IPS and British Council to map creative industries in Sri Lanka

The British Council in Sri Lanka and the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) are seeking to map the creative sector to include and reflect a wide spectrum of the creative sector in this exercise, (i.e. personnel engaged in businesses or professions in the creative industry).  

If you are a ’creative’ (see categories below) and if you consider yourself or your business to be engaged in a creative sector, the mapping team wants to hear from you. The British Council wishes to accurately reflect the freelancers and informal sector in this research and would encourage you to register with this exercise. 

The industries being studied under this exercise include photography, visual arts, performing arts, literature, arts, heritage and crafts, ayurveda and lifestyle products, culinary art, beauty culture, software design, advertising and branding, architecture, interior design, graphic design, industrial design, fashion design, publishing, TV and radio, digital media, film and video, and event production. 

How and why?

This initiative was a result of the Creative Economies Forum formed in 2018 by the British Council in Sri Lanka, following a creative economies meeting in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) 2018. 

The objectives of this forum, hosted by the British Council and comprising of established creative brands as well as freelancers and emerging creatives, is to facilitate the creative sector find common ground, discuss matters of importance to the creative sector, and to support the mapping/research endeavour so as to obtain policy recognition for the creative industries. Commissioned by the British Council, the research project contracted the IPS to map the creative sector and the exercise is now underway. 

Objective

The purpose of the research is to get a clear picture about the current size and scale of the creative industries sector in Sri Lanka, design interventions to support sector recognition, growth, and development, and supply information to relevant Government, sector, and support agencies to enable the development of policies and strategies that can promote sector development.  

One of the most important features of the creative industries in Sri Lanka is its composition of a high number of microenterprises and self-employed professionals as opposed to large-scale enterprises. Measuring the creative industries’ contribution to economic activities is important. It helps both policymakers and industry professionals to communicate key concepts, share reliable data and make the case for greater investments in the creative sector. 

The ‘Mapping’ method has been developed to help countries or regions start thinking about the value of the creative industries. The findings of this research will be published and launched to the public in March 2020.

Registration must be done no later than 25 November 2019. Your information will be highly confidential and be protected through the IPS ethics and the data protection regulations of the British Council.