1st CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES ORGANISED BY ADEPI AND CEOE, OPENED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT
29-02-2024
Pedro Sánchez reasserts the Government’s commitment to support and protect intellectual property
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, opened the 1st CEOE-ADEPI Conference on Cultural and Creative Industries at the Ateneo de Madrid on Wednesday. The conference, entitled "A rising value", focussed on the immediate challenges facing the audio-visual, music, and publishing sectors. The presence of Pedro Sánchez at the event was a sign of the Government's commitment to promoting and developing the cultural and creative industries in Spain: "It is necessary to promote innovation, training and the protection of intellectual property in these industries to ensure their sustainable development in the future," said the Head of the Executive.
The institutional inauguration was attended by Antonio Garamendi, President of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations CEOE, and Enrique Cerezo, President of EGEDA and of the Culture and Sport Commission of CEOE. Cerezo recalled that "the cultural sector is key to the development and progress of society" and that "for this reason it must be encouraged and promoted by all public administrations as a matter of State".
He also stressed the importance of an industry that employs 700,000 people and is mainly made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, "not only for the cultural and economic value it represents, but also as a driving force for other sectors".
In his speech to nearly three hundred people, including participants and the press, who filled the Cátedra Mayor of the Ateneo de Madrid, President Sánchez highlighted the "power" of the Spanish cultural industry, which is "a true global benchmark of creativity and talent", and the "strategic" nature of a sector that employs 700,000 people in Spain and represents 3.3% of GDP, with an "absolutely decisive impact on the unprecedented achievements of other key sectors of our economy, such as tourism".
About artificial intelligence, the President of the Government pointed out that it is an opportunity for progress and growth, but that it must be approached from the premise that creation and creators must not be harmed by its development and implementation: "Copyright must prevail to protect creators in the face of the challenge posed by the inexorable development of artificial intelligence".
Sánchez also assured that progress would continue to be made in the development of the artist's statute, "a milestone of the last term on which the government is working for its full development and which, for the first time, has created a temporary artistic employment contract in line with the needs and specificities of the sector".
"Culture is the best and most beautiful way to present our country to the other side of our borders, and also to recognise, communicate and identify with each other. But I believe that it must be supported by a strong and dynamic cultural industry," said the President of the Government.
Next to speak was the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí, who emphasised "the inherent value of culture", referring to the human condition of creation: "We cannot forget this value, even if the focus of the debate is on the economic dimension".
Martí listed the challenges facing the Ministry of Culture in this legislature: the need to regulate copyright in the development of generative artificial intelligence; the fight against the precariousness of creators; and the concentration of companies, which must be monitored to "protect the cultural ecosystem" so that "small, medium and large initiatives can coexist", always with the support of the State through tax incentives or other measures to support the cultural sector.
Digitalisation, internationalisation, tax incentives and funding
Digitalisation, internationalisation, tax incentives and financing were some of the main topics of conversation in the debates on the audio-visual, music and publishing industries that took place during a day that began with a keynote lecture by Pau Rausell, economist, and lecturer in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Valencia, on the value of the cultural and creative sectors for the economy.
Drawing on numerous sources and data from recent research, Rausell explained that the average productivity of the cultural and creative industries is higher than the rest of the service sector as a whole and higher than "other sectors that usually get a lot of attention, such as tourism".
The speaker concluded that "the available information and objective data show not only that culture and creativity are one of the central elements of development strategies", but also that a strategy focussed on culture and creativity would be the fastest, cheapest, and most effective way to improve the productivity of the Spanish economy "and also to better satisfy the cultural rights of citizens".
The first round table, which focused on the audio-visual industry, was attended by Alberto Caballero, scriptwriter, director and producer at Contubernio Films; María Luisa Gutiérrez, producer, CEO of Bowfinger International Pictures and president of AECINE; Jordi Bosch, producer, president of Banijay Iberia and president of the Asociación PATE; and Gonzalo Carrión, director of finance, marketing and institutional relations at El Ranchito, president of AEPA and vice-president of PROFILM, DIBOOS and ALÍA.
The second panel, which focused on the challenges facing the music industry, included Paz Aparicio, director of the WiZink Centre; Íñigo Argomaniz, managing director of Promociones Musicales Get In; Almudena Heredero, director of Ulalume and president of MIM; and Antonio Guisasola, president of AGEDI and PROMUSICAE.
At the end of the day, Manuel González, vice-president of the Spanish Federation of Publishers' Associations and president of the Madrid Publishers' Association, had an interesting conversation with the event host, journalist Yolanda Flores.
Prior to the event, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí, and the Director of Cultural Affairs in the Office of the President of the Government, Manuela Villa, met with the President of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, the President of ADEPI, Antonio Fernández, and members of ADEPI's Board of Directors and presidents of its member organisations, with the participation of Luis Arroyo, President of the Ateneo de Madrid, whose Cátedra Mayor hosted the event.
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