Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

Brazil: During this decade it has been widely recognizedthat culture not only is an integral part of the country’sdevelopment strategy, but also generates income, employmentand export earnings. In 2004 the Ministry of Culturerequested a nationwide mapping exercise to identify the sizeof the cultural sector in the country; the initial survey collecteddata from more than 320,000 cultural enterprises, concludingthat the cultural industries were responsible for 1.6million jobs, accounting for 5.7 per cent of the total enterprisesand 4 per cent of the country’s workforce during 2003-2005. 48 However, the lack of national indicators about thesupply, demand and access to cultural goods and services wasa constraint for the formulation of target cultural policies atnational and municipal levels. Therefore, more comprehensivestudies about the cultural profile of 5,500 municipalitieswere carried out in 2006-2007. Another study about thevalue chain of the creative industries in Brazil published in2008 revealed that the core 12 creative industries plus therelated industries and the supporting activities, account for21 per cent (representing 7.6 million people) of the total formalworkers in the country, contributing to 16 per cent ofnational GDP. For the State of Rio de Janeiro the concentrationof creative workers is even greater accounting for 23 percent of the workforce, with higher salaries as compared withthe national average. 49 More recently complementary studiesto identify parameters for a “Price index for culture” are beingundertaken with a view to rethink and more appropriate publicpolicies to support culture and the creative economy.In 2008, the Ministry of Culture set up the GeneralCoordination for the Economy of Culture (GCEC), with thepurpose to articulate concerted multi-disciplinary policieswith other Ministries and relevant institutions at federal, stateand municipal levels. Several initiatives for enhancing the creativeeconomy emerged, such as the Brazilian Music Fair,which was held in 2007 and 2009 and promoted more than35 shows and thousands of businesses involving about250,000 people. In the area of visual arts, the government inassociation with the Foundation Biennale of São Paulo andthe Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports andInvestments put in place the programme “Brazil ContemporaryArt” to stimulate the participation of Brazilian plastic artistsin national and international contemporary arts events. TheGCEC also formulates policies in the areas of design, architecture,fashion, photography and art crafts. In associationwith the Brazilian agency Service for Supporting Enterprises(SEBRAE) a project is in the pipeline to provide capacitybuilding for creative entrepreneurs and support business toimprove the competitiveness of Brazilian creative products innational and global markets. Another initiative was thecreation of the “Network of Public Agents of the CreativeEconomy” bringing together representatives from thesecretaries of culture from 18 Brazilian States to design andimplement integrated policies to foster the creative economy.The GCEC is associated with public universities and researchcentres to support empirical and applied research in the areaof cultural economics; this work resulted in a Programme forUrban Culture and Creative Cities, for which a pilot study isunder implementation in Acre, with a view to identify themost dynamic creative industries in the cities, possibilities todevelop creative clusters with local cultural identity and toimplement a long-term strategy for enhancing local creativeeconomies. An Observatory for the Creative Economy as adigital platform to facilitate debates, sharing of experiencesand access to information and documents about the creativeeconomy is being created. A number of other initiatives arebeing shaped throughout the country promoted by authoritiesat state and municipal levels. The State of Rio de Janeirois articulating the Programme Creative Rio to put in place aplan of action to enhancing the creative economy. The city ofSao Paulo is also shaping a strategy to improve the socioeconomicpotential of the creative industries, that will have apositive impact on other states and cities throughout thecountry. Since 2003 UNCTAD has been collaborating withthe Brazilian government to assist on efforts to foster a robustcreative economy to accelerate development.Chile: Chile has in place a system for annual assessmentsof the impact of culture in the national economy, asthe basis for the implementation of the cultural satelliteaccount. The sixth annual Report of Culture and Leisure 50presents comprehensive data and analysis of the cultural sector.The report covers five dimensions: creation, heritage,recreation, communication media and transversal indicators.In 2008, the cultural sector in Chile contributed 1.3 per centof GDP and employed about 65,000 people in the areas of2The development dimension48 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, “The Numbers of Culture in Brazil”, System of Cultural Information and Indicators, 2006.49 From “The value chain of the creative industries in Brazil”, the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro, 2 November 2008.50 Cultura y Tiempo Libre 2008, the National Council for Culture and Arts and the National Statistics Institute, Santiago, 2009.CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 201055