Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

■■■the desirability of capacity building to ensure that countriescan continue to oversee the development of their creativeeconomies on a sustainable basis;the critical role of finance and investment in areas wherethe government can play an important facilitating role;the desirability of adopting measures to expand theexports of creative products and to foster import replacement,especially with respect to audiovisuals;■■the need for appropriate copyright legislation and theadministrative infrastructure to provide effective a balancedsystem that privilege the creatives; andthe importance of protecting the fundamental artistic andcultural resources on which the creative economy depends.In addition to domestic policy strategies, internationalaction is also required, as will be discussed in chapter 9.Box 8.5Cultural policy in action: The Nairobi Plan of ActionAs a prelude to the full implementation of the African Economic Community, cultural leaders in Nairobi in 2005 urged their governments to include in thelegal and institutional frameworks for the development of cultural products their free movement in all African countries and to detail legislative and fiscalmeasures to foster cultural industries through a “policy subsidy”. The Common Market will be based in broad outline on the Nairobi Plan of Actionfor the Development of Cultural Industries adopted in December 2005. 1The objectives of the Nairobi Plan of Action are summarized in the following table.Objective: Guarantee the organization, production, distribution, exhibition and preservation of the products of African cultural industriesEconomic Social PoliticalGenerate new resources for the Strengthen the African cultural Reduce the dependence on the wider worldeconomic development of Africa identify and creativity as well outside of Africa for the productionand the creation of new jobs and as broaden people’s participation and distribution of cultural goods.income-generation opportunities.in endogenous cultural development.Open up new markets for AfricanFacilitate new institutional partnershipsculture in and outside of Africa.between the public sector, private sectorand civil society such as within the frameworkof the UNESCO Global Alliance for CulturalDiversity and the New Partnership forAfrica’s Development.Strengthen the competitiveness of Strengthen the acknowledgement Adopt flexible responses to initiatives fromAfrican cultural goods within the of the cultural dimension of the African private sector towards theframework of globalization and the sustainable development in Africa. development of cultural industries.liberalization of markets.Improve national capacities for creating, Bring about new and pluralistic Achieve better regional integration.producing, distributing and exhibitingforums of cultural expressioncultural goods.supporting the installation ofdemocracy in African societies.Strengthen private and communityinitiatives of small and medium-sizedenterprises.Enhance the organization and protectionof creators.Set up an African Cultural CommonMarket and develop intra-African cooperation.Strengthen the role of the private sectorand civil society.Develop South/North cooperation as well asSouth/South cooperation and real partnership.8Policy strategies for the creative industriesCREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010229