Last week, ARS BALTICA together with PA Culture attended the first Creative Industries (CI) Symposium in Schleswig-Holstein (SH) hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (German: IHK) Lübeck. The IHK Lübeck has lately established a work group specifically for CI networking in SH and beyond and following this notion invited to the event that is to be repeated once a year in future.
Having their offices in SH and connections in the Baltic Sea Region in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), ARS BALTICA and PA Culture were most delighted to be among the over 160 participants at the Media Docks in Lübeck. Visibilty by joining forces was one of the leading topics of the day, which might be surprising to those reviewing numbers since the industry had a turnover of 2.4 billion EUR in 2019 and was the third biggest contributor to the gross value added with 103,7 billion EUR in 2021.
Nonetheless, Schleswig-Holstein in parts has the reputation of being a region of more minor rural development, especially compared to Hamburg, even though the reality shows growth, great diversity and potential. On the opening podium of the day on the topic of a status report of CI in SH to which ARS BALTICA's director Marcus Hagemann was invited to participate in, this potential was further discussed.
He emphasised the determination and clarity of SH's actors as well as the fact, that culture can foster connections where politics fail to succeed while also being able to have fruitful synergies as shown for example with the establishment and work of the Policy Area Culture. He further elaborated on the importancy of thinking beyond initial project planning periods and securing sustainable funding for the continuance of the work on the basis of the knowledge gained as done with the CCI Contact Desk in emerging from the initial project Creative Ports. Fostering networks like this and staying in contact is a necessary measure for building resilience for darker times, he noted.
Further topics of the day built up on this opening discussion and thoughts were additionally shared on the relation of economy and creativity, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and effective actions regarding marketing and public relations. The range of experts on the different podiums was quite broad, spanning music, film, illustration, photography, print media, sound recording, games and more. The take-aways from these talks were along the line of every individual carrying creativity ready to be nurtured within themselves, AI being a great tool to complement the work of creatives with regard to media competence in need of fostering and staying true to oneself even whilst appealing to a diverse audience and market.
Thank you to the organisers for this wonderful networking event!
We made good connections for potential future partnerships during this inspiring day!
