Summer Academy on Cultural and Creative Industries and Local Development

The sixth edition of the Summer Academy took a close look at how advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), 3D printing and blockchain, alongside digital platform intermediaries are shaping the cultural and creative sector. It explored the challenges and opportunities presented by these advances and deepened the debate on policy, practitioner and public engagement with these issues.

The 2023 Summer Academy included webinars, interactive digital sessions with key actors (online) and a complementary (optional) study visit to Trentino, Italy (onsite), that was also open to 2020-22 Summer Academy alumni who only participated online. The Academy allowed participants to consider real-life situations and to engage with practical challenges faced by their organisations and institutions.

The levels of social, environmental and economic inequality in our society are increasingly challenging the health and wellbeing of people. It is time to rethink our approach to local development, whether in metropolitan areas or smaller towns. Culture and creative activities have the capacity to improve the self-confidence and the creativity of individuals, as well as the quality of places for current and future residents. The fifth edition of the Summer Academy aims to discuss and showcase the role of CCS within a common sustainability framework which includes critical areas such as the environment, demography, and social justice.

The 2022 Summer Academy included webinars, interactive digital sessions with key actors (online) and a complementary (optional) study visit in Trentino, Italy (onsite), that was also open to 2020-21 Summer Academy alumni who only participated online. This allowed participants to consider real-life situations and to engage with practical challenges faced by their organisations and institutions. 

As both the climate emergency and the COVID-19 crisis unfold, with increasingly critical impacts on economic, social and educational inequalities, policy makers, urban practitioners and sustainable development activists all over the world are looking for new ways to lay the foundations for strong, healthy, more equal and resilient communities in the future. They are working on many fronts to address the vulnerabilities this generalised state of crisis is exposing.As cities and regions reconsider growth models in the wake of COVID-19, cultural and creative industries can be put at the core of a resilient recovery. CCS are a significant source of jobs and income, and also generate important spillovers to the wider economy. They are a driver of innovation, a source of creative skills, and act as a magnet that helps drive growth in other sectors such as tourism. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being, to promoting social inclusion and local social capital.

As well as offering a reflection on the policies, methods and approaches that could help us to build back better, SACCI 2021 investigated good practices, and highlighted evidence showing how CCIs, when properly valued and supported, could be the key to unlock a sustainable recovery and to achieve the objectives set by the Agenda 2030. 

What can we learn from past experiences? How can Culture and Creative Industries (CCIs) help people and places to better address the new challenges brought about by climate change, globalisation, demographic change and technological breakthroughs?

For several decades, cities and regions across the world have been successfully mobilising cultural and creative resources to address societal challenges, regenerate the economy, create new identities and promote inclusion.

SACCI 2020 took stock of past CCIs policies and culture-led development initiatives and looked to the future, by focusing on how to reshape CCIs policies in view of the challenges posed by megatrends.

In particular, this edition of the Summer Academy examined how the creativity of artists and CCIs’ entrepreneurs, cross-overs with other sectors and the use of new technologies could spur innovation in process, products and services in various fields such as health and well-being, social cohesion, environment protection, urban renewal, education and skills. The new forms of governance required to deliver such innovation were also part of the discussion.

The Summer Academy fosters a hands-on approach, which introduces participants to the overall conceptual and theoretical framework of culture and creativity in local development and invites them to engage proactively, and in creative ways, with local organisations, institutions and places.

Within this approach, the Academy included on-site visits and interview-style sessions with key local actors. This allowed participants to consider real-life situations and to engage with practical dilemmas often faced by their organisations and institutions.

For the 2019 edition, three main dilemmas were identified:

• Tradition vs Innovation (keywords: digital transformation, cultural production and consumption, the role/identity of museums and other cultural institutions in contemporary society)
• Preservation vs (Re)activation (keywords: urban/rural regeneration, creative identity of places, sustainability)
• Linear development vs Holistic approach (keywords: cross-sectorial policies, embedding creativity in local systems, cross innovation, skills for a creative city)

The Summer Academy focused on the relationship between cultural heritage and CCIs, with an exploration of following themes:

• Building resilient creative ecosystems. What kind of environment do CCIs need to flourish? What challenges does the establishment of creative ecosystems pose to policy makers? 
• Raise awareness of creative resources. What are the main skills needed by CCIs? How can knowledge and creativity support innovation? 
• Governance and funding. How can a financial ecosystem support CCIs? How can we best fund artistic and cultural activities and products?
• CCIs for inclusive development. What is the link between CCIs and social inclusion? Why and how can culture and creativity improve the quality of life in a community?