The Argentine Cultural Industries Market (MICA) is an event intended as the hub of a public policy system created with the purpose of educating and connecting producers, businesses and professionals from cultural industries at the national and international level. Over its five editions, it has consolidated its position as a model public platform, replicated by many countries, to circulate and sell cultural assets and strengthen the cultural industries' productive sectors.
MICA's goal is to strengthen production, enhance visibility and promote the circulation and sale of goods and services across the Argentine cultural industry sectors. It also acts as a framework to promote regional integration, partnership and networking, and it strives to federalize culture as a democratizing measure, with the aim of expanding the existing capacities and resources. MICA events feature conferences, workshops, live showcases (via streaming), entrepreneur fairs and business rounds from the various sectors that make up our country's cultural industries: videogames, audiovisual media, publishing, performing arts, design, music, visual arts, handicrafts, dance, the circus, tango, folklore, hip-hop, cuisine, plastic arts.
Ever since its first edition in 2011, MICA has consolidated its place in the world of cultural industries markets at the international level as one of the first few market experiences developed by the State. Its spin-off programs -Southern Cultural Industries Market (MICSUR) and MICA Atlantica- were a big step towards the internationalization of the format. Soon after that, several Latin American countries created their own markets: the Cultural Industries Market of Uruguay (MICUY), the Cultural Industries Market of Brazil (MICBr) and the Chilean Creative Economy Market (CHEC), among others.
So far there have been five editions of MICA: 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
The types of entities engaged in the implementation of the policy / measure correspond to the public sector, the private sector and NGOs."
MICA has contributed to define and advance micro, small and medium enterprises from our country's cultural sectors by recovering their job generation potential, encouraging cultural product consumption at the local level, boosting the internationalization of Argentine culture, promoting the creation of State-run spaces dedicated to cultural industries at the provincial level, contributing to the professionalization of the sector's cultural agents, generating specific agreements between the region's countries and acting as a model to consolidate a border-transcending ecosystem. Also, MICA has fostered the creation and consolidation of different partnership formats such as cooperatives, formal partnerships, mutual organizations, clusters and unions as a major point to achieve project sustainability at the social level.
| Type of entity |
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Public Sector
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MICA 2019
Venues: Cultural Center for Science, National Bicentennial House, Rojas Cultural Center, Matienzo Cultural Club
More than 3,500 people were present across the four venues, with 1,323 attending the National Bicentennial House. They participated in the networking and business rounds, as well as other market activities. More than 4,500 networking and formal business rounds were conducted, as well as 2,000 informal meetings.
There were more than 80 MICA activities (training sessions, discussions, workshops, conferences): 14 music showcases; seven performing arts showcases; MICA Fair with 16 exhibition spaces for skilled artisans; 270 international guests including market buyers, a delegation from Uruguay and Chile and the Mexico al Sur committee, among others, and 211 producers from different provinces across the country.
MICA 2017
Venue: Cultural Center for Science
3,000 people attended the C3 at MICA. More than 150 activities were conducted including round tables, conferences, workshops, showcases, master classes and laboratories; 1,500 entrepreneurs participated in 4,000 business rounds.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15eHGb_TPVaZiGWq3aSKiKHE1THM8KaEyx86Z...
MICA 2015
Venue: Kirchner Cultural Center
There were 60,000 attendees (general public); 3,540 Argentine entrepreneurs, who offered their products to 460 buyers from the country and from abroad; 35,000 business rounds; 7,000 attendees saw the live shows at La Ballena Azul auditorium over four evenings --the shows were also live-streamed-; 25 live music and theater showcases, with 2,000 spectators including producers, buyers and the general public; 16 live music concerts (showcases); nine works of performing arts; 42 conferences; six master classes; 13 regional meetings and producers' workshops; four shows at La Ballena Azul; two shows at La Cupula; 11 ongoing exhibition rooms; three audiovisual projections; a 2,600-m2 producers fair every evening and 15 activities for children.
International participants:
250 participants from the following countries attended the event:
Australia | Bolivia | Brazil | Cameroon | Canada | Chile | Colombia | Costa Rica | Cuba | Denmark | France | Germany | Guatemala | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Paraguay | Peru | South Africa | Spain | State of Israel | United States| Uruguay | Venezuela.
Number of meetings per sector
Design: 60 buyers, 300 sellers, 1,900 meetings
Music: 110 buyers, 1,200 sellers, 4,800 meetings
Performing arts: 100 buyers, 800 sellers, 4,000 meetings
Audiovisual media: 90 buyers, 600 sellers, 2,900 meetings
Publishing: 60 buyers, 450 sellers, 2,500 meetings
Videogames: 40 buyers, 140 sellers, 1,900 meetings