The steep drop in our GDP (deep recession) and our inability to contain the surging Covid-19 infections have delivered a 1-2 punch to our sagging national morale.
We find ourselves not only in a deep hole economically but also getting a national black eye in terms of image as a country that can’t seem to do anything right about epidemic containment.
These are painful blows indeed but I won’t echo the negative outcries of the doomsayers.
I would rather face the problem squarely and try to find a way to climb out of the pit we’ve somehow managed to bumble into.
Yes, it is a big setback but it also presents bright opportunity to rethink our priorities and do it right and even better this time. This could be our nana korobi, ya oki moment (“fall down seven times and stand up eight.”)
As someone who has been involved in creative work all my professional years, I think the way to plan the long hard climb to economic recovery is to get out of the box of the tiresome Build, Build, Build mantra that our economic managers are intoning.
Building hard infrastructure may be one way to provide jobs for millions, but not the only way.
We can do it not only by way of big-ticket projects but also by softly and strategically harnessing the wealth-generating power of Filipino creativity.
We have been overlooking the fact but there is money to be made in the arts! In fact, a lot. Culture and the arts are now acknowledged as major drivers of national economies around the world. Countries such as US, Japan, UK, Australia, and even South Africa have long recognized the huge potential of the cultural and creative industries.
There was a study made by Cultural Times, which analyzed 11 cultural and creative industry sectors and assessed their contribution to economic growth. Believe it or not, these industries are able to churn out an estimated $250 billion in revenue every year, employing 29.5 million people worldwide.
Creative industries are so important in developed economies that Great Britain is reported to be investing nearly $2 billion in cultural institutions and the arts to help a sector that has been crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. This money will help safeguard the sector for future generations, ensuring arts groups and venues across the UK can stay afloat and support their staff whilst their doors remain closed and curtains remain down.
I also read something somewhere about the world’s economy shifting from an economy based in manufacturing and heavy industry, to an economy of knowledge and information, where creativity and collaboration are at its very center. This new economy is called the “Orange Economy” or “Creative Economy,” which includes all the sectors whose goods and services are based on intellectual property: architecture, visual and performing arts, crafts, film, design, publishing, research and development, games and toys, fashion, music, advertising, software, TV and radio, and videogames. I would even include culinary arts.
With disruptions happening in the way we live and work because of the pandemic, I think this shift will even take place much sooner because experts are now saying that the world is now migrating to digital space, particularly the entertainment as well as leisure and recreation industries. This means that there will be a tremendous demand to create content for the diverse digital platforms.
This is where we come in. While we are not scientifically and technologically advanced, we have a vast organic pool of talents and artists to compete in this new economy: in communications, media arts, performing arts, design and animation.
The question: do we have the will and the system to leverage our vast natural talent pool and capacity for creativity as an asset?
Thankfully, our policy-makers appear to be beginning to see the light. Recent pronouncements by leaders of both houses have underscored the value of the arts in the life of the Filipino and our national economy.
Recently, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano announced in a press conference that he is seeking the creation of a Department of Arts and Culture to support the country’s creative and performing arts industries. This department would focus on the development, marketing, and promotion of Philippine arts and culture abroad. I have many disagreements with Speaker Cayetano, but on this one, I silently applaud him. I hope it’s not just political talk.
If we can get our act together, government and private companies can make our culture, our arts, in combination with tourism, as a major source of income for Filipino talents, artists, craftsmen as well as the collateral enterprises related to and supportive of the creative industries.
Public and private sponsorship and support of the arts is particularly important for our local creators and art workers whose main focus is not primarily money but non-monetary value: to entertain, to delight, to challenge, to give meaning, to interpret, to raise awareness, and to stimulate. Even Senate President Tito Sotto said as much during the opening of the Senate session: “We need writers, poets and creators to help us make sense of what is happening in the world.”
Let us use this as an opportunity to create our national brand built on the arts. After all, “malikot ang utak ng Pinoy.” Singapore looks up to us in the field of creativity; I even gave a workshop on conceptualization and scriptwriting there once. There was a time when Filipino creative directors used to head ad agencies in Jakarta and Bangkok. Take note, Filipino indie films are now starting to make their mark on world cinema.
Indeed, let’s reset our thinking and take stock of the natural assets we have on hand. Let’s mobilize the power of Filipino creativity and ingenuity to propel ourselves beyond the deep recession we are in toward becoming a nation that would exude the kind of “soft power” and “gravitas” that analyst Andrew Masigan has been espousing in his articles. Build, build, build our creative industry!
Above all, our intrinsic creativity will be the cement that will strongly bind our hearts and souls together in the challenging years to come.
Ultimately, it is the arts that will save us economically as a nation, as a people and as a part of humanity.