Where Are the Artists? Analyzing Economies of Agglomeration in Spain

The creative economy has become the subject of increasing interest in recent years, both in the area of cultural economics as well as in economic development studies and the analysis of spatial disparities. In this regard, various studies have examined the spatial logics of cultural and creative industries, although analyses into the location and agglomeration of artists therein remain few and far between, in other words inquiry into the activities location linked to artistic creation in a purer sense. The present work thus seeks to delve into location and spatial structure of the cultural sector in a Spanish region, focusing specifically on activities more closely linked to artistic creativity, such as literary creation, performing arts, bullfighting, music, cinema, etc. The work examines the autonomous community of Castilla y León as an example, and posits an analysis of the spatial distribution of artists using micro-spatial disaggregation, in other words taking the network of towns as the territorial analysis unit. Spatial econometric techniques are used to identify location patterns, pinpoint territorial activity clusters and to measure agglomeration economies. A first look at the findings reveals that the cultural sector in Castilla y León evidences a strong trend towards concentration, with spatial distribution patterns which lead to the formation of statistically significant cultural clusters and strong spatial dependence between territories over the whole of the period analysed (2005-2013).