According to UNESCO, the creative economy generates revenues of USD 2.25 billion dollars per year, in addition to global exports of more than USD 250 billion dollars. The sector also accounts for 30 million jobs worldwide. This is the main theme of the Seminar on Policies for the Creative Economy, a G20 side event happening until Friday (9) in Rio de Janeiro.
What is the place of culture and creativity in reinventing the economy towards a more just and sustainable perspective? This is the question that drives the "Seminar on Policies for the Creative Economy: G20 + Ibero-America", a side event of the Culture
Working Group (WG) happening until Friday (9) in Rio de Janeiro. The event will bring together experts, government authorities, public agents, producers and creators of culture, and members of civil society. The seminar harbored the launch of the National Creative Economy Policy [Política Nacional de Economia Criativa] with the presence of the Brasil's minister of Culture [Ministério da Cultura/MinC], Margareth Menezes.
The agenda includes debates on artificial intelligence and copyright; remuneration of artists on platforms; techno diversity; cultural biodiversity; and creative industries, among others. On the first day of the event, in addition to the keynote speech "Creativity: the wealth of nations," by Mexican cultural manager Benjamín González Pérez, the highlighted topics were the rights of cultural workers, productive inclusion and sustainable development.
"The most important thing is to focus on changing structures-which means we need to improve policies, to have laws, and all these programs or frameworks must ensure indicators that can be measured. Above all, however, we need to further strengthen the participation of civil society. Without it, we will never be able to ensure the fulfillment of this agenda," observed cultural manager and public expert Abel Arionátegui, from Panama.
Creative Brasil
In Brasil, the creative economy generates around BRL 230 billion and employs around 7.5 million people in over 130,000 formalized companies-the equivalent to 7% of the total number of workers in the country's economy. This data from the Itaú Cultural Observatory gives an idea of the importance of this sector, which, based on individual and collective knowledge, creativity and intellectual capital, creates tangible and intangible assets, providing profitability and positive social profit. Visual arts, events, gastronomy, fashion, music and tourism are a few examples.
Launch of the National Creative Economy Policy - Brasil Criativo
In this sense, at the end of the first day of debates at the Seminar, the Ministry of Culture launched, in the presence of several authorities and cultural producers, the National Creative Economy Policy - Creative Brasil [Brasil Criativo], designed with the objective of "engaging to develop with sustainability and emancipation." The presented content was developed collaboratively, involving employees and managers of the MinC system, partner ministries, secretaries and leaders of states and municipalities, and suggestions received from society in general through an online public consultation and proposals resulting from the 4th National Conference on Culture held in March of this year.
Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes highlighted the importance of policies to value national diversity as a driver of necessary social and economic transformation. "The sector needs this organization; what was missing was this modeling, so that we can escape a process of retraction and underutilization of this power. We need to see Brasil in a comprehensive way, as a whole," said the Minister before introducing Cláudia Leitão as the national secretary of Creative Economy. Brasil Criativo will guide the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategic initiatives such as programs, projects and concrete actions.
