This project reflects on the organisation and practices of work in the cultural and creative industries. In line with CRESC thinking it asks; what patterns of continuity and change are discernible in cultural and creative work? Such a question arises in the wake of a recession that that challenges the status of creative industries as exemplars of post-industrial work, and invites reconsideration of the role of culture and creativity in future (and past) economic organization. To what extent should cultural work be theorised as both a historical and continuous practice, or as an emergent form of labour indicative of some putatively ‘new’ (and, now, post-recession) cultural, economic and social arrangements? We adopt a global perspective, utilising a range of theoretical resources and supporting case studies to provide an analysis of both local and internationally inter-linked cultural/creative labour processes as they unfold across different territories and environments.