THE vast array of cultures of the world and the creativity they foster is precious. While the social and spiritual value of the cultural resources of the Asia-Pacific region is increasingly understood, the potential of these cultural resources to contribute to socio-economic development has yet to be widely recognized, and these resources remain largely untapped. Awareness of the potential economic value of these resources is, however, growing and governments are increasingly focusing their attention on cultural industries – businesses which are based on cultural resources and intellectual property – as also understanding their utility as a vector for sustainable development.

In order to assist in realizing the potential of the cultural industries to contribute to socio-economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) promotes a long-term strategic programme for the support of the cultural industries sector. This paper describes the context for that programme and provides an overview of Unesco’s plan of action.

Culture can be defined as ‘the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and encompasses in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.’¹ A person inherits a culture unconsciously and therefore often never becomes aware of the meaning it brings to his life and the sense of identity it endows him with. Fortunately in recent years, due to rapid changes which have seen cultures being weakened and lost, there has been increasing awareness of the value of culture.

The process of enormous and rapid technological change currently taking place has also led to a situation in which our economies are increasingly knowledge-based and reliant on constant innovation. Creativity is a vital resource in any economy, but is particularly important in such a context. In order to keep pace with the changes in markets, social adaptation and factors such as creativity and innovation will be increasingly important for business success.

While creativity can exist in any situation, it can best flourish where there is juxtaposition of differing perspectives and paradigms. Creative insights generally occur when concepts or approaches that are not normally associated come together and spark new connections and original ideas. Such conditions can only exist in a situation that has a variety of different ways of seeing, understanding and being, that is, in a culturally diverse world.

As governments become aware of the above issues, there is burgeoning acceptance of the notion, crystallized in the Unesco Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, that cultural diversity as a source of exchange, innovation and creativity is as necessary to our lives as biodiversity. It has therefore become increasingly clear that the safeguarding of cultural diversity is a matter of great importance and that steps should be taken to develop policies and programmes which support local cultures and traditions, enabling them to endure in the face of globalization and other challenges.

Culture is dynamic and evolves in various, non-uniform ways over time. The safeguarding of cultural diversity does not aim to restrict cultural change but, at the same time, it is recognized that when change occurs too rapidly it can destabilize society, leaving people feeling displaced, with adverse consequences for their socio-economic development. Therefore, in the context of rapid social and economic change, it is clear that measures to safeguard cultural diversity must include actions and means to counter the forces which threaten to destabilize culture and society.

 

One means of countering such forces and drawing attention to the value of cultural resources (local skills and knowledge) is through supporting the businesses which rely on culture and creativity as their key resources: ‘cultural industries’ or ‘creative industries’.

Cultural industries can be defined as ‘those industries which produce tangible or intangible artistic creative outputs, and which have the potential for wealth creation and income generation through the exploitation of cultural assets and the production of knowledge-based goods and services (both traditional and contemporary). What cultural industries have in common is that they all use creativity and cultural knowledge to produce products and services with social and cultural meaning.’² Cultural industries are supported by a foundation of cultural assets and, in the context of rapid change, depend on unremitting creativity, innovation and adaptation in order to succeed.

Through supporting cultural industries, governments help ensure that the cultural resources upon which these industries depend continue to be perpetuated. The support of cultural industries is therefore a concrete and significant means of contributing to the safeguarding of local culture, and thus to cultural diversity.

 

At the same time, because cultural industries incorporate not only cultural but social and economic factors, support to these industries is a practical strategy as they have significant potential to contribute to socio- economic development and poverty alleviation. By supporting and encouraging such businesses, governments make them attractive to entrepreneurs and employees. Support for cultural industries can therefore be considered an investment in development.

Cultural industries have traits that make them particularly suitable for development strategies directed towards poverty reduction. Support for these industries provides a means by which governments can target hitherto unresponsive sectors of the economy, and because these industries are often located in rural areas (which are generally poorer) the support of cultural industries is a means of alleviating poverty in rural regions. Furthermore, by encouraging people in rural regions to perpetuate traditional forms of livelihoods based on cultural resources, and by developing means by which those livelihoods can be sustainable, governments may prevent further rural-urban migration and avoid the attendant adverse consequences of such migration for human development.

