Region Skåne - CPE

als

n sio

Âť

es rof ). p Is d an (CC s rie ies dia ustr ed. e d t erm ve in t sen n i i e t r , a p rs ke d cre ies re a m an tr un licy tural o o c el p e cul pean v e l th ro top ithin Eu 0 5 w 20 Âť2

– the ideas convention that moves sustainability forward using the force of innovation in the Creative and Cultural Industries.

The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) represent an incredible force for innovation!

Culture and humanism are essential in tackling Europe’s current challenges.

In Sweden, and elsewhere in Europe, great efforts have been made to strengthen the CCIs. However, there is still more to be done and we are convinced that together, we can learn from each other and take further steps.

The Creative Powers for Europe ideas convention – held in the city of Malmö, Sweden 22th of November 2016 – aims to strengthen cooperation and promote the process of the cultural and creative sectors by bringing up creative ideas towards sustainability.

The day offered dynamic discussions on how to move forward the CCIs in Europe, and how to discover new ways of supporting our cultural and creative industries in contributing to the social, economic and environmental values which we need more now than ever before.

Documentary: Together we make Europe more creative by bringing up innovative ideas towards sustainability.

Click here for music logotype

Click here to watch the movie

WHY WE NEED

CREATIVE POWERS FOR EUROPE Key note speaker Deborah

Morrison

Professor of advertising at the University of Oregon, USA. Who we are and why it matters Professor Deborah Morrison pointed out the important role of the idea industry when it comes to solving problems in society such as climate change. ”Artists and creators are the first responders in dark times; creativity loves tension – to fight with, for and against makes you better,” she said.

The idea industry is optimistic and solution-oriented; creative industries don’t give up. ”You do it, you go after it,” professor Morrison said.

Connecting innovation skills with empathy is the key factor; it’s the way to unleash the creative courage that’s needed today.

“It’s a sad fact that climate change is a growth industry, but at the same time we face a society where people have to act in a very human and courageous way,” said professor Morrison.

Keynote speach – click here to listen Interview – click here to listen

”Creative courage is the discovering of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which society can be built”

WHY WE NEED

CREATIVE POWERS FOR EUROPE Key note speaker Paul

Dujardin

CEO and Artistic Director of Brussels’ forward-thinking Centre for Fine Arts, BOZAR. Paul Dujardin started his presentation by describing how BOZAR has turned into a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary arts centre, offering a wide range of events, from concerts, to cinema, literature, dance performances, debates and workshops for its audiences.

Paul Dujardin said that he would like to bring the university back to the center by making a pop-up university in the heart of Brussels. The purpose would be to connect the arts with knowledge and innovation.

Artists have a positive impact on experts from different fields. They offer the researchers alternative questions that companies don’t ask. This leads to serendipity in research. They push borders and change mindsets. They humanize research. They also raise and push ethical questions.

The artist is a fundamental node, a critical antenna, but also a creative catalyst in the search for the economic, societal or ecological problems that our global society faces today. Paul Dujardin believes that the best practices of the avant-garde today can be found at the crossroads of art, research and cities.

Keynote speach – click here to listen Interview – click here to listen

“Who are the avant-garde artists of today?”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION + INCLUSION OF ART = INNOVATION AND WELL BEING IN SOCIETY Mikael Damberg Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Innovation

“Innovation is all about people.

People challenging old ideas, thinking new things, daring to do things no one else has done before”

In his speech, Mikael Damberg explained that the creative and cultural sector is unique. It influences the rest of society but also other businesses, creating higher value, interacting with people and creating value and sustainability in their business models “The CCIs have a lot of impact on the rest of Swedish business community. Diversity is important as a primary asset in society, and we should use diversity as a strength.

The CCIs’ growing role – and not least the potential to positively influence sustainable development, innovation but also society as a whole – is truly important. And it’s really worth exploring the possibilities in this field. Therefore the topic of Creative Powers for Europe is highly relevant.

Mikael Damberg pointed out that in the world today it is essential that we handle the big societal challenges; social challenges, climate changes, an aging population and urbanization. All of this demands innovation and creative thinking.

Speach – click here to listen

“Artists and creators are our own crown jewelry”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION + INCLUSION OF ART = INNOVATION AND WELL BEING IN SOCIETY Dorota Nigge Responsible for policy development for the Cultural and Creative sectors, Directorate General for Education and Culture, European Commission Dorota Nigge described how creativity can play a key role in addressing economic and social challenges in Europe. The future of Europe will depend on how it promotes and invests in the education, skills, creativity and innovation potential of its citizens.

Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship is a key objective of the European Commission that relates to several strategic priorities. Cultural entrepreneurship is not a business opportunity among others; nor is it just a skill set.

Cultural entrepreneurs’ goals and values are culturally oriented, contributing to broader societal themes such as universal access to culture, protection and promotion of diversity, and a humanist worldview.

Speach – click here to listen Interview – click here to listen

Thomas Hansson Deputy Chair Regional Executive Committee Region Skåne.

Interview

»

Monika Tsiliberdi Department for Synergies & Multilateral Cooperation, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Interview

»

Gunilla Nordlöf Director-General, Swedish Agency for Economic & Regional Growth, Sweden.

