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Creative industries—the next economic boom in 10-20 years
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Ştefan Liuţe
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“Just as the Internet was a phenomenon that has brought about major changes in the past decade, I believe that the creative industries phenomenon will be the new boom over the next 10-20 years”, said Marius Ursache, Chief Creative Officer at Grapefruit, at the launch of the Creative Industries Guide for Iaşi, the city designated by British Council to represent Romania in the creative cities network in South Eastern Europe.
British Council launched in 2005 the “Creative Cities” program, with “Creative Industries” as its theme. This is an international program, implemented at city level, which promotes creative ideas and offers a model of economic and social revival through the creative industries. The Creative Industries are a relatively new concept that includes various areas such as design, painting/visual arts, the web and the new communication technologies, advertising, theatre, film, music, radio/TV, urban architecture/regeneration. It’s those areas of creation and technological development which generate profit and visibility in a community and rethink culture as a driving force for regional and national development.
One of the first steps in British Council’s “Creative Cities” program was to choose a representative city. For Romania, following the presentations given by the representatives of Bucharest, Cluj, Iaşi and Timişoara, the chosen city was Iaşi. Using the success stories previously identified here, British Council’s project mapped the local creative industries.
Grapefruit became involved from the very beginning by actively participating in the Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Bailiffscourt (Great Britain) conferences and seminars. Together with Rofilco, another local successful creative company, Grapefruit offered advice all through the mapping process and designed the visual identity, the website (www.industriicreative.ro) and the printed Creative Industries guide for Iaşi. At the guide launching, Marius Ursache, Chief Creative Officer at Grapefruit, gave a presentation on globalization, copyright laws and competitive advantages in the context of creative and cultural industries.
The guide includes both private companies and cultural and mass-media institutions with public financing, thus offering a picture of the diversity and economic potential of the creative industries in Iaşi. The project’s advocates say that the guide will present Iaşi as a propitious environment for investments in the creative industries, considered an area with good growth potential. The team in charge of the research and writing of the guide also hope that it will help Iaşi leave behind its contemplative apathy and that the entrepreneurial spirit and dynamic management – following the British example – will generate prosperity and facilitate creative development, thus offering the city the reputation and national and international visibility it deserves.
“We are proud that Iaşi has been chosen as a creative city to represent Romania and as a partner in the South Eastern European network of this program. We are also happy to have found local trustworthy partners that made this project’s success possible, while being a first step in the creative industries development here in Iaşi”, said Ecaterina Petreanu, Manager of the British Council Centre in Iaşi.
Grapefruit (www.grapefruit.ro) is a branding and interactive design consultancy with offices in Iaşi and Bucharest, Romania. Grapefruit has worked for over 100 companies and corporations in 13 countries on 4 continents. Its client rooster includes Dacia (groupe Renault), Connex-Vodafone, HP România, Gândul, Eli Lilly, Antibiotice, OTP Bank, The British Council, The International Corporate and Brand Identity Centre (UK) and DDB San Francisco (USA).
British Council is Great Britain’s international organization for cultural and educational relations. We are present in 220 cities in 110 countries around the world. We offer people everywhere the chance to get in touch with British creativity and achievements and we establish long-term relationships between Great Britain and other countries. Our activities are mainly in the education, civil society and creative areas. We are an apolitical organization, but we collaborate closely with the British government. For more information on British Council’s activity in Romania visit: www.britishcouncil.ro.
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