Cultural industries have grown rapidly in recent years, from ubiquitous local enterprises based on crafts and design, to global mass-market industries in publishing, music and film, with a vast array of products and services being generated. However, the world map of cultural industries shows an alarming, widening gap between industrialized and developing countries. Cultural industries have become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in industrialized countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. But while the more developed economies of the Asia-Pacific region are beginning to experience a comparable trend in the growth of the creative sector, the same advancement has not occurred in the less developed countries of the region. In these countries the right conditions still need to be created in order for the cultural industries to reach their potential. With its vast wealth of cultural resources, both tangible and intangible, the Asia-Pacific region is strongly poised to mobilize its creative and human capital in pursuit of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development and meet the challenge of poverty reduction.

 

For cultural industries to thrive they require an enabling environment that respects and encourages freedom of expression and collective creativity, and protects and promotes diversity. Within such an environment are certain socio-economic and policy conditions (‘drivers’) that contribute to strengthening the cultural industries. These drivers can be divided into five areas as follows: social organization and values; human resources; cultural asset management; technological development; and infrastructure (legal, institutional, financial and physical framework).

With regard to the above drivers, actions should be centred on:

* Strengthening recognition of the importance of cultural diversity (in Asia embodied both in traditional ethnic diversities and in the new urban cultures and their integration in the global economy).

* Mobilizing communities and building local capacity for professional cultural resource and asset management.

* Promoting intellectual property rights.

* Designing legal, financial and other means and incentives for encouraging and promoting these industries.

Based on an examination of the drivers listed above and the required actions, Unesco and a number of partner organizations have developed a strategy with regard to creating an enabling environment for cultural industries. This strategy was outlined at a symposium held in Jodhpur, India, in February 2005.

 

From 22 to 26 February 2005, Unesco, in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), convened a senior expert symposium on cultural industries: Asia-Pacific creative communities – a strategy for the 21st century.

The goal of the Jodhpur Symposium was to support the creative sector as a key driver for socio-economic development in the Asia-Pacific region by identifying and establishing a policy framework and an accompanying action strategy for the promotion of cultural industries. A key outcome of the symposium was the Jodhpur Consensus, a statement and call to action. Aside from appealing to creative communities, policy-makers, civil society and the private sector to cooperate to ensure the full realization of the potential of the rich cultural resources of the Asia-Pacific region, the document calls upon international agencies, national and local authorities, non-profit organizations, and the cultural industry sector to advocate and support a proposed 10-year plan of action, consisting of five key technical assistance activities designed to support the development of cultural industries.

 

The Jodhpur Initiatives for Promoting Cultural Industries in the Asia-Pacific Region that were debated and endorsed at the symposium, establish a policy framework and a long-term plan of action. This plan of action is intended to facilitate recognition of the cultural industries sector and its needs, as well as to encourage the conditions conducive to the development of the cultural industries sector, through coordination and investment in key areas such as: human resource development, information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, intellectual property rights regimes, small and medium size enterprise (SME) support policies, and targeted promotional and export measures.

The five activities that make up the proposed inter-agency technical assistance programme outlined in the Jodhpur Initiatives are as follows:

1. Coordination: Support for a regional, integrated policy development coordination mechanism to promote cultural industries as a strategy for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.

2. Best Practices: The compilation of a compendium of best practices in the cultural industries sector from the Asia-Pacific region.

3. Networking: The promotion of networks that will boost awareness, research and proactive policy development pertaining to cultural industries as a strategy to strengthen the cultural industries sector. These networks will primarily aim at supporting the development of institutionalized training and research.

4. Creativity Matrix: The establishment of an Asian Cities Creativity Matrix, to track and measure the effectiveness of policy initiatives in support of cultural industries.

5. Data: Implementation of a regional data collection model project, for the establishment of baseline data pertaining to the socio-economic development potential of the cultural industries in specific countries.

 

Because cultural industries are multi-disciplinary and inter-sectoral in nature, they require inputs which cut across existing sectors, administrative departments and professions. The successful implementation of the Jodhpur Initiatives will consequently necessitate the further development of networks between institutions and of inter-agency partnerships that were established in the lead-up to, and during, the symposium.

In implementing the Jodhpur Initiatives, Unesco has advised that particular attention should be paid to the poorer developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region where there is great, and currently unmet, need for technical assistance to facilitate the introduction of national policy frameworks to support the development of the cultural industries into a significant economic sector.

 

Footnotes:

1. Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO, Paris, 2002.

2. Definition of ‘cultural industries’ in, Background Documents, Asia-Pacific Creative Communities: A Strategy for the 21st Century, Senior Experts Symposium, 22-26 February 2005, Jodhpur, India, Unesco.