Beyond Global Report and Statistics: what do we do to support local creative industry?

The power of the creative industry has been much talked about globally over the last few decades with a show of promising statistics. Its possibility to generate high GDP and jobs has been underscored to encourage government investment in the sector. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, its devastating impact on the creative sector is the hot subject of policy debate and analysis.   However, many of these papers with macro-analysis do not always provide useful guidance for action.  And yet, behind the abstract debate are the lives of many micro-small businesses and self-employed people struggling for better opportunities.               United Nations General Assembly declared 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy (https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/74/198), acknowledging the importance of supporting mass entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, to create new momentum for inclusive economic growth.  Compared to three decades earlier when the Global North primarily debated the topic, today, more and more countries from the Global South have embraced the concept and led the discussion, exploring their creative economy model. So naturally, nurturing competent human resources to lead the cultural industry is one of the key tasks therein. The question, however, is how. The creative sector has its peculiar challenges that a standard approach for formal education and vocational training would probably be not conducive. Besides, the stakeholders’ profile also differs from one country to another. The existing pieces of literature and theories, largely b...