IFACCA was represented by Regional Coordinator for Africa, Ayeta Wangusa, at a conference for culture sector professionals and representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in Brussels on 28 October 2016.  

The conference, opened by Amb. Leonard-Emile Ognimba, Assistant Secretary General, ACP Secretariat, aimed to share the main results of the final and mid-term evaluation of ACP programmes in the field of culture under the 9th and 10th EDF respectively. Details of the conclusions and recommendations of three studies conducted in the framework of the ACPCultures and programme were also covered:

• a study on artistic, economic and social impacts of six ACP festivals
• a study on the challenges and on the economic and artistic benefits of online diffusion and distribution of ACP cultural content
• a study on alternative and innovative funding mechanisms for ACP cultural industries.
   

Dr Keith Nurse, Expert and Senior Research Fellow at the University of West Indies (Barbados) made a case for strengthening cultural operators in the most strategic and sustainable way  to enable them become finance-ready through concessional grants, mixed funding of grants and loans, corporate sponsorship, business incubators and accelerators.

Destiny Tchehouali, Senior Research Lecturer at the Research Centre for Integration and Globalization, Expert in Digital Policies and Strategies (Canada), made a case for the need for generation of creative industries data, so that the cultural and creative sector is part of the digital revolution, in order to measure the effects and impact of the sector’s transformation.

Key issues that emerged from the parallel workshop discussions were:

ACP Festivals:

• need for training across sectors during festivals
• need for planning for local festival targeting youth and minorities that take place all year
• formulation of local cultural polices
• access to international markets.
   

Online distribution:

• need for television, mobile telephone companies and content producers to work together
• need for affordable  internet bundles that will enable access to content
• promotion of digital marketing and planning.

Alternative funding models:
In order for the creative industries to attract alternative funding they need to do the following:

• build the reputation of creative industries (e.g. Documentation and track record)
• boost the  business support services for the sector
• improve the visibility of the sector through GDP
• boost distribution of the creative content.
   

There were also recommendations made for the following sectors in order establish an enabling environment for funding the creative industries.
 

Role of Government

• harmonize tax and fiscal measures
• formulate national cultural policies that are strategic to creative industries development
• provide public funding to other sectors of the value chain like distribution, since at moment a high percentage of funding goes to the creation and production stages of the value chain.

Industrial Associations

• establish systematic collaboration for advocacy
• strengthen membership within countries
• a regional approach to industrial collaboration more appropriate with emphasis on South-North.

Banking and Finance

• need for specialized financing for Intellectual Property
• establish guarantee funding systems from development banks to commercial banks
• training banking sector to understand the business models of the creative sector and the mechanisms for commercialization.

International Community

• provide holistic support to the sector such as business support to the sector, trade facilitation and business training
• increase collaboration among donors.

The conference was closed by Jean Louis Ville, Director European Commission, Directorate-General of International Cooperation and Development, who emphasized that the issues raised in the conference would contribute to the design of new programme in 2017.