Creative Industries
In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) at EU level. The Czech Republic recognizes their importance and tries to map the current situation in the country.
It is the Arts and Theatre Institute, state-funded institution, which launched in 2011 a follow-up project – Czech Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping (2011-2015). The aim of the project is to collect robust data on conditions and economic performance of CCIs in the Czech Republic, and subsequently carry out a detailed analysis of the acquired data. The project will also include a comparative study of the situation in the Czech Republic with those of other EU member states already engaged in a similar research. The principal output of the project will be a CCIs mapping document presenting all findings of this five-years project. On the basis of the mapping document, the project will formulate a set of policy recommendations of strategic importance. These are expected to contribute to a better organization and more effective distribution of public support for the arts and culture on the national, regional and local levels, and to a more efficient exploitation of the social and economic potential of CCIs in the country.
Recently, the Arts and Theatre Institute launched a new web site for creative Czech projects www.kreativnicesko.cz – the platform for culture and creativity. There is a lot of information about different calls and opportunities but especially experiences and know-how from different countries.
Recently, Prague and Uherské Hradiště sign in Creative Cities Network. Prague is characterized by a rich publishing activity, Uherské Hradiště then by a manufacture and production related to traditional folk craft.
Also, many art schools in the Czech Republic cooperate with various private companies with the aim to attract attention of young people to traditional arts and production.
In 2007 the Arts and Theatre Institute started the research project Socio-economic cultural potential, respectively, creative industries in the country. The project analyzes the potential use of creative industries to economic and social development in our country. As part of this project thepublication of Martin Cikánek has been published under the name Creative Industries - opportunity for the new economy, which in a clear and concise manner provides an introduction to the issue of creative industries and is the first Czech monograph on the subject.
As it is described above, the Arts Institued lunched the project in 2011 and it will be finished the next year. However, in comparison with some Western States of the EU, USA or Canada the field of creative industries has not been yet sufficiently explored in the Czech Republic.
Challenges identified in the implementation of this measure:
The main challenge is to attract the attention of young generation on traditional art and production. In some regions the art is transmitted from generation to generation, small family or private companies maintain traditional production and know how to promote it. In some regions the traditional art and production is on the decline because of the lack of interest of young people and miss of sales potential of traditional products.
Remark to point b): There have been allocated 960 000 USD to the five-year project Czech Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping (2011-2015). The first project Socio-economic cultural potential (2007-2011) was supported by grant 58 100 USD.
The study is still in progress. The impact will be evaluated subsequently.