Cultural policy, creative clusters and the complexity of higher education: notes from the case of Enjmin in Angoulême, France

This paper looks at the interplay between ‘creative industries’ and ‘cultural policy’ in France. We analyse how university stakeholder communities in the field of elite vocational training schools for ‘applied arts’ such as Bande dessinée (comics and animation) and videogaming negotiate the over simplistically reified relationship between public policies in the arts and the creative sector. The analysis relates the ‘case-studies’ of the ENJMIN (a national videogames school in Angoulême) to the long-standing French technocratic traditions of creating elite graduate schools in all fields of public policy, and, increasingly, in the creative sector. The study assesses the tension between the speed of response of policy in a rapidly changing economic environment and the creation of institutions that are supportive and respective and can deliver in a sustainable and substantial way. The paper explores how French policy manages the conflict between complex HE institutions involving loosely coupled communities with varying degrees of mutual commitment and self-identification and the creative industries as a complex, politically charged, and often emotionally laden field.