Qatar4UNAOC on Cultural Industries

Culture continues to be the hot topic for discussion around the world and a panel consisting of cultural leaders and researchers discussed the role of culture and the creative industries as strategies for empowerment. Here are a few things that I took from the session.

Hong Kong has been relying over the last 50 years on Financial Industries and is now looking to change focus. They plan to build a cultural district with very large performance spaces, museum spaces, and cultural infrastructure.

The panel spoke to the many universities that were developing new programmes which combine the strength of traditional disciplines with input from the business schools and management studies. In this way the Universities are creating a cadre of cultural facilitators to support the development of Cultural Industries.

China has adopted a policy specifically geared towards the development of cultural industries as a driver of the future economy of the country.

One of the panelists shared how by creating Islamic cartoon characters children were better able to relate and even to appreciate the culture of others. Animation is important in translating culture to children and they should be developed as more than just stories but built by and for a multicultural audience.

The creative economy is a part of our day to day lives and connectivity and globalization is our reality. A Paradigm shift has been identified as societies move from a more liberal form of development to a more wholistic development paradigm.

The creative industries generate 592 billion dollars a year. It was highlighted how important strategic alliances were to the creation of creative industries.

There was a need to figure out how to move the policies from education to business, how to increase innovation within economies and how to improve creative capacities?

The answer to these question somehow lies in the promotion of education, culture, and continuous learning. Also Governments need to provide an enabling environment for growth and the development of the Industries need investors, entrepreneurs, infrastructure and technology.

As we think about youth development with youth being extremely active especially now in the Arabic region it is important to make the 'individual' lthe starting point.

In defining the critical issues in developing creative industries we must ask ourselves how the demands differ from any other industry? This is very important as the answer may lead to practical solutions of how to create a roadmap for such development.

Comments

  1. This a thought provoking article. It asks of the reader to join the game. Yes join the dance, art corner, or become wordsmith, join the game a me seh so!

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