Creative industries, as defined by the government of the United Kingdom (the country has been in the forefront of developments in this sector), are those ?activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for job and wealth creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.? Likewise, the Center of Cultural and Policy Research of the University of Hong Kong defines creative industry as, ?a group of economic activities that exploit and deploy creativity, skill and intellectual property to produce and distribute products and services of social and cultural meaning?a production system through which the potentials of wealth generation and job creations are realized.? Apart from the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, others like Singapore and Australia are implementing programs to make them leaders in this industry.
There are endless possibilities for the Philippines to become a major creative hub in the Asia-Pacific. To a major extent, human resources-based advantage has become more important than cost advantages in this global hub race. The Philippines is endowed with the advantage of a strategic location combined with a pool of not only highly educated but also creative and artistic people. Art is very much ingrained in our everyday culture. Go to the remotest farms and you will see farmers who can play instruments. We have teachers and professors who can act on stage. We have machinists and mechanics who create scrap sculpture. We even have singing cooks and waiters. Art is an everyday commodity in Filipino culture.
Following the UK classification system, six industries become relevant in the discussion. These are Artisanal Products, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Cinema and Audiovisual Media, Multimedia, and Literature/Books/Publishing. Some sectors like Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), through animation, architecture and gaming, home decors, handicrafts, gifts, fashion and accessories have been receiving support from our government because of their relatively significant export contributions. Others like advertising, broadcasting, recorded music and live concerts are gaining from market expansion and diversification and better rules governing intellectual property systems. However, it is the ?fine? arts sector as we know it?painting, sculpture, photography, theater, performance and film?that is lagging behind mainly due to the lack of economic and financial sustainability, rooted in unsustainable demand, ineffective and inefficient production and distribution mechanisms.
The lack of sustainable demand is understandable because to consume these arts requires an acquired and educated taste that usually takes a long time to develop, oftentimes affected by the level of education and income. This is why, for example, theater arts in the Philippines have always struggled to exist. Private theater companies do not get sustained subsidies from the government budget.
Dependence of a government subsidy, however, defeats the purpose of reviving and sustaining a healthy industry. A sustainable solution is necessary: capitalizing on the ?phenomenon of forced demand.? If the national government truly believes in the creative capital of the Filipino people, and the economic and social contributions of arts, it must harness these creative energies by partnering with the stakeholders to ?force the demand.? Under a Public-Private Partnership, private companies could partner with government agencies such as the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education to align these artistic productions with the current curriculum. With the private entities having an understanding of the educational requirements of the people as prescribed by these agencies, they can propose co-curricular arts projects which may be supported by these agencies and be made available to their locked market?the students, for example.
There is also an opportunity to force the demand through tourism. With the aid of the Department of Tourism, tourism associations, travel agents and tour operators, tour packages could be negotiated to include trips to the museums and theater productions. The critical mass achieved by producers will generate revenues and enable them somehow to give more discounts for local tourists, students and less-abled citizens. This will hopefully create a mass of artistic demand, solve the market/audience sustainability problem of the arts productions, improve the bottom lines, and enable producers to attract more artistic talents through higher wages and better incentives.
The Philippines is located in the highest growth area of the world. The human resources in Asia-Pacific have the optimal opportunity to expand in terms of both quantity and quality. Its strategic location is ideal for investments in design-based activities. The export oriented BPOs are already a national priority. A more wholistic approach (to include those in the ?fine arts? group) is needed to achieve the creative hub vision. One proposal is to include a separate chapter for creative industries in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan and in the Investments Priorities Plan. The National Competitiveness Council should also include the industry in its list of sunrise industries. Institutional issues, given the diversity of activities and government agencies involved, can be addressed by looking at existing international models. The creative Filipino talent is our source of wealth. Let us take advantage of this endowment to improve our lives.
(Rizalino S. Navarro is chair of the Clark Development Corp. and senior adviser of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.)
