The creativity sector can give a positive contribution to our country, said Alfred Camilleri, permanent secretary within the Finance Ministry during the launch of The Creative Economy Project at St James Cavalier, yesterday.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for tourism and culture, Mario De Marco, were also present.
Mr Camilleri pointed out that the process to draw up a strategy to support creativity and nurture it as a viable economic sector was rolled out last October in the Budget for this year. Since then, the Creative Economy Working Group was established on the grounds that countries capable of developing and supporting an environment where the creative talent of the population prospers are most capable to support their economic and social development.
Mr Fenech said the government truly wants to give this sector a better platform because, while a lot was going on, it was happening in a much dispersed manner. He emphasised that a modern economy must create and be innovative, not copy others.
Consequently, to build on the budget proposal, the next step was to mould art, culture and heritage into economic value.
Meanwhile, Dr De Marco noted it was difficult to define the creative economy, but said individuals who use intellectual capital as prime material were at its heart.
Malta’s commercial creativity as a percentage of the GDP was some 0.2 per cent when the EU average was 2.6 per cent. This meant that we were not doing enough or that we were not giving the sector much recognition, he said.
Dr De Marco also believed we must strengthen creativity for a better quality of life.
A presentation given by the Creative Economy Working Group said the economic process starts from the individual and finishes with culture and the creative identity of the country.
It was also pointed out that over 80 per cent of the persons in the industry are freelancers and therefore entrepreneurship was very important. Meanwhile, talent was being identified but due to weaknesses in the structure, prosperous individuals were moving out of the creativity process and its development, often going abroad.
The attractiveness of the local environment must therefore be developed, it said.
The Creative Economy Working Group is chaired by Mr Alfred Camilleri. Toni Attard, Caldon Mercieca, Dr Jeanine Rizzo, Kevin Vella, Margaret Cassar and Robert Tabone Valletta are on the board. It should be drawing up its strategy recommendations by the end of summer following several meetings with stakeholders.