Measuring the elusive diversity of cultural

expressions

1. The 2005 Convention

2. Follow-up central issue : Launching a workprogramme to measure the diversity of cultural expressions

3. UNESCO’s experience with cross border trade data. 86, 2000, 2005 International Flows of Selected Cultural Goods and Services 1994-2003

UNESCO and Cultural Diversity

Institutional mandate: UNESCO Constitution tasks the organization “to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image”, while “preserving the independence, integrity and fruitful diversity of cultures”.

Key initiatives since 1946:Promotion of different approaches to cultural

diversity through communication, education and science programs

Development of ethical and legal frameworks accepted by the international community – added value of UNESCO standard setting

UNESCO – normative action in cultural diversity

7 conventions, amongst which theConvention concerning the Protection of the

World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)Convention for the Safeguarding of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)Convention on the Protection and Promotion of

the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)

The 2005 Convention

focuses on cultural expressions, one of the manifold dimensions of cultural diversity

draws from the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity – another normative instrument

UNESCO Member States-driven process (2001-2005) involving independent experts and intergovernmental meetings

adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in Paris on 20 October 2005

Main ObjectivesTo protect and promote the diversity of cultural

expressions To recognise the double nature of cultural

activities, goods and services; vehicles of identity, values and meaning & drivers of economic growth

To create conditions for cultural expressions to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner

To reaffirm the sovereign right of States to establish, adopt and implement policies and measures, yet.

to stress link between culture and sustainable development and the need for international cooperation and solidarity

Scope

 The Convention applies to the policies and measures adopted by the Parties to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. 

(Article 3)

Key concepts

• Cultural expressions• cultural activities• goods and services• cultural industries• policies and measures…

The Legal TextPreamble, 35 Articles, Annex

Main ObjectivesGuiding PrinciplesScope of ApplicationRights and ObligationsRelationship to other Legal InstrumentsOrgans of the Convention

Follow-up Mechanism Governing Bodies

• Organs of the Convention (Art. 22 – 24)– Conference of Parties (plenary body)– Intergovernmental Committee

(executive body) central in establishing a programme of work

• Dispute Settlement (Art. 25)

Where are we at?

• Ratification (Art. 26) 21 Member States to date ; Canada, Mauritius, Mexico, Romania, Monaco, Bolivia, Djibouti, Croatia, Togo, Belarus, Madagascar Burkina Faso, Republic of Moldova, Peru, Guatemala Senegal, Ecuador Mali, Albania, Cameroon, Nigeria

• Entry into Force (Art. 29) 3 months after the date of deposit of the 30th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

Follow-up Measuring Diversity

• Article 19 – Exchange analysis and dissemination of information. UNESCO shall facilitate, through the use of existing mechanisms within the Secretariat the collection analysis and dissemination of all relevant information, statistics concerning the diversity of cultural expressions and best practices for its protection and promotion

Measuring diversity

• Limited experience and knowledge nationally and internationally on how to collect this kind of information

• Central challenge : clarify “cultural expressions’” their ”diversity” & the notion of “vulnerability”

• Little information already available * phono/book sectors * media diversity * women in

the arts

• Launching a long term & inclusive research agenda to serve the Convention purposes

Issues

• Beyond sheer diversity – quantitative indicators – number of new book titles, films or CDs

• Beyond variety, need to consider balance and degree of differentiation – Content and qualitative indicators to

measure the disparity (risk, difference in aesthetic approaches…) vs standardization

• Limits of diverse diversity <> vulnerability of certain forms of expression

Focus on ???? • on the suppliers of cultural products &

services groups that require protection and promotion of their activity i.e. creative input of indigenous peoples– which other fault lines other than ethnicity? Domestic vs.

foreign?

• on the structures that allow the creation, production and distribution of cultural expressions - What does public spending in arts and culture and structure of

cultural equipment tell us in terms of diversity, what about size of industry players – right mix of big medium and small?

• on the availability and diversity of products themselves

Focus on

• The people that express themselves and communicate those expressions

• The structures and cultural equipment

• The products

Keep in mind what are we measuring and why?

Relationships between

International flows of cultural goods & services

• Global creative industries and flows

• UNESCO stats studies : filling in the data gap 86, 92, 2000, 05

• Main trends in cultural flows ; Size, players, relative growth and developing countries

Advocacy : Economic importance of the creative industries

• 2003: Global market value estimated in 1,228 bn USD with an annual compound rate of over 7% since 2000

• 7% of world’s GDP (WB)• Earnings on international tourism

amounted less than half (523bn) • Forecast : growth will continue : 1,7

trillion in 2008• True for both OECD economies and

leading developing countries with strong domestic markets (China, Brazil, India) but not exclusively (Colombia, Venezuela).

43%

36%

18% 3%North America EMEAAsiaLatin America

Questions

• Is the growth of creative industries generating increased cultural trade?

