It is a priority for the Ministry of Culture to strengthen its organizational structures focused on the development of cultural and creative industries (CCI) in order to stimulate the economic processes in the cultural activity, which serve as support to the artistic creation and which generate jobs and income in the fulfillment of the cultural policy, considering the diversity, wealth and the patrimonial values of Cuban culture. Likewise, it has the capacity to increase the production, reproduction, promotion, dissemination and the commercialization of cultural goods and services.
At present, intense work is being done to strengthen the linkage of CCIs with companies and entities of other Central State Administration Bodies, business groups and joint venture companies, as well as with the governments of the country's provinces and municipalities, foreign trade activities, foreign investment and international economic cooperation in order to support the development of CCIs.
As part of the management of CCIs in Cuba, it is important to mention the use of their potentialities in the tourism sector, with a view to contributing to the sustainable development of the economy. The quality of our arts is an essential and distinctive segment of Cuba's image at international level and an undoubted incentive to attract tourists, which is why there are specific policies aimed at promoting the relationship between culture and tourism.
The Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) in Cuba have, as support and conceptual basis, the democratizing nature of the Cultural Policy approved in our country, which legitimizes, promotes and develops the different manifestations of art and culture. In Cuba, cultural and creative industries are characterized by:
* Being inserted in the Institutional System of Culture and each one of its manifestations is attended by organizational structures created for these purposes.
* Its profits support programs, cultural projects and institutions that do not generate enough income for their management.
* Being regulated by the cultural policy, which ensures that goods and services carry recognized aesthetic and ethical values.
* Harmonizing the local with the national, regional and universal.
* Being suited to the socio-cultural development of the country, the protection of
cultural identity and diversity and be an inclusive and democratizing cultural
alternative.
* Constituting a potential as an economic sector of the country.
Within the Cuban CCI system, there are 24 companies, 5 of which are trading companies with totally Cuban capital, including 135 cultural centers, 264 specialized stores and a travel agency. Eleven of these companies concentrate most of the commercialization of cultural goods and services, and two of them are the ones with the greatest contribution in the substitution of imports destined to the development of the culture sector.
The sustained activity in favor of bilateral and multilateral relations, under the principle of special or differential treatment, is in line with the political will of the Cuban government and state to give priority treatment to culture in terms of subsidies that ensure the massive access of the population to cultural programming and the strengthening of artistic appreciation processes. Thus, the Ministry of Culture assumes the production costs of foreign artistic performances, as well as those related to the arrangements for their entry and stay into the country, which is reverted as an added value derived from the preferential treatment, in the subsidized cost of the population's access to culture.
At present, the goods and services of Cuban CCIs are systematically present in about 80 countries, with greater representation in the area of exchange of cultural services.
One line of development for the national and international exchange and marketing of cultural products has been the increasing use of new technologies. The implementation of the online marketing platforms MallCubano.com, DeCuba.com for the offer of Cuban music, eBooks and audiovisuals, of Picta.cu for the creation of a video streaming channel that promotes all the audiovisual work of the Cuban music industry, managed by the developers of APK D'Ritmo; the promotion and marketing of our music through the aggregators Sony Music, The Orchard and Altafonte, are some examples of the progress in this regard.
As part of the actions aimed at promoting the exchange and trade of our cultural goods and services, the country has implemented policies that encourage foreign investment aimed at the diversification and expansion of the export markets for Cuban cultural products and cultural tourism, the development of the logistic system for the development of the creative industries, as well as access to new technologies. In this period, there are 5 projects with foreign investment in different stages of development, in the context of the realization of the country's cultural policy.
Likewise, exchanges are carried out with different governmental institutions and others in countries of Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in order to establish permanent representation authorities that promote the dissemination and trade of ICC's goods and services from our country in those regions.