Interview

»

Mária Rišková Director of Slovak Design Centre.

Interview

Staffan Forssell Director-General, Swedish Arts Council, Sweden.

Interview

»

Yolanda Smits Director of International Business Development.

Interview

Deborah Morrison Professor of advertising at the University of Oregon.

Interview

Loïc Fel Coalition for art and sustainable development (COAL).

Interview

Paul Dujardin CEO and Artistic Director of Brussels’ forward-thinking Centre for Fine Arts, BOZAR. Interview

Sigvald Harryson Founder and CEO, Innoventum AB. Interview

» »

Dorota Nigge Senior policy officer, cultural and creative sectors, Directorate General for Education and Culture, European Commission.

Interview

»

» » » »

Therese Franqueira Designer, Professor in Industrial Design and Multimedia Communication, coordinator of the ID+ DESIS Lab. Interview

»

Brief summary from the dialogues around the tables

Dialogue 1

Creative Powers for Europe is a European idea convention organized by the national and regional authorities, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the Swedish Arts Council and Region Skåne, for discovering new ways to support the cultural and creative industries in contributing to social, economic and environmental values.

Why are we struggling with the issue of sustainability?

The table groups began by defining the active words in the question.

Who are “we?” What is meant by “sustainability”? The dictionary definition of sustainable is “to continue for an extended period of time”, but if we were to sustain our current energy sources and consumption that would not, in fact, be sustainable.

Many groups defined sustainability not only in terms of its common usage regarding the environment and renewability, but also culturally, socially, economically, individually, and so on.

Another aspect of the struggle to be sustainable that was discussed was the fact of limited resources. Many regions simply do not have the monetary, educational, or industrial capabilities to be truly sustainable.

It’s one thing when a country does not have the ability to act sustainably, but another if a country has the resources and ability to be sustainable but chooses not to be.

Sustainability is a common challenge for all economic branches, not just for the CCIs. The aim is to establish the topics for the agenda.

What relevant topics and what important questions within sustainability are we not addressing at the moment?

The consensus of this dialogue was that there was confusion about who should be responsible for enforcing sustainability. Many businesses motivated by profit look to policy as their only source of regulation, and if something is both profitable and legal they feel free to pursue it. However, politics moves slowly, and often there will be a delay between the recognition of there being a need for a policy and that policy coming into force.

Even governments actively seeking to implement progressive sustainable policy run into problems.

Many people also brought up the inconvenient truth that sometimes longer term sustainable directives mean setbacks in the short term. In politics, politicians trying to keep their political careers alive may favor short-term, easily observable projects instead of spending energy on the longer term and more abstract fight against climate change; in industry, retrofitting facilities to be more environmentally friendly or building newer and cleaner facilities often involves high up-front costs and could mean a short-term decline in profits.

Besides institutions, the humanist aspect was discussed as well.

Many people may fear or resent changes that they have to make to be more sustainable. What habits, privileges, ways of consuming, etc. are we willing to give up?

And the results of these changes, whether political or institutional or personal, may result in large and unpredictable shifts in the way the world’s economies and cultures function. One example used was that if a coal plant is shut down in favor of a cleaner energy source, many people will be affected, directly or indirectly, by the closing of the plant; the workers have lost their jobs, and if the community is heavily reliant on the coal plant then it is likely to have repercussions for the local economy. This was a small-scale example, and it’s hard to predict what could happen on a global scale due to changes in big and powerful industries such as oil and power.

We need more role models for how public and private funding can work together to solve problems for sustainable development.

Brief summary from the dialogues around the tables

What do the Cultural and Creative Industries have to do with the challenges at hand?

The Creative and Cultaral industries (CCIs) provide a platform to encourage and disperse artistic creation; they are the support system for what was typically thought of as an individualistic occupation, “the artist”, and they can use technology in unprecedented ways to spread an artistic work and message across the world in a matter of minutes.

And it’s important to be able to share creativity because creativity in the arts can provide another way of conveying a message.

Many people referenced the computer illustrations of Simon Ståhlenhag, which were featured in a video played at the conference, as a positive way of using the power of creativity to promote an idea. Ståhlenhag’s images are based on extrapolating from climate data science to convey what our world might look or feel like a decade or so into the future if we are to continue with our unsustainable ways. One image featured a suburb-style house with its first story under thick ice and the roof of the car in the driveway just barely sticking out of the snow. This was cited as an example of how the creative industry can contextualize scientific facts by appealing to emotion.

Others spoke about the benefits of incorporating creativity into the design process, using the example of the fashion industry. One idea proposed using outsourcing to benefit, instead of take advantage of, the countries to which production is outsourced, by paying decent wages and stimulating their economy. This would hopefully ultimately provide these countries with the education and resources to become sustainable themselves – resulting in both sustainable production and sustainable consumption.

Another idea put forth was that the CCIs could help break down the overwhelmingly large problem into smaller, more manageable ideas about what the individual could do to help become part of the solution; for example finding ways to encourage recycling or switching to more energy efficient light bulbs or using grey water to water houseplants.

