El Salvador: creativity on the rise
UNESCO and El Salvador’s Ministry of Culture launched the 2018 Global Report, “Re|Shaping Cultural Policies” in San Salvador on 24 July at the National Anthropology Museum. The event, gathering representatives from the government and civil society, highlighted the economic potential of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) nationally and internationally
CCIs are on the rise in El Salvador. As part of the National Strategic Plan 2030, the Ministry of Economy (MINEC) has set out to place the country among the top five producers of creative content in the Latin America and Caribbean region and has created the PIXELS prize to support the film, animation and video games sectors. Work on securing a sustainable institutional and legislative environment for the CCIs will be carried out by the Ministry of Culture (recently created in April 2018).
Worldwide, CCIs generate annual revenues of US$2.250 billion and global exports of over US$250 billion. In the Latin America and Caribbean context, investing in the creative economy is seen not only as an opportunity to move away from the volatility of commodity-dependent economies but also as a key tool for social inclusion and youth engagement.
Promising steps
At the opening of the launch event, H.E. Silvia Elena Regalado, Minister of Culture highlighted the recent adoption of an Arts and Culture Law and work the Ministry is undertaking to promote arts education and to collect cultural statistics for the first time. He further praised UNESCO for its efforts, stating that:
“Information-sharing tools such as the Global Report are essential in order to learn from practices and innovative policies worldwide that place culture at the heart of sustainable development,”
In conjunction with the launch event, a two-day workshop on data collection and indicator building was organized by UNESCO to support El Salvador’s periodic reporting process. The workshop led by Mr. Héctor Schargorodsky, member of the 2005 Convention’s Expert Facility, was attended by the national team in charge of elaborating the periodic report.
“It is important that Parties submit their periodic reports to integrate them into future Global Reports, which shed light on the current state and main trends of cultural policies around the world,” explained Mr. Mathieu Dormaels, representative of the UNESCO San José Office.
Every four years countries that have ratified the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions commit to submit a report on the ways the Convention has been implemented at the country-level. El Salvador’s first quadrennial periodic report will be presented publicly on November 2018.