Social and Sustainable Economic Transformation

This Guide provides a roadmap for local governments, communities and museums on how to define together a local development agenda. It considers five dimensions: 1. Leverage the power of museums for local economic development, 2. Build on the role of museums for urban regeneration and community development, 3. Catalyse culturally aware and creative societies, 4. Promote museums as spaces for inclusion, health and well-being, 5. Mainstream the role of museums in local development.

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.

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.

Cultural and creative sectors and industries are a significant source of jobs and income. They are a driver of innovation and creative skills, within cultural sectors and beyond. They also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being, to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. As national and local governments reconsider growth models in the wake of COVID-19, cultural and creative sectors can be a tool for a resilient recovery if certain longer-term challenges in the sector are addressed.

The cultural and creative sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 10 million jobs lost in 2020 alone. Public investment in culture has been declining over the last decade and creative professions remain overall unstable and underregulated. Although culture and entertainment are major employers of women (48.1%), gender equality is a distant prospect.

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.