Youth and Creativity

Empowering young people through the social and economic opportunities that cultural and creative industries can offer is at the heart of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. 

 

This includes helping young entrepreneurs gain access to professional training in management and marketing, equipping them with the skills and techniques needed to run successful creative enterprises; enhancing artistic and creative skills that can foster more dynamic creative sectors; strengthening the development of professional associations, networks and alliances for young cultural and creative professionals; raising awareness among youth about the contribution culture makes to development. 

 

In line with the UNESCO Operational Strategy on Youth 2014-2021, special focus continues to be given to youth, in particular young creators and cultural professionals. This priority is mainstreamed by UNESCO throughout its programs and activities, such as: 

 

 

An educational tool in Spanish designed for young people from 12 to 16 years old, the Diversity Kit for Youth includes the online and paper versions of the Creativity Game, a pedagogical guide and an interactive platform to collect results and experiences and promote exchange among its users. Read more.

 

Students from Ecuador ranging in age from 14 to 16 years explored concepts of creativity, cultural expressions and the cultural cycle through participating in practical, hands-on workshops in audiovisual arts, spoken word and visual arts in 2013. They also created, produced and distributed their own films, radio dramas and visual art works. Read more.

 

In the framework of the Forum, a dialogue session on ‘Youth: an engine for the creative economy’ was organized. As a result, the Forum made key policy recommendations to encourage youth participation in creative industry policy-making processes. Read more.

 

The International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) supports an important number of projects targeting youth. Over 20% of the projects supported by the IFCD have youth as their direct beneficiary. Read more.

 

Through this EU-funded programme, a number of technical assistance initiatives were undertaken, such as aiming to make arts and culture education for youth a reality in Burkina Faso and to develop a strong domestic audio-visual content sector for children in Argentina. Read more.

 

The analysis of the Quadrennial Periodic Reports submitted by the Parties to the 2005 Convention reveals that half of the reports provided substantial information on the development and implementation of cultural policies targeting youth. Read more.

 

In the framework of this programme, an indicator measuring youth’s schooling indexes, which takes into consideration the importance of youth’s active participation in cultural, social and economic life, was established. Read more.