UNDERSTANDING CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
As governments around the world begin to recognise the contribution of creative industries to economic growth and employment, there has been a growth in statistics and mapping exercises in order to give public officials the information they need to create targeted public policies to support the sector. This article explores the importance of cultural statistics and UNESCO's role in developing standard methodologies that countries can adopt and adapt.
Introduction
Creative
industries are becoming increasingly important components of modern
post-industrial knowledge-based economies. Not only are they thought to
account for higher than average growth and job creation, they are also
vehicles of cultural identity that play an important role in fostering
cultural diversity.
During the last
decade a number of governments around the world have recognised this
fact and started to develop specific policies to promote them. This
mainstreaming of what was once considered a sector of marginal
interest, which received limited attention from researchers, has led to
a growing body of analysis, statistics and mapping exercises on the
relationship between culture, creative industries and economic
development to give officials in these countries the raw data they need
to make policy. However, the sector is still poorly understood and many
governments remain to be convinced of its potential, while trying to
accurately measure economic activity in the sector poses considerable
obstacles.
As momentum builds to
prioritise this field of activity within economic development policies,
the demand for more precise and sophisticated cultural statistics at
international, regional and national level is set to grow and
governments should support and encourage initiatives in this field. The
Global Alliance, dedicated to promoting the cultural industries, such
as cinema, music, publishing and crafts, fully supports the progress of
recent years to map and study this sector more closely and actively
works to advocate further research, disseminate best practices and
collect published studies in this field on its website.
Cultural Industries and Creative Industries
The
term cultural industries refers to industries which combine the
creation, production and commercialization of creative contents which
are intangible and cultural in nature. The contents are typically
protected by copyright and they can take the form of a good or a
service. Cultural industries generally include printing, publishing and
multimedia, audiovisual, phonographic and cinematographic productions
as well as crafts and design.
The
term creative industries encompasses a broader range of activities
which include the cultural industries plus all cultural or artistic
production, whether live or produced as an individual unit. The
creative industries are those in which the product or service contains
a substantial element of artistic or creative endeavour and include
activities such as architecture and advertising. In this article, these
terms are used precisely and are not synonymous nor interchangeable.
International studies and UNESCO's mandate
With its cultural mandate and a dedicated statistical unit, the Institute for Statistics (UIS),
UNESCO is uniquely placed to take the lead in developing effective
statistical methodologies at an international level to provide national
governments with the tools necessary to study the creative industries
sector and to encourage countries to prioritise this field of research.
UNESCO's role is not to seek to
impose standards and nor can it force countries to collect these
statistics. Ultimately countries must see the value in doing so
themselves at national and sub-national level and statistical standards
emerge organically through a long process of development. However,
UNESCO can and should be an active advocate of studying this growing
field of research within the cultural domain and could contribute
significantly to seeking out and disseminating best practice in the
collection of data and development of indicators as well as supporting
countries in their efforts to work in this area.
In
1986, UNESCO published its landmark Framework for Cultural Statistics
(FCS) which was the first comprehensive attempt to develop common
methodologies to capture information about cultural activities, but it
desperately needs updating. Of course, UNESCO's mandate goes far beyond
an economic evaluation of cultural activities and the FCS seeks more
broadly to provide a common structure to collect data on cultural
activities that could be ultimately lead to cross-national comparisons
of cultural statistics. This framework was subsequently adopted by
various national institutions which then adapted and modified the
methodology to reflect the specific cultural realities of their
country. The FCS defines ten distinct categories: (0) cultural
heritage; (1) printed matter and literature; (2 & 3) music and the
performing arts; (4) visual arts; (5&6) audiovisual media (5 cinema
and photography; 6 radio and television); (7) socio cultural
activities; (8) sports and games; (9) environment and nature. The
framework also proposes cross-category matrices such as
creation/production, transmission/dissemination, consumption,
registration/protection and participation.
With
the speed of technological change and the emergence of the creative
industries as a distinct area of specialisation since the first FCS was
developed, this framework needs updating to capture the new and varied
ways that culture, and particularly cultural goods and services such as
music, film and books, are now produced, distributed and used. The
dramatic development of the internet, e-commerce and digital file
formats in particular has profoundly changed the way people create,
work in and consume culture over the last 20 years and any new
methodologies must take this into account.
