The dynamics of creative collaboration: the role of the creative producer in community-based multimedia production

The Dynamics of Creative Collaboration: The Role of the Creative Producer in Community-Based, Multimedia Production is a practice-led research project that investigates the techniques, processes and methods of creative collaboration in community-based, multimedia production. The research investigates if and if so, how the inclusion of a central management role affects the creative dynamics, the management activities, and the communication processes within a team composed of amateur community participants and professional multimedia artists. This key creative and management role that some call a Creative Producer is investigated to examine how the role balances the tensions between the need for creative freedom and the maintenance of a shared collective vision. For this purpose, three collaborative, creative projects with a Creative Producer are employed as Action Research case studies and an in-depth qualitative and quantitative Industry Survey provide a comparative view from thirty industry experts. This demonstrates and investigates the activities and responsibilities of the emerging role; and the use of improvisation not just as a production process, but also as a management technique. The research seeks to identify a model of collaboration in community-based, multimedia production that includes a creative and managerial role of the Creative Producer.