he said his success was through bringing creative people together, individuals who wouldn’t be able to achieve as much as they could if they were left on their own. He described it as defining a culture and an entity that people could relate to – in the process becoming tenacious enough to ‘get the bills paid’. This, according to Kate, is more commendable than the obvious methods she sees employed by money market traders who are seen as symbols of success in her home town of New York.
And creativity is what seems to be curiously lacking in the media and publishing industry. Dare had to publish his own book – a collective of creative artists – after being frustrated by the lack of vision displayed by the high flying publishers he was introduced to. According to him, they followed a strict business model offering bad deals for writers and little to no long-term prospect.
As a writer, Kate did not want to downplay the role of a third person to shape work and to get the right fit in the market place. Even though, more and more artists are moving to take this role on themselves as the digital world allows easier access, Kate stresses that this doesn’t mean artists don’t need the editorial and production assistance; they need organisations and people who can work with them and with mutual respect. Moderator, James Valentine, put in nicely: “There is a need for a different kind of entrepreneur outside the mahogany walls of publishing.”
I wonder what it will take for these rock hard establishments to adopt different models? The need is obvious as creators take a more active role and push conventional boundaries.
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Kate Williamson is Assistant Project Manager at GAP responsible for committee secretarial for consultative committees and supporting the GAP team across all project initiatives. Kate holds a bachelor of business from Queensland University of Technology and is now studying sociology at the University of Sydney, pursuing an interest in social change and culture. She is currently formulating her research thesis on the place of body and the use of information technology.
