The concept of Creative Industries (CI), is a relatively new idea in Taiwan, that comprises development and promotion of traditional art forms such as performing arts, symphony orchestras, dance etc, as well as the more commercialized popular arts such as television, movies and pop music. It is a term that was first used in the UK in 1997 and now is a term used all over the world.
In Taiwan, the government has recognized the increasing size and growth rate of the CIs as a dynamic new sector of advanced economies and has made it one of the key areas of the Six Year National Development Plan.
In line with this goal, the Cabinet's Council for Cultural Affairs arranged an international symposium on creative industry, bringing in international experts and local artists to discuss the potential of CI and the existing problems that Taiwan needs to conquer.
Stuart Cunningham, director of Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre at the Queensland University of Technology, recognized the Taiwan government's initiatives to search for new opportunities to transform its economic and industrial system by recognizing the values of CI.
"The attention put on CI is a great strategy of Taiwan when the mass production phase of industrial development is coming into bottleneck," Cunningham said.
"Mass production, export-oriented approaches that Taiwan have engaged in the past 40 years have been successful, but have come into the end of their useful life because industries derived from those approaches are something transplanted into this country, rather than organically from the cultural life and cultural competency of people themselves," the Australian scholar said.
During this new wave of transformation of economic structure by the cultural sectors, Cunningham said all of society needs to grow: the standard of living, the development of industry and sustainable creativity output by artists.
Cunningham said the promotion of CI could also be conducive to Taiwan's efforts to recast its own national image, and to change the way the world sees Taiwan.
Right now, most people know this country only through the "Made In Taiwan" label that is often perceived to be the hallmark of cheaply produced manufactured goods. Tapping the creative industries could help change that label to the hallmark of upper market products with a good international profile, he said.
Cunningham said there is no contradiction between globalization and localization of creative industries, so people shouldn't worry about the forces of globalization and domination of cultural conglomerates.
"Though the more diverse cultural contents created may be controlled by channels of the conglomerates, for example, those contents also contribute to cultural diversities to the world. Globalization creates the condition for localization," Cunningham argued.
In terms of the roles to be taken by the government and business, Cunningham said that though CI poses a lot of opportunities for the medium and small businesses as it creates a viable industry, this industry should not only grow from government subsidies but also through investment by private enterprise.
"The CI sectors have to develop more sustainable enterprise characteristics instead of only relying on government subsidies, which is not growing to keep pace with the cultural consumption, he said.
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