Europe’s rich cultural heritage, with its common values, its wealth of monuments and sites and its creative diversity of traditions, crafts, arts, architecture, literature, languages, theatre, films and music, not only reflects our past but also shapes our present and builds our future.
Cultural heritage and cultural and Creative industries – research facilitated by the European Commission
Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) foster economic growth, job creation and export earnings while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development, especially at the local and regional levels. They can, hence, be seen as vital economic activities for a vibrant and resilient European economy.
According to the Green Paper on the Potential of CCIs of the European Commission (COM (2010) 183 Final), the CCIs refer to:
Visual arts
Performing Arts
Music
TV and radio
Cultural Heritage
Film, DVD and video
Games
New media
Books and press
Architecture and Design
CCIs are high-growth sectors. According to the latest data available (EIF-KEA, Market analysis of the CCs in EUROPE, Jan,2021):
With a value-added of EUR 412,929 million (2017), the CCS represent 5.5% of the overall EU economy.
The CCS share of the overall European workforce increased from 5.6% in 2013 to 6.2% in 2017.
CCS enterprises represent, on average, across Member states, 12.1% of the total number of national companies.
The economic importance of the CCS is similar to that of other sectors with important spill-over effects such as ICT and Accommodation.
The European level is not the only arena where the cultural sector is holding the stage – it has the same strong positions in the global economy as well. Despite that, the culture and creative industries are facing number of skill challenges that could hamper their future growth, competitiveness and viability. Identifying and addressing these skills challenges should be of a key priority for all stakeholders but especially for institutions providing education.
Difficulties recruiting certain skills to a culture or creative industry in a competitive market, coupled with a lack of workforce training and continuous career development sharpen existing skill gaps and shortages. The development of leadership and management skills has been identified as an ongoing issue, particularly the ability of leaders to adapt to new trends and technologies and to develop their models and approaches.