• What is the size of these exchanges and the direction of trade flows? Who creates and who enjoys the products of these creations? How are players positioned?

• Ultimately, are expanding markets widening or not the gap in the access and circulation of cultural products of diverse origins?

The UNESCO « International Flows » series

• Internationally comparable data on cross border movement of cultural goods (mainly cultural equipment and support materials)

• Cultural trade was often equated to trade in equipment => distorted analysis

• However, useful indication of cultural production and consumer preferences throughout the world reflecting the rapid expansion of consumer goods and the convergence of consumer tastes (80-98)

The 2005 International Flows 

• New methodology– effort to better reflect cultural content products

(goods and services that convey content or a message originally intended by a creator or a group of creators).

– distinguishes between core and related products. Items are classified based on the degree of cultural content they may have and differentiated from those that make possible their creation, production and distribution.

– new conceptual structure that accommodates the taxonomies on which trade data is collected.

– integrates for the first time data on services

Defining cultural trade

• 2000 Intl Flows uses both approaches using the UNESCO Framework of Cultural statistics and the standard trade classifications (HS - tariff nomenclature and CPC and EBOPS for services).

• Neither the HS (physical content and degrees of processing) nor the CPC explicitly identify cultural products but both include numerous items that we have identified as such according to the UNESCO FCS

Defining cultural trade

• For the purposes of this study we understand by trade in cultural products as the exports and imports of cultural content that might take the form of books, films, records, videogames, etc., but also on the exports and imports of the many goods and services that are required to produce and disseminate such content, including cultural equipment and support materials as well as ancillary services that are only partly cultural in their content, what we could call the tools of the trade.

Defining cultural trade • Core cultural goods include such items as recorded

media, audiovisual media (i.e., videogames.), heritage goods (i.e., antiques, archives..), visual arts (i.e., painting, sculpture, graphic arts, art handicrafts..), books newspapers and periodicals, and other printed matter

• Related cultural goods such as equipment and support material (i.e., musical instruments, sound-playing equipment, television and radio receivers…) and other goods that are only partially cultural in their content (e.g., architectural plans, and advertising material).

• Similar distinction between core cultural services (i.e., audiovisual services and copyright royalties) and related cultural services (i.e., information services, news agency services, and advertising and architectural services).

Caveats

• Central difficulty : nature of cultural products. Export statistics fail to measure the value of cultural products sold in foreign markets, particularly for core cultural products - endlessly available and reproducible at insignificant cost.

Caveats

• For example a single master version of a copyrighted work such as a music master valued in a few dollars according to national export statistics my be shipped to another country where copies or exhibitions rights and or reproductions license fees may generate millions of dollars in sales.

• Reliable figures in areas such as trade in books can be deceptive: whereas it is easy to measure the value of books exported from country A to country B it is more difficult to know how many of the books printed in country B where written by authors from country A.

Caveats

• Extreme caution when attempting to draw conclusions from data presented :  It is customs based data that refers only to declared

cross boundary physical goods and declared services supplied across borders.

It does not cover affiliate trade Export statistical data underestimates massively

the true value attributable to cultural products Services data refers only to cross-border supply

and not other forms or services such as consumption abroad, commercial presence or presence of natural persons.

 

Conclusions

• However imperfect, this overview of world exchanges of cultural products provides good indication of the evolution of patterns of production and consumption.

• It is the tip of the iceberg of a much larger phenomena linked to the creative economy.

• It confirms some of the trends we already identified in 2000, namely that: flows are still rather unbalanced and weight in

one direction there are few producers and many buyers that new players emerge

Conclusions

• Data reveals the continuing existence through the 90s of large variation in the capacities of individual countries across to export cultural products. In many developing or small countries, with limited domestic markets, these capacities appear to have shrunk.

• Furthermore we have: identified lacuna in trade stats data and

suggested ways to fill it in (IP services data) made the case for putting side by side trade

data with industry and other qualitative data

Contribution of the 2005 Intl Flows

• We have innovated in the methodology and the type of analysis. Improved framework to accommodate existing trade data, which does not look in a systematic way into cultural categories. First effort to look at trade in some cultural services

• Underlying issues of the around the debate are not to be resolved by reference to statistics.

• Differences between the cultural and commercial perspectives are rooted more in questions of societal objectives, philosophy and aesthetics than in hard data.

• It can, however, bring light of the economic background against which the debate takes place.  

Main trends

• Trade in goods is larger than trade in services and among cultural goods there is more trade in related goods

• Low values of trade in cultural services – non statutory. Much of the transactions take the form of licensing and hence would be captured by data on royalties Exports have grown somewhat faster than trade as a whole

• Trade in core cultural goods has grown at a relatively slow pace below average in other sectors.

• Thus, figs do not quite correspond to the growing importance of the creative industries in the world economy

• Trade in CCG tends to be concentrated in the hands of a few countries that are the main producers and main consumers.

• While developing countries hold much lower share of cultural trade, their exports are growing both in absolute and relative terms