Jaka Primorac


Research Fellow at the Institute for International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia
http://www.irmo.hr



Educational background

• September 2003 MA Programme (Culture and Society track) at the Department of Sociology, Central European University, Budapest and Warsaw, accredited by Lancaster University, United Kingdom (thesis title: ‘Cultural Identity (Re) created: The Influence of the Cultural Industries and Their Position in the Cultural Policy of the South-eastern European States’);
• October, 2001 Graduated Sociology at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb April;
• 2001 Graduated Women's Studies at the Centre for Women's Studies in Zagreb (attended the course from 9 October 2000 to 18 April 2001).

Accomplished research

Since 2003, at the Institute for International Relations I have been working on the research project entitled ‘Creative and Knowledge Industries of Countries in Transition’ (project leader Nada Švob-Ðokiæ, PhD) financed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia. My main research activities include gathering and systemizing the existing data on creative and knowledge industries in transition countries, with the special emphasis on the SEE region, through the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The main aim of my research is to map out the position of creative industries in SEE and to point out their setbacks and prospects. The work on this project enables me to pursue my research interests in the dynamic nature of contemporary creative and knowledge industries and arts production.

Before I started working as a Research Fellow at IMO I have assisted the Culturelink team on the development of the Culturelink Database and I also participated in fundraising activities and in organization of postgraduate seminars at the Interuniversity Centre in Dubrovnik, that are prepared in association with Institute for International Relations.

During my studies at Centre for Women’s Studies in 2001 I have worked on the pilot project ‘Women at the University’ (project leader Željka Jelaviæ, MSc). I have been involved in questionnaire construction and interviewing. The aim of the project was to gather data on the position of women at the University and to investigate the possibilities of integration of Women’s Studies at the university level, which was afterwards a follow-up project of the Centre. I joined this project as I wanted to work more with qualitative methodologies, and I find the investigation of gender issues to be of outmost importance for the development of a given society.

Relevant publications (latest)

• Primorac, Jaka (2004) 'Mapping the Position of Cultural Industries in South-eastern Europe', in: Cultural Transitions in South-eastern Europe, edited by Nada Švob-Ðokiæ, Culturelink Joint Publication Series No 6, Institute for International Relations, Zagreb, 59-78.
• Primorac, Jaka (2004) 'Cultural Policies and Cultural Development in South-eastern Europe: New Realities and Challenges', Culturelink 44, Vol.15 November 2004, 47-52.

Relevant seminar and conference participation

• Primorac, Jaka and Vladimir Lay ‘Contemporary Croatia in European Context: Croatian Cultural and Environmental Particularities and Exceptions', Conference ANNALES PILAR 2004.
• 'Quo vadis Croatia? Identity-Modernisation-European perspective' Quo vadis Hrvatska? (Identitet - Modernizacija - Europska obzorja), Zagreb, Croatia, 9-10 December 2004, organized by the Institute for Social Sciences 'Ivo Pilar' (to be published in July, 2005).
• Primorac, Jaka 'Mapping the Position of Cultural Industries in South-eastern Europe' at seminar Managing Cultural Transitions: South-eastern Europe, Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 9-16 May 2004.
• Primorac, Jaka ‘Art in Dialogue: Communicating Symbols and Myths’, The World Conference Dialogue Among Civilizations: A Key to a Safe Future, organized by Polish Asia Pacific Association, the Polish National Commission for UNESCO, the Centre of East Asian Studies of the Institute for Political Studies, the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Centre for East and Pacific Studies of Trier University; Warsaw, Poland, 23-26. April 2003.

Involvement in cultural policy making (discussions, research, projects)

• Pre-conference for the Berlin Conference for European Cultural Policy New Cooperation Practices – the Shaping of the European Cultural Framework (Nove suradnièke prakse – oblikovanje Europskog kulturnog okvira), organized by mama, Zagreb, Croatia, 15-16 October 2004 (impulse for discussion)
• Workshop Cultural Policy Research in South East Europe: Setbacks and Prospects organized by Policies for Culture (PfC), European Cultural Foundation-ECF, Amsterdam and ECUMEST, Romania; held in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, 1-3 October 2004 (participation)
• Expert meeting Cultural Policies and Cultural Development in South-eastern Europe: New Realities and Challenges, organized by Culturelink/IMO, Zagreb, Croatia, 10-11 September 2004 (drafting of report, participation).

Winning project description:
The Position of Culture Workers in Creative Industries

The aim of this research project is to make investigate position and experiences of culture workers in creative industries, in the context of research on the current position of creative industries in the South-eastern Europe (SEE). The research project has three phases:

• The first phase shall consist of the analysis of the existing data on creative industries and of the overview of the current instruments of cultural policies and public policies dealing with the creative industries sector, in the SEE region and selected EU countries.
• The second phase of the research project consists of the interviews with key persons working in the creative industries sector in selected countries of SEE. Through the in-depth interviews it aims to examine the experiences and knowledge and positions of the workers of creative industries, which reflects the main problems of the creative industries development. What do interviewees perceive as problematic in their sphere of work that should be changed and how? They would suggest on what should be changed and which instruments of cultural policy or other public policies could contribute to such changes.
• The third phase of the project consists of the analysis of the collected data and writing up the research project report that shall present the comparative overview of the position of culture workers in the creative industries of the selected countries of the region and to outline their position in the EU context. On the basis of the data, the report shall present policy recommendations.

The creative industries are (according to UNCTAD 2004 data) one of the fastest growing industries in the world and in Europe as well. The extensive research of the field started with British and French authors (DCMS in 1990s, Miège and partners in 1980s). Nowadays, it is still oriented more to the analysis of the (mostly financial) potential of creative industries connected to the urban environment, (e.g. Vienna - Ratzenböck et al. (2004)), but the critical review of the field is still rather dispersed. In the South-eastern Europe the knowledge of the field is rather limited, and that is why this type of research is needed.

The data on audiovisual industries (as a part of creative industries) turnover of the 50 leading companies worldwide, year 2002 (EAO; 2003) shows, majority of the income of audiovisual companies goes to American ones (44.6%), 28.8% goes to European, 18.3 % goes to Japanese companies, and the rest is covered by all the other national companies. Therefore, as the key creative industries conglomerates are mainly American based and highly influential in the (South)-European cultural landscape it is important to investigate how this is effecting culture workers in the creative industries of SEE, and what are the shapes of markets that they are working on.

It is also important to see what is the influence of European creative industries’ companies on the SEE level and their impact on the local creative industries, and how is this to be dealt with in the context of the EU enlargement. One asks the question - are the local creative industries just minor players of the global creative industries (be it European or American-based ones)? These are some of the issues that shall be tackled in this research.

The results of the research attempts to gather the information that will be important for the further adjustments of the cultural policies as well as other public policies instruments that are tackling the field of creative industries. As this ground encompasses several fields, the issues touched upon in the analysis of the creative industries sector shall be of interest for several public policies – i.e. the questions of intellectual property, distribution of cultural goods and such. The final report shall attempt to present some policy recommendations based on the gathered data. The follow up of the research is expected to continue in my PhD thesis that is currently being drafted.