Caribbean Creatives July - Sept 2012 | Page 3

C A R I B B E A N C R E A T I V E S Mapping the Trade in the Creative Industries Lydia Deloumeaux Assistant Programme Specialist/Economist/Analyst United Nations Educational Scienti?c and Cultural Organisation “The culture sector, encompassing cultural heritage, creative or cultural industries, cultural tourism and cultural infrastructure, generates substantial economic bene?ts, including job creation” - UN General Assembly, Culture and Development A/66/187/2011 The role of creative or culture industries has been recognized as factor of economic growth by the international community. Creative industries have exhibited a dynamic pattern of growth despite the current economic crisis as exempli?ed by the global spending on entertainment and media (E&M) which rose at 4.9 percent in 2011 (Price Water House Coopers, 2012). At the heart of the creative economy lie the cultural or creative industries which are quite important in the Caribbean region. Tourism is a key contributor to the economy in the region for which culture is a key driver as re?ected by the numerous festivals such as CARIFESTA or the Trinidad and Tobago carnival. Nevertheless, this fact is not re?ected in the data collected which are still scarce or not detailed enough. Few if any surveys of cultural activities are carried out in the region. An important path towards the enhancement of cultural statistics is raising awareness on this issue and developing a framework for evidence-based regional and national cultural policies. One of the roles of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) is advocacy among member states for improving cultural statistics as well as providing technical support. To this end, the UIS published the 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS) that establishes a conceptual model for de?ning culture for statistical purposes. The UNESCO FCS is a tool for organizing cultural statistics internationally and nationally. In 2009 in Jamaica, UIS organized the ?rst regional training workshop on the 2009 UNESCO FCS in order to provide capacity building to Member States to support the development of cultural statistics for the Caribbean region. One of the issues highlighted during this workshop was the need to be able to measure the economic value of cultural industries and the contribution of culture to development and convey the results to governments and policymakers. Another objective was to create synergies within the country to enhance collaboration between different institution such as ministries of culture and national statistical of?ces to produce cultural statistics. Key cultural policy areas in the Caribbean region were identi?ed such as intangible cultural heritage, festivals and cultural diversity. This issue was re?ected into policy as a result of the COTED meeting in April 2011, where it was agreed that the region needs to improve the availability of statistics from the creative economy in the Caribbean. In this context, the WTO Secretariat organized at the request of CARICOM, a workshop on Statistics of International Trade in Services with a special focus on Creative Industries in Barbados, in March 2012 (see following article by A. Maurer, J. Magdeleine). This workshop was organised in partnership with other organisations such as UIS, the UN Statistical Division and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). International trade in services: key component of the creative economy Statistics on international trade in cultural or creative products is a key component to assess the creative economy. Statistics in international trade are comprised of two components -- trade in goods and trade in services. The situation of each in the region differs, however. On the one hand, trade in goods statistics has usually been available for most countries for some time. On the other hand, cultural services statistics are scarce in the region and need to be developed. Trade in goods data is mandatory ?XHYZ[?\??]]?H]H??X?[???Y??\??\??]\?X???]?\?[\???YH[?????]H?[????\\?H?[HH?[??H??[\?[;? ????YH??]?\?[[Z]][???\?H?]\?X???[??H?[\?[????[???\\??\?\?X?Y\?]X??[X??X?[??\?]X[?[Y\?[?\?Y??\????H?\???X???HZ\??\?[H??[?\?][?[??Y[??[?\??\??X?X?H?\?X?\?\?X?[??Y?]?\?X?X][??X\?\?K?[???\?H????[??\??X?\?\?H?X??X????\?Y? ?[?H\?[?^?Y??[[?]H\??\[?[???[???\?[H ?K????\?H?\??{? YY?HZ\???\??X?H\?X?[?\?X?\?\?X??[???X???[???H?]\???][?[??[? ?[\?[?[YH??\??[Z[\??]\?XK??\??\?]H????\\?HH?[X??X??[YH??[\?[????[??H???Y\?????]\?X?[H[?\??X]?HH??[??K?HX?X[X\??]?[YH??[\?[????\??[????Y\?Y?\?[?H[\?[?[?HX?\?Y?[YH]?\??\?H[Z]][????YH[??????]\?X??\?H[??YH?H?[??[???\?X?\?\?X????[\?[;? ????YH?Y?[??\?[?X?????Y\??X?\??]???\???[\?[??X???XHH[?\??]Z?H]\?X????Y?HY?]^?][????\??\?]HX\??H?[???X][??[?H[?\?Z[?Y[?[?YYXH[?\??H?X????X?]\??Y?{? X?[?H?H?X]]?HX???^H?H?Y?[??H?Y?[??[\?[???[\[?\??{? ?X?Y?]H?\?H??[?[???Y?][YYXH?X???[?Y\???]?H???[?\??X??????[?YY?Y?H ????[YH ??[H H?\[X?\? ? L???????X]]?Z[?\??Y\?^?[??K???CB????