“Culture and creativity in the post-covid-19 world: Reaching the sustainable development agenda goals“

The Objective of the Policy Briefing

The objective of the 13th Policy Briefing is to propose policy recommendations to EU countries in order to make culture and creativity the impetus for reaching the SDGs and UN Agenda 2030.

Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis highlights how critical is this change, as the cultural and creative industries have currently received a big hit. This translates into a loss of revenues for professionals and firms operating in those sectors.

However, despite that crisis, we can also observe several interesting opportunities arising that could potentially transform the sector. 

Identified Opportunities 

The policy briefing identified three major opportunities in the cultural and creative sectors.

First, the rapid increase in digital access will create a “new normal”. This will likely lead to the digitalization of the cultural and creative economy, thus creating new experiences and potential. Augmented reality could also play a significant role in the integration of creative cultural and creative industries from cultural institutions.

Secondly, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the link between culture with social cohesion and psychological well-being. The expansion of creative professional needs creates new potentials for the creative industry.

Thirdly, the identification of the potential that culture holds in reaching the SDGs and UN Agenda 2030.  

Policy Recommendations 

This policy briefing includes three policy recommendations: 

• The establishment of an international cultural policy forum related to the European Green Deal. Particularly, in this forum can participate public, private sector as well as civil society to discuss local cultural policy, set priorities, and ensure its compliance.
• The recognition that cultural organizations and civil society networks can play in Agenda 2030. 
• The creation of a chapter regarding “Cultural Policy for the European Green Deal and COVID-19” that evaluates cultural impact in national programs in relation to SDGs implementation. 

Conclusion

Attaining the SDGs and the Agenda 2030 will be the next big bet for the EU. 

Culture can play a significant supporting role in achieving these goals. However, in order to make culture’s role more prominent and impactful, there is a need for policy changes across states and at the European level.

In addition, the COVID-19 crisis not only helped to highlight the importance of culture and creativity during crises, but it also created new needs that could bring culture to the forefront. 

A few words about Social and Creative project      

The Social and Creative lies under the umbrella of Interreg MED. It builds on the results of the former TALIA horizontal project and deals with creativity and social innovation. 

Specifically, the project has three action plans that include community building focusing on the Social Innovation community, the promotion of implementation, and the transfer of results through policy innovation. 

To read the Social and Creative Project Policy Briefing n. 13, click here. 

Learn more about the project and its objectives and activities on the official webpage.