Lithuania/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.3 Cultural/creative industries: policies and programmes

The creative industries can be defined as an industry covering both the fields of traditional and modern art and culture from artistic creation to its distribution and commercialisation.

The issue of cultural / creative industries in the Lithuanian cultural sector appeared in 2002-2003. The content of the creative industries was discussed at a conference "Creative Industries: a European Opportunity" (2003) and during the forum "European Opportunity: Creative Industries for Regional Development" (2005), both held in Vilnius. The main organisers of the meetings were the European Cultural Programmes Centre and the British Council Lithuania. The processes of privatisation and free market formation also influenced the current understanding of creative industries as a wide field of culture, art, entertainment, cultural services, etc.

In 2007, the Strategy of Support and Development of the Creative Industries was approved by the Minister of Culture. According to the Strategy, the creative industries include crafts, architecture, design, film and video production, publishing, visual and applied art, music, software and computer services, advertising, Radio and TV programmes and broadcasting, and the performing arts. The Strategy was renewed in 2009. In 2007, the National Association of Creative / Cultural Industries was established.

In the government programme for the year 2008 - 2012, the chapter on the "Creative Industries" lists the following priorities:

• to increase the share of cultural industries in GDP;
• to elaborate the Strategy of support and development of creative industries by integrating art, science, training, business issues;
• to strengthen the infrastructure of the cultural industries sector;
• to stimulate financial investment in the cultural industries, including the use of the Structural Funds; and
• to promote Lithuanian Film production.

In 2008, the Training Programme of Creative Industries was launched in Vilnius Gediminas University and aims to educate specialists in advertising, marketing, public relations, multimedia, TV, publishing and the communication sectors.

According to possibilities study "National Programme Lithuanian Cultural and Creative Industries" (2008), Lithuania's creative industries generated 2.1% of national GDP in 2002 and increased to 5.2% in 2006. There were 6 149 enterprises in the creative industries sector, with a total number of 61 297 employees in 2007 (see: http://www.lmta.lt/).

Over the past years, positive approaches to the creative industries were sustained in a series of international conferences and the publications of several research studies on the topic.

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