This report has been commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization, with the objective of presenting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural and creative industries, education and research, identifying their initiatives and challenges in facing the pandemic, and consequently, the main trends and trajectories that emerged.
This report explores trends, challenges and responses that affect the cultural value chain and its main actors; it also acknowledges the need to develop well-calibrated strategies that place people at the centre of our thinking and consider the whole cultural ecosystem. It identifies a recurring set of themes that could inform how public agencies – in different contexts worldwide, with varied opportunities, challenges and barriers – might approach supporting culture in the digital age.
Many countries around the world have large populations of impoverished people and high unemployment rates. In order to improve conditions in these countries, national governments must develop effective economic growth strategies with strengthening the creative industries at the forefront. The international community is only just beginning to recognize the socioeconomic potential of creative and cultural industries (CCIs), such as film, fashion, and music.
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.
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.
