Beyond Art and Culture: How Creative Industries Shape the Future
In the last 20 years, the creative economy has developed from having an unrecognized value to being identified as a global sector worth an estimated 4.3 trillion USD per year, contributing to 6.1% of the global economy. Even as recession gripped many parts of the world, creative sectors remained resilient. Dynamic creative industries are tools for inclusive economic and social development, creating jobs, improving skills, reducing inequalities, and improving quality of life and well-being. In this increasingly globalized world, Pakistan possesses a unique opportunity thanks to both its established and emerging creative sectors. According to UNESCO figures, Pakistan’s total exports of cultural goods have increased from 60 million USD in 2004 to 437 million USD in 2013. Pakistan’s creative economy has huge potential but the framework within which it operates needs to better reflect the sector’s needs. The current structures simply don’t provide the flexibility that these businesses need to achieve that potential. The legal framework – structure, tax, copyright, and a raft of other issues – within which these businesses operate don’t reflect their commercial reality.
About the Speaker:
Sana is an artist by heart, and a creative entrepreneur by profession. Her aim is to establish the identity of Pakistani artists globally and to advocate the voices of marginalized women through the medium of creative arts. Sana is a writer and her two short stories ‘Samjhota’ and ‘Meray Bakht ka Sitara’ has been published in ‘Anchal’, one of the leading magazines of Pakistan. She has been part of the Transforming Narrative Cultural Leadership Programme by Culture Central (Birmingham) and the British Council. As part of this program, she has written a script for a short film ‘Weeping Willow’. Her work is specifically focused on the emotional complexities endured by Pakistani women due to their social background. Also, Sana Noor is the CEO of Nightingale Arts, a platform that connects creative professionals with industry professionals.
