UN releases first report on the global creative economy

With the preponderance of depressing headlines about the US economy, those of us in the arts should be proud to know that it’s an industry that continues to experience growth. That’s according to the UN’s report on the global creative economy, released on April 20th.

The report itself is an ambitious and dense 357-page read that raises some important points about how the arts and creative industries should be defined/ analyzed, and what governments worldwide can do to encourage further growth, especially in developing markets.

For me, the most significant aspect of the report is its very existence - it means the arts are getting the attention of the world’s economic community. US policymakers, analysts, and urban developers have already begun to realize the powerful role that the arts play in supporting economic health, and studies analyzing that impact have cropped up in just about every major US city.

Though it’s not specifically an economic impact study, the UN report offers the arts a global framework in which to prove our economic worth as a viable industry - something that’s essential if we’re ever to make the arts a true priority for governments throughout the world as well as in our home country.

An exciting development.