British Council launches Creative Economies report online
The British Council hosted a live event via Zoom to launch the findings of a research report ‘The creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka’ on Saturday, May 2.
The event saw speakers and panellists from both the UK and Sri Lanka join in -John Newbigin, the Ambassador for Creative Industries at Mayor of London, the former Chair of Creative England and current chair of the British Council’s Arts and Creative Advisory Panel as the keynote speaker, along with Annemari de Silva (researcher and writer), Dilani Hirimuthugodage (research economist at IPS), Gill Caldicott (Country Director, Sri Lanka British Council) Selyna Peiris (Selyn Handlooms), Linda Speldewinde (Design Corp Group) and Anushka Wijesinha (economist).
The creative sector has not always had the recognition it deserves in terms of its contribution to the economy, to employment and for its potential to further strengthen the brand value of Sri Lanka as a visitor destination.
Responding to a perceived need and a growing interest in developing a collective response the British Council commissioned the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) to carry out research and a mapping exercise to establish what the creative economy landscape looks like for Sri Lanka.
The aim was to create a baseline study into the current value and the state of the cultural and creative industries in Sri Lanka. It is a first attempt at creating a framework for industries with a strong ‘creative’ element in their work and developing an understanding of their current situation and major challenges
The main objective of the event was to discuss the implementation of the recommendations and consider ways forward for the creative economy in these challenging times.
Some of the key recommendations discussed were: Positioning Sri Lanka as an ethical and sustainable creative hub. Supporting Sri Lanka’s position in global value chains. Improving data on cultural and creative industries. Developing a strong professional association for cultural and creative industries. Strengthening knowledge about and access to intellectual property (IP) rights. IP theft was a major concern spanning all creative subsectors.
Valuing creative education, strengthening the teaching of creative skills across the curriculum.
In the foreword to the report, Gill Caldicott, Country Director British Council Sri Lanka said “When the economic value of creativity is realised then interest, and investment, will frequently follow. Now is the time for Sri Lanka to recognise the value and the potential of its rich and diverse creative heritage and build on its creative and entrepreneurial talent to contribute to its economic and social prosperity.”
John Newbigin said, “This is an excellent report. The creative sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, the UN makes this point frequently that across all regions it’s a growing worldwide phenomenon.”
Menika Van der Poorten, Manager Arts, British Council Sri Lanka commented,“The launch of the report mapping the state of the creative and cultural economy in Sri Lanka today is the culmination of one phase of this journey. Going forward we will support the creative sector and its activities for implementation of the recommendations of the report.”
The report is available for download at www.bit.ly/ CreativeEconomiesReportSL .