British Council launches Creative Economies report online

The British Council recently hosted a live event via Zoom to launch the findings of a research report ‘The creative and cultural industries in Sri Lanka’. 

Speakers and panellists for the event joined from both the UK and Sri Lanka. Mayor of London Creative Industries Ambassador, Creative England former Chair and British Council’s Arts and Creative Advisory Panel current Chair John Newbigin was the keynote speaker.

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 report provides recommendations to address some urgent subsector challenges, as well as providing cross-cutting recommendations for growth of the sector as a whole.

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. 

Report presentation, keynote speech and panel discussion featured contributions from Researcher and Writer Annemari de Silva, IPS research economist Dilani Hirimuthugodage, Sri Lanka British Council Country Director Gill Caldicott, John Newbigin, Selyn Handlooms Selyna Peiris, Design Corp Group Linda Speldewinde and Anushka Wijesinha (economist focused on innovation and economic competitiveness).

Some of the key recommendations discussed were: 

nPositioning Sri Lanka as an ethical and sustainable creative hub

nSupporting Sri Lanka’s position in global value chains

nImproving data on cultural and creative industries

nDeveloping a strong professional association for cultural and creative industries

nStrengthening knowledge about and access to intellectual property (IP) rights. IP theft was a major concern spanning all creative subsectors

nValuing creative education, strengthening the teaching of creative skills across the curriculum

In the foreword to the report, Gill Caldicott 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.”

In his keynote speech, John Newbigin OBE 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.”

British Council Sri Lanka Arts Manager Menika Van der Poorten 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/ Creative EconomiesReportSL.