There are no specific policies that promote the design and creative services in Croatia.
Within the public call for ‘Entrepreneurship in Cultural and Creative Industries’ published yearly by the Ministry of Culture and Media, workers in these fields as well are eligible to apply for support for their projects (chapter 3.5.1). The announced future calls for support of cultural and creative sectors that will be funded through the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience announced for 2023 will also include the design and creative services.
There were several initiatives for creating the strategy of design, but so far there are no further steps in this regard. The first initiative occurred more than ten years ago when the draft of the National Strategy for Design (2007-2011) was created by a Croatian Designers Association on the initiative of the (then) Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. However, the government never adopted the finalised strategy. Five years later, the initiative came again from the Croatian Cluster of Creative and Cultural Industries (HKKKI), but with no further actions.
The Croatian Designers Association is the professional organisation of designers in Croatia that is very active nationally and internationally in different projects related to the development of professional standards of design and advocating for a strategic approach to the field. In 2023 the Association will celebrate its’ 40 year anniversary.
Similarly, the Croatian Chamber of Architects, together with the Association of Croatian Architects, initiated the creation of the document for architectural policy on several occasions. Guidelines for the development of Croatian architectural policy were promoted from developments at various initiatives: at the1st Congress of Croatian Architects in 2004, then at the 2nd Congress of Croatian Architects in 2007, and as a part of the 3rd Congress of Croatian Architects ApolitikA 2013, held in 2010. After the 3rd congress, the work on defining and drafting the document began and after it was finalised as “Architectural Policies of the Republic of Croatia 2013-2020, ApolitikA, National Guidelines for Excellence and Culture of Construction” and it was promoted in 2012. This resulted in the signing of a joint statement between several ministries and professional architectural associations, but with no further actions in this field.
In regards to other creative services one should also mention the role of the Croatian Association of Communications Agencies (HURA) as a professional association that also organises Days of Communications, a national advertising festival featuring industry competitions (Effie, IdejaX, and Young Lions), as well as HURA’s HOWtoWOW marketing academy, BalCannes regional marketing agency showcase and numerous other projects.
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