Erica McWilliam has recently been appointed as an Adjunct Professor for the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT and will be based at the National Education Institute in Singapore from the 1 December 2008. This node is being established to focus on the creative workforce, education and digital literacy, and urban narrative. More details to follow soon.

Creativity has become the economic engine of the 21st century. No longer the preserve of creative industries, 'creative capital' – in the form of novel thinking, navigation, interactivity and border-crossing – has become crucial to success and productivity. But are young people being equipped for a work future in which creativity is the defining feature of economic life? In an important new book, Erica McWilliam argues that young people’s creative capacities are not being properly developed and that education, particularly in Australia, demands a massive pedagogical shift. Using both Australian and overseas examples, Creative Workforce describes what creative capacities are, why they've become important to our work futures, and what can be done to optimise the creative capacities of young people.

In 2008, the Creative Workforce Program will continue to build links and partnerships with key stakeholders, expand the Learning Lab Coalition, attract funding of benefit to the Creative Workforce Program, and disseminate Program findings and activities. Planned activities include:

• contributing to the development and promotion of an online repository of creative teaching practices. The repository will consist of exemplars of practice, key themes, recommendations, future collaborations, nodes of contact, and a short film of Creativity Showcase presentations and highlights;

The National Creativity Showcase