The KEA Blog

2010 The Year of Culture and Creativity in Europe in review

Culture and creative industries gain more political attention

In April the European Commission published its Green paper on culture and creative industries.  The document is the first ever EC paper on culture and creative industries. It officially acknowledges the economic and social importance of the sector and its contribution to social inclusion and competitiveness.  

On 26 May, the Competitiveness Council of the European Union (EU), which gathers Ministers from the 27 EU Member States to discuss policies and actions related to the internal market, research and industry, recognised the role of culture-based creativity as a driver of innovation. 

Moreover the Innovation Union flagship Initiative endorses a broad definition of innovation, including creativity. It states: “The creativity and diversity of our people and the strength of European creative industries, offer huge potential for new growth and jobs through innovation, especially for SMEs” [1].

DG Enterprise announced a new policy initiative to support SMEs and creative entrepreneurship with the launch of the European Creative Industry Alliance (ECIA) in 2011.

In an EP report Dutch MEP Schaake is suggesting that the newly formed external actions service appoint in each delegation in third countries a person responsible for culture.

Make VoD an opportunity for European Films

Are there lessons to be learned from the experience in the music sector?

Seven years after the start of Napster the music industry is still struggling to find a business model. The turnover of the music industry has decreased by almost 50% in five years. Neither the download business nor other internet business has been able to compensate for lost sales at retail level.This is the lesson film people should really think about.

Funding for European Cinema

On 20 April Philippe Kern gave a speech to the European Parliament on behalf of EFCA (European Film Companies Alliance).

He began the speech by outlining how European cinema is being increasingly marginalized by the prohibitive costs associated with marketing and distributing films. The difficulties experienced by European films in this respect have discouraged banks from investing in them.

Mr Kern went on to explain how, even though the European Investment bank has been providing loans to the film industry, it too is unable to provide loans to films that it sees as a risky investment.  In the second half of his speech he made a series of recommendations to the EU concerning their funding of the film industry.

The full text of the speech can be found here.