The
UIS is therefore launching a thorough review of the FCS which will in
time lead to a complete updating of its methodology, with particular
attention devoted to creative industries among other issues. The UIS
has already commissioned the London School of Economics, the University of Leeds and the Burns Owens Partnership,
a private British consultancy specialising in cultural statistics, to
review the intellectual framework that underpins the FCS and to look at
existing indicators that are used by a range of UNESCO member states
within their national official statistics systems. This first
preparatory phase of the FCS review is due to start in March 2006 and
given the complexity of the task, a final version of a new Framework is
likely to take 2-3 years to produce.
In
an attempt to better understand the value of the international trade
that cultural industries give rise to, the UIS has also just published
a report, International Flows of Selected Cultural Goods and Services, 1994-2003,
that analyses cross-border trade data from about 120 countries on
selected products, such as books, CDs, videogames and sculptures.
Though it presents new methodology to better reflect cultural trade
flows, the authors of the report nevertheless draw attention to the
difficulty of collecting complete information and concede that the
report gives only a partial picture.
For
example, films are typically exported to destination markets as a
single master copy and then reproduced and distributed locally. As a
consequence the level of exports may bear little relation to the volume
distributed in the receiving country. The exported film considered as a
good has an almost negligible value at customs, mainly based on the
value of the recording format used. The value of a movie increases
however once the film is copied and distributed and this value is
captured by the services data through the balance of payments as
royalties and licenses fees. For example India, whilst being a major
film producer, is not considered among the top exporters based on
customs statistics. To address these shortcomings, UIS is planning
later this year to re-launch and update its biennial survey on the
Statistics of Films and Cinemas, which was discontinued in 2000. The
project will review past methodology, current international analysis,
surveys in the field and will identify key new indicators related to
cultural diversity.
While UNESCO
already has these statistics on cultural production, trade and assets,
it does not yet have an accurate methodology for analysing cultural
participation and consumption, the final piece of the jigsaw. The UIS
is therefore planning to develop instruments for national and
international studies which will evaluate participation in a wide range
of cultural activities, within the social context as well as the
economic perspective of cultural exchanges and interactions. In doing
so, UNESCO will study and adapt methodology and indicators first
developed by the EU in two Eurobarometer surveys. The first, European's Participation in Cultural Activities,
which was conducted by The European Opinion Research Group, in
September 2001 focussed on all EU countries. The second was carried out
in early spring 2003 by the Gallup Organization Hungary and looked at
the then EU candidate countries before they formerly joined the EU in
May 2004. The results of both these surveys are available on the Eurostat Education, Training and Culture statistics CIRCA site.
The
statistical work of UIS in the field of culture has recently been given
new impetus by the adoption at UNESCO's general conference in October
2005 of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions,
Article 19 of which expressly creates an obligation for UNESCO to
facilitate the collection, analysis and dissemination of all relevant
information, statistics and best practices in regard to cultural
diversity. The upcoming publication of the second UNESCO World Report
dedicated to Cultural Diversity, due in October 2007, will also provide
significant momentum as it will require detailed information and
measurement of cultural diversity. Both the convention and the report
will encourage the development of statistical methodologies that will
help demonstrate the place that culture, and by extension cultural
industries, have in society and the economy and will provide ways to
measure the implementation of policies taken in this field.
UNESCO is not the only body to play a role in this field at international level: the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and international organisations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the EU's Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency
have undertaken or plan to do so, various cross-border regional studies
in this area. The nature and focus of this information varies depending
on which organisation has prepared it and for what purposes. The European Audiovisual Observatory
for example is a successful attempt to track and analyse all sectors of
the audiovisual media in Europe and to provide related information on
areas such as law, intellectual property, production broadcasting.
Naturally,
WIPO adopts a more restrictive view than UNESCO of what constitute
cultural industries, focussing solely on those economic activities
which give rise to intellectual property rights. WIPO has recently
launched a Creative Industries Division within its Small and Medium Enterprise sector. It has also developed a Guide on Surveying the Economic Contribution of Copyright-Based Industries
and is launching a series of 5 further studies in early 2006. Much
American research also adopts an IP centred approach, conducted as it
is by industry bodies such as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).
