Culture and Creative Industries in Germany

Over the last few decades, the culture and creative industries have become a major economic force. The creative industries, a complex of eleven economic sectors, aroused a lot of attention in 2006 due to its surprisingly high turnover and growth figures. The culture and creative industries subsequently gained a new importance on the political agenda in the Lisbon process for the strengthening of economic growth in Europe as well as in the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity, which was ratified by Germany in February 2007. At the beginning of the German EU Presidency in 2007, the German Federal Government placed the issue of culture and creative industries on the agenda of the informal meeting of the European Ministers of Culture in Berlin. In Germany the creative industries achieved a gross value added of EUR 58 billion in 2004. This equals a share of 2.6% in the Gross Domestic Product. In 2004 turnovers grew by 4.4% compared to the previous year; this is three times higher than the overall growth rate of all economic sectors in Germany, as was stated at the Annual Culture Industries Conference in October 2006.


Authors:

Bernd Fesel, Office for Cultural Policy and Culture Industries, Bonn (Germany). Co-organiser of the National Annual Culture Industries Conference and co-editor of the Culture Industries Yearbook. The Office for Cultural Policy and Culture Industries organises conferences and seminars, provides cultural policy advice and produces culture industries reports. Bernd Fesel is also a lecturer and publicist.



Michael Soendermann, Office for Culture Industries Research, Cologne/ Zurich. President of the German Cultural Statistics Working Group, Haus der Kultur (Bonn). Member of the Advisory Board of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal/ Canada. Member of various research groups on culture / creative industries on local, regional and national / European level. He consults ministries and local authorities.