Linked to the development of our CCIs, international cooperation actions are also developed, among which the MINCULT-UNIDO Project "Strengthening of the Cuban Music Industry" stands out, financed by the Korean Agency for Development Cooperation (KOICA), through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), with an amount of 1.1 million USD. Other training actions have been carried out in the field of cultural industries with the French Agency for Development and the British Council, as a result of which about 80 specialists have been trained in the last few years. There is currently a portfolio of 20 identified international cooperation projects aimed at promoting the development of cultural and creative industries.
As part of the policy of relations, mainly with developing countries, Cuba promotes the exchange of cultural services in the form of technical and professional assistance. In that sense, it offers, backed by the high level of our artistic education, complete and postgraduate courses, given through the National Center of Arts Schools, the University of the Arts, the National Center for the Improvement of Culture, the Casa de las Americas, the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Banos, and the Juan Marinello Cultural Research Institute.
In the fields of literature and crafts, the main events of their kind held in Cuba apply deference to the representatives of the Guest of Honor countries and to certain companies and entities with which they maintain stable bilateral trade relations.
Also in the field of service provision, the Agency of Technical and Professional Services of Culture D'Arte is responsible for the management and recruitment of staff specialized in the various manifestations of art and culture, which provides technical assistance services abroad.
The participation of professionals in artistic education in the Cultura Corazon Adentro Mission in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela stands out for its scope. The above is supported by a Bilateral Cultural Exchange Agreement between the two countries, derived from a government program with the highest level of monitoring.
The above-mentioned exchange program has had, among others, the following results: a positive impact in the creation of artistic units at the level of the population groups attended, and the development of methodological advising and preparation; the creation of 50 theater groups, made up of 1,920 boys and girls linked to the arts (known as Colmenitas), with impact in the communities of extreme poverty; the participation of 21 states (of the 24 that country has) in the Forum of Significant Experiences, in which research of socio-cultural community relevance is presented; the revitalization of community scenarios through cultural programming, where the defense of Venezuelan identity and cultural diversity is privileged.
As part of the exchange of academic services and technical assistance abroad, the following are also identified at this stage: the hiring of Cuban trainers in Mozambique; technical assistance in the areas of music, ballet, dance and pedagogy of artistic education in Belize, Ecuador and the Saba Islands; and the hiring of professionals in the areas of education and culture, ballet, dance, plastic arts and music, in Mexico and Colombia. The above is proof of the work developed in order to encourage North-South and South-South cultural exchange and cooperation programs.
Not available
| Name of partner | Type of entity |
|---|---|
The Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales (EGREM)
| Public Sector
|
The Artistic and Literary Promotion Agency (ARTEX.SA)
| Public Sector
|
The Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets (FCBC)
| Public Sector
|
The Cuban Association of Artists and Artisans (ACAA)
| Civil Society Organization (CSO)
|
* To consider, in the assurances to the Tourism, the ICC as one of the main sources for the development of the extra-hotel activity, from the design, promotion and the commercialization of tourist packages that include the ample cultural programming, the events associated with this industry, the network of museums and other cultural services. To eliminate the treatment of third parties that is offered today to the companies of the MINCULT that contribute to exports and provide services to tourism.
* To evaluate the opportunities offered by the main events associated with the CCIs to consolidate the processes of origin denomination of Cuban exportable products.
* To establish among the priorities of the provincial and municipal governments, in conjunction with the relevant agencies and entities, the attention to the development of the extra-hotel activity from the design, promotion and the marketing of packages that include the cultural services of each territory and locality.
* To improve the communication strategy of tourism for the promotion of Cuba's destination, regarding the CCIs, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the network of museums, stores, cultural centers and the World Heritage Sites that the country has, in order to develop national routes and circuits and multi-destination tourism.
* To design and establish alliances and integral projects for the export of services based on the linkage of CCIs with medical, educational, sports, telecommunications and software industries.
* To specify the existing opportunities to establish alliances and integral projects for the export of services with the incorporation of foreign capital on the basis of approved sector policies and the linking of CCIs.
* To propose projects that link the CCIs with local industries, national industry and the sports industry.