Colleagues of the creative industry: Awarded as the radar of radars
The managing director of our agency has been officially appointed as a Fellow of the Federal Cultural and Creative Industries. I am pleased that our boss, Matthias Petri, has been appointed as a Fellow of the cultural and creative sector by the Federal Competence Center for Culture and Creative Industries. During the official celebration following the speech by Economic Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the certificates were presented on June 7, 2016, in Berlin. Matthias is therefore one of currently 50 selected Fellows, who according to kreativ-bund.de “form the nationwide sounding board of the Federal Competence Center for Culture and Creative Industries.” “As the radar of radars, they support the Competence Center in achieving its goals. They actively shape the cultural and creative industries in Germany for the future as a regional and thematic actors’ network.”
Hear, hear! We are happy for our boss for this award and are looking forward to new options that enable participation and actions in this network.
In the meantime, the network has also grown. New fellows have been admitted, nominated in advance by other existing fellows. We submitted two proposals. Our nomination for the Mecklenburger Martin Horst, who runs the agency 13 Grad in Neubrandenburg, has been successful. He has since become a fellow himself and is actively involved in various ways within the framework of the fellows and beyond, advocating for the interests of the cultural and creative industries.
The task of the competence center, which has established the Fellow network for the cultural and creative industries in Germany, is to make the cultural and creative economy visible, to convey its interdisciplinary potential for the economy, society, and politics, and to develop approaches to solutions for industry-related challenges together with stakeholders. Since 2016, I, Matthias Petri, have been acting as a fellow in this network and interacting with other players in the diverse creative sector.
Regular meetings, trend reports, feedback forms, and impulse events facilitate the exchange and determination of what constitutes the cultural and creative industries, as well as their impact on society and productivity. From this, recommendations for action are formulated for policymakers to ensure that the voices of creatives are heard and to improve future frameworks.
In August 2018, the Fellow Network met again in Berlin for an exchange. Questions we ask ourselves include: What value creation lies in the creative economy for the entire society? Why is the appreciation for creative work different/lower than for consulting, producing, or craftsmanship? How much creative work is involved in the products of other industries, e.g., in a car? How should the education system be restructured to encourage students not only towards vocational training or higher education but also towards entrepreneurship? What could political support look like that properly reflects the importance of the cultural and creative economy?
From this perspective, it is the big questions surrounding our creative industry and its societal and economic significance. On a smaller scale, each fellow may benefit from personal exchange with the other fellows, the unique creative approaches and solutions of the participants, the challenges, insights, and experiences we had, and thus learn from one another.
Anyone who wants to know more about the Fellow network can go here: www.kreativ-bund.de
The images in this article are from the Federal Competence Center for Culture and Creative Industries/William Veder.