Dialogue 2

Together with other sectors in society, both cultural values in terms of historical heritage and culture in terms of the arts can create a better tomorrow.

Another comment was that culture cannot be made responsible for solving issues which have been caused by others.

Be aware of culture as the “glue” between people and for achieving a better place to live.

What are the failures, mistakes, and lessons from your region, country, or field?

The most often-cited failure across all the table groups was the failure to communicate: the failure to communicate between politicians and citizens, politicians and industry, industry and citizens, artists and industry, and so on. Many said that in their regions there were no opportunities for discussion between government and people, and even some whose regions did have forums of this type expressed frustration that there was never any noticeable progress made, nor any recognition that the citizens’ voices had been heard. To counteract this, conference-goers proposed open dialogues between citizens, artists, politicians, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, so that all aspects of proposed solutions (design, production, consumption, human impact, economic impact) are examined and approved by all those their implementation would affect, and with periodic updates on the implementation of these solutions.

We need better structures for business development for the CCIs; too much is still based on old industrial standards.

We need more resources invested in creating common places to meet, work and experiment together across disciplinary borders.

Try to minimize the bureaucratic burden of EU projects. It should be possible to make the administration structure easier.

It’s too difficult to connect between traditional industries and these competences. Using public procurement as one tool.

Brief summary from the dialogues around the tables

How can we work together to co-create solutions for a more sustainable world?

With the past dialogues having identified and analyzed the issues, the final dialogue focused on proposing solutions. Since many of the issues had involved failings in communication, the solutions focused on how to better communicate.

At various times throughout the conference the problems of unsustainability were blamed on political leaders, on industry and big business, and on an apathetic public. But the point that many groups came to in this last discussion is that politicians represent the will of the people, and that the economy is driven by people as well, so any large-scale changes must come from the will of the people. If the people demand a change in politics, the politicians will have to accommodate them. If the people demand more sustainable products, the market will have to shift to supply them. Therefore, communicating to people that there is a worldwide crisis is imperative in the fight to make progress toward a more sustainable future.

Talk then turned to how to best communicate to the general public. One proposal was “seduction with beauty”, meaning that the more beautiful the means of conveying a message, the better that message will be conveyed. The tone of the communication was discussed as well. If the communication is accusative, e.g. “you are doing this wrong”, the accused party tends to become defensive, and the discussion deteriorates into polarization and obstinacy.

And therein lies the Cultural and Creative Industries’ best chance of helping to create a more sustainable future: they have the ability to communicate ideas to many people. CCIs can take ideas and make them beautiful and entertaining and memorable, and then use their platforms to present these ideas to people all over the world. By changing the way people think about sustainability, the CCIs can help enact real, sustainable change in politics and industry.

Dialogue 3

ADVICES FROM THE

AUDIENCE

Advice to policymakers throughout Europe who want the cultural and creative industries to generate more value, but who don’t want to do unfettered, free creation a disservice:

» More examples of how public and private funding can work together to solve problems for sustainable development. Better structures for business development are needed for the CCIs; too much is still based on old industry standards. »

Support ideas and believe in the power of the combination of creativity and entrepreneurship. Like somebody said that it might seem too much “fun” to make business of, but there is a lot of potential in the creative business.

» Separate support for culture from support for the creative industries.

Support for culture has no aim. Support for the creative industries should stay focused on the sustainable economic development of the branch. »

Put resources into creating common places to meet, work and experiment together across disciplinary borders.

» Make it easier to connect between traditional industries and these competences. Using public procurement as one tool.

» Recognize how culture could cooperate with other sectors in the society in a much wider way, to encourage people who want to work with CCIs. Sometimes there is a need for coaching and people who believe in their ideas and forums where these ideas can grow into business.

»

Stimulate innovation and growth by enabling cross-sectoral collaboration: 1. Introduce creative innovation voucher schemes.

2. Stimulate cross-sectoral innovation through public-private

innovation challenges.

3. Test new and review existing business support services and

financing schemes.

4. Develop and support capacity building in regional clusters.

5. Enable and support SME internationalisation efforts.

6. Launch new and innovative financing schemes to support

creative SMEs. 7. Stimulate investments in creative industries through effective

regional ecosystems.

8. Initiatives to achieve better Intellectual Property Valuation for the

creative industries.

9. Map and measure the effects and value of the creative

industries in the wider economy.

10. Incentivize and support stronger advocacy for the cultural and

creative industries.

… AND FINALLY

TOGETHER WE MAKE CREATIVE POWERS FOR EUROPE HAPPEN! The aim of Sweden and the authorities the Swedish Arts Council, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and Region Skåne has been to start a lively dialogue about how the Culture and Creative sector can be moved up the political and international agenda. We thank you for attending and contributing to the convention in Malmö, Sweden.

Together we are responsible for pushing forward the inspiration and output from the convention and we look forward to meet again in a European context.

Creative Powers for Europe was an European idea convention organized by the national and regional authorities, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the Swedish Arts Council and Region SkĂĽne, aimed at discovering new ways to support the cultural and creative industries in contributing to social, economic and environmental values.