The Cultural Economy and the Economy of Culture

NOTICE! Culture Summit Abu Dhabi cancels 2020 edition; new dates to be announced

• Read the full statement from the local organiser here. (05 March 2020)

The Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2020 was to address the theme of The Cultural Economy and The Economy of Culture. It had been planned to showcase creative solutions by key participants in the culture and creative industries, and generate new strategies and thinking on topics including the creative and cultural economies, social values of culture and cultural heritage economics. 

Culture and creative industries are now major drivers of economies around the globe and widely recognized as a positive force for societies and economies.  Digitization and technological disruption is driving all aspects of the creation, production and distribution of cultural goods and services. This transformation of cultural development and the cultural economy bring with them great opportunities for the culture sector including driving down the costs of creating and distributing cultural products. Paradoxically, many practitioners in the culture and creative industries and broader cultural sector are less secure in their work.  Cultural institutions struggle for survival, dependent more than ever on philanthropy and earned revenue  against the backdrop of reduced government funding. 

A key issue, identified by numerous participants at Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2019, was securing financial support in the face of rapid societal and economic change. 

ENCATC had been invited by its member, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism Culture Policy to take an active role in the design and the implementation of this important international event to help answer questions to: 

• How can we find ways of growing the cultural and creative economies that benefit countries globally?
• Can we find viable and sustainable economic models for culture? 
• How should institutions and practitioners respond to the disruption and transformation of the culture economy and the economy of culture? 

Photo via Flickr: Abu Dhabi, Robert C, CC BY-ND 2.0