Creative and Cultural Industries

The report contains six in-depth country profiles, where specific data and strategic analyses help present the voiced concerns and hopes of stakeholders on the ground. The country profiles are followed by extensive recommendations for Covid-19 response actions organized around the themes of Space, Community, Training and Funding. Both chapters give attention to non-Western expertise on the cultural and creative industries’ needs as well as their stakeholders’ aspirations for development and, thus, broaden the perspectives for more effective and holistic problem solving. 

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.

Since 2018, the German Federal Ministry for  Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been promoting the sector cultural and creative industries (CCI) through its implementing organisations Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale  Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Goethe-Institut. This future oriented sector offers important levers for the implementation of a feminist development policy, which is a priority of the BMZ. Almost half of employees in the CCI sector are women but they often work under precarious conditions.

This paper presents the findings of a joint project, conducted by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company, which studied the impact of emerging technologies – artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality and blockchain – on the creative economy. The project team conducted more than 50 interviews with experts from Asia, Europe and North America, as well as three workshops in China and the United States with World Economic Forum constituents.

Statistical data confirm the continued rise in the contribution of culture and art to the economy and employment in the EU and worldwide. The number of cultural professionals and artists is growing steadily, while their employment conditions become more and more unstable. This situation spreads to other sectors and needs to be addressed both in terms of social security and benefits, and revenues and taxation aspects. The EU competence in cultural, social and employment policies is limited, consisting of guidance and coordination without any possibility of harmonisation.

In October 2018, the South African government held a high-profile Jobs Summit. In addition to acknowledging the challenges of the high South African unemployment rates overall, President Ramaphosa mentioned the importance of job creation for youth (15 – 34 years old) and women specifically. Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey (2018) showed that unemployment rates amongst young people have reached 39.3%. The figure is even higher for young black African women who are attempting to enter the labour market (45.9%).

This report outlines trends in the world trade of creative goods and, for the first time, services by country for the period 2005 to 2014, and provides an outlook on the global creative economy for the period 2002 to 2015.

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.

Through their contribution to urban regeneration and sustainable urban development, cultural and creative industries make cities more attractive places for people to live in and for economic activity to develop. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the cultural sector, yet it has also revealed the power of cultural and creative industries as a resource for city recovery and resilience.

Before the pandemic, the creative economy was growing rapidly and generating new jobs in every region of the world, predicted to account up to 10 per cent of global GDP by 2030. The crisis has brought this exceptional growth to a standstill, exposing the fragility of a sector dominated by micro-businesses, informal work practices and few tangible assets. Lockdowns have also highlighted the importance of cultural and creative activity in maintaining individual well-being and community resilience.