Inter-American Development Bank reaches out to culture

Andy was invited to Washington DC this week (Oct 4th) to speak with experts at the Inter-American Development Bank about extending their strategic investment into the cultural economy. The main event was an initiative called ‘Demand solutions’ which was a show case and celebration of creative innovation. The special networking meeting was held the next day. The event took place at the Bank’s HQ, which is just one block away from the White House. Being a cultural event the street outside the bank was converted into an alfresco cafe for lunch time!

The IDB has published a great introductory text on the Creative Economy which it calls ‘The Orange Economy’; this has a great wake-up call: ‘if culture was a country it would be the 4th largest economy in the world)’. Andy is pleased to note that his work is cited under the ‘international pioneering work’ in the field in this text (Andy also co-drafted the UNESCO Framework on Cultural Statistics, and the UNCTAD Creative Economy Report); which is perhaps why he was invited!

Andy has been working with South American countries advising them on the cultural economy for a number of years, most notably in his collaborative projects with the British Council, and with the World Intellectual Property Organisation.