Sergey Konstantinovich Volkov

In this paper we study the distribution of creative industries in the regions of the Russian Federation, build models of correlation between indicators of creative industries development among themselves, as well as models of correlation between indicators of creative industries development and socio-economic indicators characterizing the development of the regions of Russia. We argue that the distribution of creative industries in Russia’s regions is quite uneven, with a small number of leading regions having the largest number of creative enterprises that provide the largest contribution of creative activities, while in other regions the creative industries are less developed. We present the hypothesis explaining this specific distribution and construct the typology of the regions drawing on the level of creative industries development. To assess the influence of different factors on the degree of development of creative industries we built a number of models that allow to draw conclusions concerning the decisions to be taken at regional and federal levels to provide the conditions for the development of creative industries in Russia’s regions.

The article attempts to highlight the socio-psychological portrait of a Russian worker in creative sphere. The relevance of the research is determined by the contradiction between the desire to develop the creative class and the lack of a clear understanding of the essence of this social group. The methodological basis of the research includes both classic works by R. Florida and modern scientific publications on the study of the creative class by Russian and foreign authors. The analysis of theoretical studies shows the impossibility to establish a clear professional affiliation due to both terminological uncertainty and the rapid digitalization of society during the pandemic years, which led to a change in the position of the creative class and actualized the need to study it. The empirical basis is formed by the data from the online questionnaire survey carried out among the participants of the project of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives (rurban.space) to search and unite representatives of the creative class within the framework of the development of urban space models. The article attempts to outline the peculiarities of the formation of the Russian creative class. The results allow us to describe the portrait of a creative worker as a member of a social group that exists within the framework of traditional socio-economic institutions. The respondents self-identify themselves as representatives of the lower and middle classes, gravitating towards full-time employment within urban agglomerations. When selecting the professional qualities inherent in a creative worker, respondents gave preference to «creativity» and «communicativeness,» completely excluding «tolerance,» which is considered mandatory in Western culture. The data obtained in this study allowed us to rethink the established stereotypes and simplifying heuristics about the nature of creative work and the socioeconomic portrait of a creative worker.

Currently, most rural areas of our country are actively stagnating. High poverty, low educational level of the population, low wages or no employment opportunities, underdeveloped infrastructure, active migration to cities — all this leads to the mass depopulation of rural areas and their shrinkage in the spatial and economic context. In this regard, it is necessary to form new approaches to the spatial development of rural areas, based on the development of alternative activities in the formation of creative centers in order to spread innovation and improve the real quality of life of the local population. The purpose of the present research is the formation and substantiation of the organizational-economic mechanism of the development of the creative centers in the rural territories. General scientific methods of research were applied.

The organizational-economic mechanism of creative centers formation should provide effective infrastructural by displacing the entrenched forms of management. The attraction of creative workers to rural areas will act as an indicator of efficiency. The proposed multilevel management system of the process of formation of creative centers in rural areas is supplemented by an additional level — reflexive, in addition to the standard levels of management (strategic, tactical and operational). This level implies constant contacts between various stakeholders in real time with the possibility of adjusting the current processes. In our opinion, the only true solution to the problem of depopulation of rural areas should be to launch the process of qualitative transformation of rural areas taking into account the opinions of all stakeholders. The proposed methodological framework in the form of an organizational-economic mechanism can serve as a basis for future changes in the decision-making process of those responsible for rural development. The development of creative centers in rural areas can become a potential pole of growth of the latter and contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the local population at the expense of economic diversification.