In fact, the WIPO methodology grew out of that developed by the IIPA.
EU studies, by contrast, tend focus more widely on cultural
interactions and participation.
National statistics and the development of mapping
Despite
the growing focus on creative industries as a specialised field of
interest for both officials and academics, many governments remain
unconvinced of the importance of prioritising this sector and creative
industries still do not rank high in the competition for public funds
within government budgets. Progress on mainstreaming creative
industries within policy-making is further hampered by an uncertainty
as to whether ministries of culture or ministries of economy should
take the lead in coordinating government action.
Nevertheless,
an increasing number of governments have recognised the importance of
creative industries and are developing a growing range of policies at
the national and sub-national level to support their growth. In order
to do so, statistics are vital to give policy makers a clearer idea of
the impact this sector has and precisely how the public sector can
create a more conducive environment that will allow these industries to
flourish.
Without a standardised
international methodology yet available, a mass of detailed though
uncoordinated analysis and research has been undertaken in different
parts of the world, and certain practices and methodologies have been
widely adopted on an ad-hoc basis. Unfortunately little is being done
to standardise these methodologies and valuable opportunities are
therefore being lost to build a more comprehensive body of regional
knowledge that could be used for cross-border comparisons and
international policy making on a more coordinated basis.
Cultural
mapping has become the favoured approach at national level for
governments to study and understand their creative industry sectors
before making policy decisions. Mapping, which involves a comprehensive
effort to identify all relevant cultural economic activities,
organisations, employment and links in a given area such as a town or
region, has the added advantage that the actual mapping process itself
can generate substantial awareness and foster collaboration across a
wide range of creative stakeholders, building momentum that can then
influence the political sphere and encourage suitable public
policy-making.
The UK is widely recognised as having played a groundbreaking role in developing these analytical models, with the government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport
producing the first Cultural Industries Mapping Documents in 1998 and
2001 as part of their efforts to regenerate economically depressed
industrial towns and cities. These documents define and classify
creative industries into the following thirteen separate fields: (1)
advertising, (2) architecture, (3) art and antiques markets, (4)
crafts, (5) design, (6) designer fashion, (7) film and video, (8)
interactive leisure software, (9) music, (10) performing arts, (11)
publishing, (12) software and computer services, (13) television and
radio.
This classification system
has since been copied in many studies around the world. The British
Creative Industries Production System (CIPS), which measures creative
industry activities, breaking them into four segments including content
origination, production, distribution and consumption, has also been
widely adopted by other countries including Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore and Hong Kong. As befits the country that took such an early
lead in this field the UK even has a dedicated Minister for Creative
Industries and Tourism and there now exist hundreds of mappings for
different regions and cities, as well as a significant academic field
of specialists studying the sector.
Statistics New Zealand
has also made a major contribution to the classification of cultural
activities by seeking to include the key elements of Maori culture as
separate elements of their statistical classification system. UIS is
hoping to build on this experience to identify ways in which
statistical systems can be more sensitive to cultures of a variety of
sub-national and indigenous groups.
A
Senior Expert Symposium held in Jodphur, India in February 2005 has
given the analysis of creative industries a significant boost in Asia.
Organised by UNESCO's Bangkok office and bringing together the UIS, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), WIPO, the World Bank and the and bringing together the UIS, the Asian Development Bank,
the Symposium approved the Jodhpur Consensus that lays out a common
approach to developing a conceptual framework for cultural industries
in the region.
The symposium
succeeded in establishing the basis for a new strategic alliance
between culture and development in the Asia-Pacific region and
contributed to UNESCO's efforts to bridge the knowledge and technology
gap between the region and industrialized countries to allow Asian
Pacific countries to unlock the economic and social potential of the
cultural industries. The first phase of this programme included the
establishment of a regional framework for statistical indicators. The
first initiative to be implemented as of 2006 will be a regional data
collection model project for the establishment of baseline data on the
socio-economic development potential of the cultural industries in
specific countries. This project is endorsed and supported by the Spanish International Development Cooperation.
