Do voucher schemes matter in the long run? A brief comparison of Nesta’s Creative Credits and Creativeworks London’s Creative Voucher schemes

Abstract

In policy circles, the common consensus about voucher schemes aimed at the creative sector is that they have short term but no real lasting impact. This short position paper queries this notion. This is mainly because these schemes are notoriously variable in their design, implementation and evaluation. As a brief illustration of this variance this paper compares important elements of Nesta’s Creative Credit scheme with that of Creativeworks London’s (CWL) creative voucher scheme. In comparing these two types of innovation voucher schemes, it becomes apparent that two interrelated factors play a large role in determining whether long term effects might be realised: first, the variance in their designs and rationales; and second, the important role of brokerage. Importantly, this paper suggests that in order for long term effects to be realised through these types of collaborative schemes, consideration must be given to what these effects look like and then designed ex ante into the scheme.