First word
For a nation that is usually on the hunt for the latest dance trends, tunes, trends, styles or terminology in global pop culture, the Philippines has been slow to catch the first stirrings and tremors of the creative industries movement. Many nations have benefited from this development as they made cultural policy an integral part of their development planning.
The nation did not march in lockstep when most of the world began to design their respective tasks and programs in the cultural field and then, to the delight of all humanity, unfolded a kaleidoscope of projects, products, festivals and shows that amazed the world. This explosion of creativity is not unlike the spectacular openings of the quadrennial Olympic Games, with one difference. The Games only take place every four years. The world’s creative economy is constantly in operation.
Australia started it
The first spark of the creative economy was sparked by Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating (1991-1996) when his government introduced and promoted the Commonwealth’s first cultural policy in 1994, known as the Creative Nation. The policy provided A$250 million over four years to support Australia’s cultural and creative industries. Keating had frequently spoken publicly about the benefits of the arts and used the policy as an opportunity to develop Australia’s cultural sector.
In 1997, the newly elected Labour government under Tony Blair in the UK decided to develop a definition of the creative economy and creative industries and to assess their direct impact on the UK economy. Based on the Australian study “Creative Nation” and on the advice of an invited group of leading creative entrepreneurs, the government’s new Department for Culture, Media and Sport published the document “Creative Industries – Mapping Document 1998”.
The document listed 13 sectors of activity – advertising, architecture, art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, interactive leisure software, music, performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio – which had in common that they “… originate from individual creativity, skill and talent and … have the potential to create wealth through the creation of intellectual property.”
At about the same time that things were happening in Australia and the UK, the European Union was also starting to dance to the beat of the creative industries. In March 2000, EU heads of state and government agreed in Lisbon on the ambitious goal of making the EU “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” by 2010.
Lisbon commissioned a continental study on the creative and cultural sector in Europe. The results of the study, prepared by KEA European Affairs, were published in October 2006 as a volume entitled “The Economics of Culture in Europe”.
A quick note on usage: Australia, the UK and the US generally prefer to use the term “creative industries”, while the EU and Canada prefer the term “cultural industries”. No big deal, they mean the same thing.
What is the creative economy?
It is now over two decades since Paul Keating and Tony Blair alerted the world to the importance and potential of the creative industries.
The British Council has commendably published a highly informative and insightful report by John Newbegin, which describes how the idea of the creative economy and creative industries has changed over the last 20 years and in the new century. I summarise and quote the most important passages from his report here.
“The term ‘creative industries’ was first used around 20 years ago to describe a range of activities, some of which are among the oldest in history and others which only emerged with the advent of digital technology. Many of these activities had strong cultural roots and the term ‘cultural industries’ was already being used to describe theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts and the heritage sector, although this term itself was controversial as many artists found it demeaning to consider what they did as an ‘industry’ in any way.
“‘Industries’ or not, no one can deny that these activities – both the narrowly defined cultural industries and the much broader range of new creative industries – were of growing importance to the economies of many countries and employed large numbers of people. But no government had attempted to measure their overall economic contribution or to think strategically about their importance, except perhaps the U.S. government, which had protected and promoted its film industry for nearly a hundred years, not only because of its value to the U.S. economy but because it carried U.S. culture and influence throughout the world. Although they did not constitute an easily identifiable industrial ‘sector’, as is the case with aerospace, pharmaceuticals, or automobiles, all of these activities had one thing in common: they relied on the creative talent of individuals and the creation of intellectual property.
How thinking about the creative industries has evolved
“Twenty years later, the concept of ‘creative industries’ and their importance is recognised by almost every government in the world and is beginning to give way to a much broader notion of a more comprehensive ‘creative economy’. Of course, the desire to define certain industries as ‘creative’ persists and will no doubt continue to do so. In some countries, definitions revolve narrowly around arts and culture. Other countries have broader definitions that include, for example, food and catering, as food and cuisine have both economic and cultural significance. Other countries have a definition that includes well-established business-to-business industries such as publishing, software, advertising and design; the 11th Five-Year Plan of the People’s Republic of China had as one of its central themes the need to ‘move from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China'” – a classic representation of the understanding that the creation of intellectual property is more valuable in the 21st century economy than the manufacture of products…
“The more policymakers looked at the creative industries, the more it became clear that it made no sense to consider their economic value in isolation from their social and cultural value. A United Nations study on the global creative economy published in 2008 pointed out that the rapid growth of the “creative and cultural industries” was far from being a phenomenon of the developed nations of Europe and North America, but was being felt on all continents, North and South. The report concluded: “The interface between creativity, culture, business and technology, as expressed in the ability to create and circulate intellectual capital, has the potential to generate income, jobs and exports while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development. This is precisely what the emerging creative industries have already begun to do.”
“In an era of rapid globalization, many countries are realizing that the combination of culture and commerce that constitutes the creative industries is a powerful way to give a country or city a distinctive image…
“It is sometimes said that in the 20th century, oil was the main fuel of the economy, but in the 21st century, creativity is the fuel. Just as energy policy and access to energy were a determining factor in geopolitics in the 20th century, policies to promote and protect creativity could be the key success factors in the 21st century.”
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