Hollywood actors were on strike over concerns about the use of AI, but for as little as $300, Meta and a company called Realeyes hired them to make avatars appear more human.
This publication explores the African fashion industry and an initiative by the African Development Bank to support it. The fashion industry is a major player in Africa, holding immense potential for job creation, particularly for women and young people. However, the industry also faces challenges such as limited access to funding and low production capacity. The African Development Bank's Fashionomics Africa program helps fashion businesses with training, investment, and finding new markets. This publication also mentions two examples of successful African fashion businesses that benefited from the program.
This Discussion Note is part of the S4YE series focusing on the design and implementation of youth employment programs. The Note focuses on the creative and cultural industries and delves into how the advent of disruptive technology is likely to transform businesses, create new jobs and change the nature of existing ones that are part of creative and cultural industries. The Note discusses three main types of technologies that are increasingly being adapted across creative economy sectors: Artificial intelligence (AI), Cloud and Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual
Reality (AR/VR).
The creative economy (also known as the orange economy) is an evolving concept based on the contribution and potential of creative assets to contribute to economic growth and development. It embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property and tourism objectives: it is a set of knowledge-based, and thus more localized, economic activities with a development dimension and cross-cutting linkages at macro and micro levels to the overall economy. There is not a single definition of creative economy, and the different definitions usually overlap. A common characteristic is that the creative economy has a multitude of dimensions, making contributions to economic, social, cultural development and has a potential for contributing to achieving the sustainable development goals.
The Report also provides an outline of trends shaping the nature of work in the African CCE and policies, as well as an analysis of the decent work challenges in the different countries and subsectors. The study chose five sectors of the CCE to investigate more thoroughly, each located in one of the five subregions of Africa: cultural heritage in Egypt, dance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fashion in the United Republic of Tanzania, film and TV in Nigeria, and live music in South Africa. The report further clarifies the status, scope and existing dynamics of the value chain in this economy. This detailed evidence will be crucial for policy interventions going forward in order to mitigate the existing precarity and vulnerabilities experienced by many cultural workers and practitioners.
Recalibrating the Compass: New Approaches to Asia-Europe Cultural Relations summarises the insights, ideas and recommendations highlighted throughout the series and presents guidance for future work in the field of Asia-Europe cultural relations. Apart from passing on knowledge on how to navigate the current challenges of international cultural relations, this publication will provide some starting points when thinking about the roles stakeholders can play in the field of Asia-Europe cultural collaboration and possible strategies for a post-pandemic recovery.
This report identifies the main trends and challenges that are shaping the fashion, textile, and fine crafts sector in Africa in order to provide evidence-based policy recommendations for sustainable growth.
The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged discussion of the broader culture as representing, in some instances, a “global public good”, through its capacity to promote social cohesion, increase people’s resilience and connect communities to different forms of cultural expression, in addition to its commercial value. This report will focus on full and productive employment and decent work for workers and enterprises that produce specific goods and deliver services, in particular on the arts and entertainment side of the cultural and creative ecosystem, including the performing arts; music; dance; both live and recorded performance (sound or audiovisual); the visual arts; books; and gaming and animation.
High school students in Uganda are tackling plastic pollution with creativity and business savvy. Through the Asante Africa Foundation's program, they learned leadership and entrepreneurship skills. Now, they're using recycled plastic to create and sell artwork, transforming waste into income. Their "Together as One Initiative" aims not only to clean up their community but also to empower others through education and sustainable solutions.
This note is part of a series of Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) knowledge briefs focused on the Orange Economy or creative sectors. This third note discusses the film industry and its potential to be a source of jobs for youth. It highlights the contribution of the film industry to employment generation, economic growth, the formation of cultural and social values, and identity. The note also delves into emerging labor market trends in the film industry and analyzes the sector’s workforce composition by gender, education, and age. In addition, the note reviews current investment trends and near-term prospects in the industry.
The pandemic has had dramatic effects in the cultural and creative industries (CCI) in MERCOSUR countries and Latin America. This sector, traditionally linked to the freelance workforce with limited social and economic protection, is experiencing the accelerated digitization of face-to-face activities and business models. Up-to-date and systematized data is therefore vital to assess and respond to the disruptive impact of the pandemic through evidence-based public policies. Policymakers and government technical teams, economists of the culture sector, artists and cultural workers, entrepreneurs, private investors and researchers will find reliable data and useful in-depth analysis of findings and trends. Sharing data with a regional perspective is key to identify new opportunities and strengthen cooperation in culture at the regional level.
