Africa-Press – Seychelles. The regional project for the development of cultural and creative industries is officially launched
The regional project for the development of cultural and creative industries was officially launched on January 11, 2023 in Port-Louis, Mauritius.
This partnership project between the Commission de l’Océan Indien (COI) and the Agence française de développement (AFD) ‒ COI-AFD ‒ promotes women-men equality aimed at stimulating cultural and creative industries (ICC) through interventions in the domains of heritage, cultural entrepreneurship, training, mobility, co-creation or even governance.
Indeed, the pilotage committee of the cultural and creative industries project, held in Mauritius on January 9 and 10, 2023, has validated the first activities. In the next few weeks, the actions will be launched. On the program: training, mobility, heritage or even innovations.
A genre project
The ICC project is unique. It is ahead of a whole project to promote the equality of women and men. Intervening in the ICC sectors, the COI aims to strengthen social cohesion and, more specifically, to reduce gender inequalities. Thus, the project will ensure equality in access to opportunities. The activities should, among others, allow to improve the participation of women in cultural jobs and positions of responsibility through training, to raise awareness of discrimination and the means to prevent and combat it, to promote inclusion and respect for the diversity Moreover, a genre action plan will be developed based on a regional diagnosis to irrigate all of the project’s actions.
Diversity of activities and actors
Another feature of the ICC project is diversity. Indeed, the project will mobilize a wide range of actors and actresses from the ICC sectors, both public and private. The activities will focus on the fields of choreographic and visual arts, on tangible and intangible heritage, training in cultural management or museography as well as mobility, co-creation or the promotion of cultural goods and services.
What activities for 2023?
For the first operational year of the project, the COI will implement the following activities: First cycle of mobility scholarships, between 25 and 40 for 2023; Inventory of traditional architectures and initiatives emanating from women who carry tradition; Creation of a course in contemporary dance, training of 10 to 15 professors/interpreters; Podcast on the literary, choreographic and musical heritage; Supports the emergence of a regional sector of creation and digital arts through e-sport and formations in cultural management, museography, cultural entrepreneurship…
Certain activities will be conducted over several years, such as mobility grants. These first actions will make it possible to launch a diversified movement of support for the ICC. Other activities will be put in place over the next few years, notably for co-creation, diploma training or the export of cultural goods and services.
A lever of socioeconomic development
Ernst & Young confirmed in 2018 the economic potential of the ICC in Africa and the Middle East: 49 billion dollars ($) in revenue and 2 million jobs. Within the framework of the ICC project, a study will be conducted to better perceive the socio-economic contribution of the sectors to the economies of the member states. In all cases, there is no doubt that the diversity of the sectors contributes to employment, growth and social development.
This is why the ICC project is also part of the dynamic of supporting the regional economic recovery. And for that reason, a UNESCO study estimates that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a loss of income from the cultural and creative industries of 20 to 40%.
A solid partnership for a shared Indian Oceania
The ICC project is one of the manifestations of the diversified partnership of the IOC with the French Development Agency in favor of regional public goods. Indeed, the AFD, the donor of the ICC project at the height of €5.1 million, also supports the IOC in the areas of governance and stability, climate resilience and health.
“We share the same vision and the same concern to invest in favor of these public goods that condition our present and our future”, emphasizes Pr. Vêlayoudom Marimoutou, Secretary General of the IOC.
The project was officially launched on January 11, 2023 in the presence of some 80 representatives of member states and partners of the IOC and, above all, actresses and actors from the ICC sectors. The ceremony, in addition, was marked by a three-voice performance by Shenaz Patel, Daniella Bastien and Mélanie Pérès.
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