CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

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

Cinema to graphic 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 endeavor 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 priorities’ 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: cultural heritage; printed matter and literature music and the performing arts;visual arts; audiovisual media cinema and photography; radio and television); Socio cultural activities; Sports and games; 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 specialization 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 specializing 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.

BY MDODO REBECCA, J

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