Hong
Kong, Special Administrative Region of China, and Singapore have been
particularly progressive in analysing the creative industries sector in
an effort to maintain their economic dynamism in the face of the
competitive challenge posed by mainland China. Both cities have
produced detailed studies, A Study on Creativity Index, Hong Kong and Economic Contributions of Singapore's Creative Industries,
of the role and scale of the creative economy, largely adopting the
analytical models developed in the UK and adapting them to take account
of their local specificities.
China
has yet to undertake a comprehensive review of the sector, though
individual cities have started to embark upon statistical data
collection and focus on the creative industries to drive forward their
already remarkable economic growth. Given the size and internal
diversity of the country, a city-specific approach is likely to be the
most efficient way to promote an understanding of these industries and
create viable public policies to support them. Shanghai, the most
high-profile of China's rapidly modernising cities, is well aware of
the potential of the creative industries for economic growth and in
2006 plans to undertake a comprehensive city and district mapping
exercise upon which future policy decisions will be based. Furthermore
Shanghai's Creative Industry Centre
is currently conducting research in cooperation with the Shanghai
Intellectual Property Administration into the creative industries
sector as well as a research project on how to make full use of IPRs to
promote the growth of creative industries.
Latin
America is probably the world s most active and dynamic region in
studying this area of potential economic growth today. The Convenio Andres Bello (CAB)
is a regional institution based in Bogota devoted to the promotion of
culture which has published a number of pioneering studies on the
economic dimensions of cultural industries in Latin America. Under its
program for Economy and Culture, it has collaborated with member
countries in order to improve their systems of economic information for
culture. With the financial support of the Inter-American Development
Bank, CAB has been working on a draft Methodological Handbook for the
Implementation of Satellite Accounts for Culture, which will allow
statisticians to define the contribution of cultural industries to the
economy (GDP for example) by implementing cultural measures in the
national accounting and statistics system. The outcome would be to
create an information system on culture. This document builds on the
experience and efforts of the Colombian statistical office (DANE) and Chile's Banco Central, which have both also been working on the development of special satellite accounts for culture.
In
Colombia, the Ministry of Culture has just launched the Guide for
Regional Mapping of the Creative Industries, prepared by the CRECE Research Centre
to provide some basic methodological tools for undertaking the research
into the creative industries. The guide, funded in cooperation with the
British Council
is an attempt to fill the knowledge gap the ministry has encountered
whilst trying to encourage the regional authorities to exploit local
creative industries as a source of social and economic development. The
Study on the economic importance of industries and activities protected
by copyright and related rights in the Mercosur countries and Chile
has also been published. Commissioned by WIPO this research project
assesses the economic importance of these copyright industries,
focussing in particular on their share of GDP, employment figures and
the foreign trade balance. The study also allows data to be collected
on legislative and institutional aspects of copyright and related
rights, including the collective management of such rights.
The Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa,
set up in 2002 with the support of UNESCO, the African Union, the New
York-based Institute of Cultural Enterprise and the Ford Foundation is
the main initiative to have been undertaken to date on the continent.
South Africa has developed different papers on cultural industries
while the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published a series of four studies on Small Enterprise Development and Job Creation in the Culture Sector
in the SADC (South African Development Community) covering the
Performing Arts and Dance, Television and Film, The Music Industry and
Visual Arts and Crafts.
Conclusion
The
recent emergence of the creative industries as a distinct area of
interest for economists, statisticians, cultural specialists and
public-policy makers reflects a growing awareness of their economic
potential and their role in fostering cultural diversity through the
market. The concept of creative industries for the purpose of public
policy making remains very young and not all governments are convinced
of the need to address this sector with targeted initiatives. With the
advent of new technologies in the last 20 years such as the internet,
e-commerce and electronic files that make sharing, trading and
consuming cultural goods and services easier than ever before,
globalisation has had a profound impact on the creative industries.
Statistical
methodologies, which are so important to provide officials with the
information they need to develop suitable policy to support the
creative industries, have yet to catch up with this reality. In order
to harness the opportunities offered by the creative industries,
governments first need to undertake thorough mapping and statistical
research to better understand them. UNESCO, as the world's only
inter-governmental body dedicated to culture, with a its own
specialised Institute for Statistics, has a vital role to play to
furnish guidance, best practice and support to countries that will
encourage them to undertake such work.
About UNESCO's Global Alliance
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