Culture trade missions to Asia were undertaken in 2018 and 2019, including China and Japan. In May2018, the delegation met with Chinese and Japanese government officials, cultural organizations, and business leaders to discuss ways to foster more trade and culture sector exports to China and Japan.
The Culture Action Plan includes a focus on growing the province's creative sector and exports, creating more jobs in the sector and provide more business opportunities for Nova Scotia companies. Government's role is to help industry be export ready and provide opportunities for international expansion.
Development of Nova Scotia's relationship to China in regard to cultural exchange has also been strengthened under the Agreement of Understanding and Friendship for a Sister Province Relationship Between the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada, and the Province of Guangdong, China, a maritime province with a population of about 110 million people. The two provinces commit to further developing their relationship in areas of trade, investment, information and communication technologies, the ocean economy, agriculture, energy, education, culture, tourism and transportation and logistics.
In November2019, a specific Memorandum of Understanding was signed regarding cultural exchange between the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage of the Province of Nova Scotia and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong.
The Nova Scotia-Europe Engagement Strategy was developed to help maximize the province's trade, tourism and investment opportunities with European markets. In April, 2019, representatives of the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, travelled to England and Germany in April for a mission targeted on culture. The team met with government officials in both countries.
An example of Nova Scotia's cultural presence in China is Mermaid Theatre, based in the province that has held more than 170 performances in China in the past few years.
Additionally, in spring, 2019, five Nova Scotia contemporary artists joined the China portion of the second mission to showcase their works of art alongside folk artist Maud Lewis in an exhibition titled: Terroir: A Nova Scotia Landscape. The museum estimated that almost 10,000 people viewed the exhibit from May 1 to 4. The exhibition travelled to Zhuhai and Shenzhen later in 2019. The delegation gathered information on Chinese culture, the Chinese market and explored additional opportunities for cultural exchange between China and Nova Scotia. Interest focused on Nova Scotia's creative industries and importing Nova Scotia culture, especially our music, theatre and crafts. The visits were a first step to developing new partnerships and export opportunities for the province's creative industries.
est. $202,000 in 2019
| Name of partner | Type of entity |
|---|---|
Province of Nova Scotia
| Public Sector
|