Summer Academy on Cultural and Creative Industries and Local Development

• Stimulate sharing of knowledge and experience among participants, experts and professionals from several fields related to CCIs.
• Provide common interpretation tools that will be applied to the analysis of participants’ case studies as well as projects and local practices aimed at promoting CCIs’ and local development.
• Analyse the process of culture-driven social-economic innovation and the role of CCIs.
• Foster networking and debate around relevant case studies and best practices from the Trentino and Alto Adige – Südtirol (Italy) region and across OECD.
• Examine the CCI entrepreneurial process and the importance of creativity and innovation.
• Promote online and offline social networks among participants in order to exchange knowledge, practical experiences and work methodologies, on CCIs’ and local development.

2021 Focus: Culture and creativity at the core of the recovery

As both the climate emergency and the COVID-19 crisis unfold, with increasingly critical impacts on economic, social and educational inequalities, policy makers, urban practitioners and sustainable development activists all over the world are looking for new ways to lay the foundations for strong, healthy, more equal and resilient communities in the future. They are working on many fronts to address the vulnerabilities this generalised state of crisis is exposing.

In particular, the pandemic has attacked the economically vulnerable and socially isolated, and those with pre-existing health conditions. These are also the people least able to withstand this disruption – with fragile and less educated workers disproportionately losing jobs and livelihoods.

Protracted lockdowns, furthermore, have contributed to accelerating changes in the geography of work, with remote working playing a big part in the hollowing out of business districts and retail areas across many cities, with negative consequences for the local economy and liveability of places. The pandemic has also put into question the density of urban living, highlighting a new role that smaller, more rural and peri-urban places could play in the recovery.

As cities and regions reconsider growth models in the wake of COVID-19, cultural and creative industries can be put at the core of a resilient recovery. CCS are a significant source of jobs and income, and also generate important spillovers to the wider economy. They are a driver of innovation, a source of creative skills, and act as a magnet that helps drive growth in other sectors such as tourism. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being, to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. There is an opportunity for culture to play an even greater role in driving economic, social and indeed environmental outcomes in the recovery.

As well as offering a reflection on the policies, methods and approaches that could help us to build back better, SACCI 2021 will investigate good practices, and highlight evidence showing how CCIs, when properly valued and supported, could be the key to unlock a sustainable recovery and to achieve the objectives set by the Agenda 2030.

Participants

The programme of the Summer Academy targets national and international policy makers and practitioners active in the promotion of and support to creative cultural sectors at the local, regional, national and international level, as well as cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

Participants should be strongly committed to the development of the cultural and creative sector. They should be freelancers or currently work in private companies and organisations (foundations, co-operatives, NGOs, grassroots community organisations, non-profit entities, etc.) or public institutions (national, regional, provincial or local governments, development agencies, research centres, international organizations) active in the field of CCI development.

For more information and the registration, please visit the website of the OECD.