STATISTICS ON CULTURAL INDUSTRIES Framework for the Elaboration of National Data Capacity Building Projects

Abstract

UNESCO, as the UN agency with a specific mandate for culture, has a long history of involvement with cultural industries, dating back to the 19th General Conference of UNESCO, which took place in Nairobi in 1976. UNESCO first commissioned studies on cultural industries as preparation for European and international conferences (Oslo 1976 and Mexico 1982). However, those conferences had only limited impact on programming and policy development in the countries of the Asia- Pacific region. Only in 1995, with the publication of the report Our Creative Diversity, by the World Commission on Culture and Development which is chaired by former UN Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, were the issues of culture in development raised to the programming level in all UN Member States.