The European Creative Business Network starts collecting and publishing data and statistics as well as help and policy initiatives for the Cultural Creative Industries from across Europe, from national to local level, from governments and institutions to commercial or non profit initiatives: We try to provide a European lense – and please accept we might be not as quick and complete as we would like to be in these difficult lock-down times. We publish in English and/or (given capacity constraints) in all national languages – please use online translators in this case:

Update #1

Press Release, March 25 2020: State capital Munich, Competence team for cultural and creative industries

With every hour we all spend at home to slow the spread of COVID-19 and communicate through email, video conferencing, phone, and other digital formats, we miss public life quickly and violently. That essentially consists of personal, direct exchange with other people and – no less important – the cultural and artistic framework and the reason for it. Whether concert, cinema, theater or cabaret, whether exhibition, vernissage, flash mob or lecture, whether club, bar, pub or restaurant, after just a few days’ abstinence, we feel a great longing for it.

Corona containment measures aim to bring public life to a standstill. A necessary measure! But also one that already brings big companies into trouble – it deprives the self-employed and small companies of their livelihood. Completely surprisingly and without any possibility of preparing for it, an economy that generally has no reserves is hit to survive such a crisis. The cultural and creative industries are part of this economy.

The cultural and creative economy is not only the originator of all these areas of life that we now miss – events, visits to the cinema, festivals, theater visits etc. – it is also the industry from which the necessary innovative strength is based, which we now need to be able to use innovative ideas with and maintain social cohesion despite the crisis. We cannot and should not do without this industry. Nobody can want us to step out of the Corona Paralysis and find that the diversity and uniqueness of our cultural, artistic and public life has disappeared.

For an industry like the cultural and creative industries and many other industries that are organized in small economic units – due to a lack of reserves – measures must be implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible. We would like to help with this.

We, a group of self-organizations in the cultural and creative industries and funding institutions for this branch in Germany have therefore created a catalog of measures that should help to prevent this frightening idea from becoming a reality.

We all work daily and in a close, trusting exchange with all our forces to prevent this and to preserve the great cultural and creative life in all federal states.

Enclosed you will find our joint communication on these measures to support the cultural and creative industries in the wake of the Corona crisis.

In the appendix you will also find a compilation of the first results of a survey (http://bit.ly/corona-kreativwirtschaft) on the effects of the Corona crisis on the cultural and creative industries. This survey will run until the end of March, so far this data and statements are to be understood as interim results.

We would be happy if you included the topic in your reporting.

Best wishes,
Your competence team in the cultural and creative industries

State capital Munich
Competence team for cultural and creative industries

www.kreativ-muenchen.de