Carnivals and Festivals: Digital Trends and Strategies is part of the IDB’s editorial series, Art, Culture and New Technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean, intended to point out the impact of digitization and the adoption of new technologies by cultural and creative industries from the region, and how this can catalyze innovation, social cohesion, and change. The publication is divided into four chapters, beginning with an explanation of the social, political, and economic implications of festivals and carnivals, pointing towards the outcome of the pandemic on this type of event. In the second chapter, the main changes, challenges and innovations arising from the adoption of new technologies at carnivals and festivals are discussed. The third section highlights emblematic cases of technological innovation, Finally, several recovery strategies to foster development in the virtual sphere are enlisted, aiming at helping consolidate the path of economic reactivation and sustainable development in LAC.
The report examines the role of the creative economy in delivering a robust and inclusive post-pandemic recovery in developing Asia and the Pacific and explores how the postCOVID-19 revival of the creative economy could advance the realization of the SDGs, setting the stage for possible action during Indonesia’s G20 presidency in 2022.
The notion of creativity and creative economy is evolving. The definition of creativity builds on the interplay between human creativity, ideas, intellectual property, knowledge, and technology, while creative economy encompasses all the industries relying on creative activities. The concept of the creative economy is closely linked with the “knowledge economy,” a key driver of endogenous growth through investment in human capital.
In response to a brief from UKRI India, the task we set ourselves with this research was to capture and present a comprehensive overview of the creative industries sector in India, the industry ecosystem which supports it, and the policy frameworks within which it operates. In seeking to distill a significant amount of data and information, our aim was to provide a clear understanding of where the opportunities and possible barriers lie for future India-UK creative industries research and innovation collaboration.
This report looks at the implications for the Creative Economy of the rapid changes in automated technology and advanced internet communication that came to be known as Industry 4.0. Among the many observations that this report makes, ones that are important from the perspective of sustainable and inclusive development especially that of small developing countries are that: (1) Creative Industry 4.0 can speed-up the transfer of technology; (2) the size of the domestic market will no longer be a limit when it comes to developing a product; (3) new niche market opportunities are emerging. Another key observation is that the availability of adequate technology is not sufficient; it must be made available to stakeholders. The report highlights a series of policy options aimed at harnessing the potential of Creative Industry 4.0 for economic and social development.
The cultural and creative industries are among the most rapidly growing economic sectors. They generate almost 50 million jobs worldwide and offer employment for women and youth. Apart from their economic value, CCIs create identity, bring people into dialogue, and contribute to democracy. To nurture this potential, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) launched a supra-regional project that focuses on cultural and creative work as a vehicle for sustainable development. Aiming to improve income and employment opportunities for creative professionals, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Goethe-Institut jointly implement the CCI project in six partner countries: Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Activities focus on the the following subsectors; design, music, animation, and fashion. In addition to promoting the development of entrepreneurial, digital, and creative skills through training, the project aims to strengthen the framework conditions and the CCI ecosystem.
Colombia’s Orange Economy policy framework puts culture and creativity at the centre of its development agenda Colombia’s National Development Plan (PND) 2018-2022 embeds the creative (Orange) economy within broader development objectives. The Orange Economy policy recognises culture and creativity not only for their intrinsic value, but also for their contribution to job creation, income and wealth generation and as a tool to foster local development, social cohesion and well-being. A comprehensive Orange Economy policy approach, designed and implemented through a whole-of-government effort, is structured around seven pillars: Information and knowledge – to inform better decisions; Institutions – institutional strengthening and coordination, financing and incentives; Infrastructure – (territorial) infrastructure for the deployment of creative processes; Industry – sustainable start-ups and companies; Integration – networks and market development; Inclusion – tackling inequalities through capacity building; and Inspiration – audience development, intellectual property and innovation.
Cultural and creative sectors are a significant driver of local development through job creation and income generation, spurring innovation across the economy. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. This paper offers a review of cultural and creative sectors in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy, highlighting issues and trends in regards to employment, business, entrepreneurship and financing in cultural and creative sectors. It also reviews issues and trends relating to cultural participation and offers in-depth analysis on the role of museums in supporting local development. The paper provides analysis and recommendations to support the region in strengthening the local cultural and creative ecosystem.
Cultural and creative sectors are a significant driver of local development through job creation and income generation, spurring innovation across the economy. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. Glasgow City Region in Scotland, United Kingdom has a long history of transformative cultural policy. Cultural and creative sectors are now one of the region’s strengths. This paper provides an overview of cultural and creative sectors in the Glasgow City Region, highlighting trends in employment, business dynamics, entrepreneurship and financing as well as cultural participation. It offers analysis and recommendations to support the region in continuing to build on its local cultural and creative ecosystem.
