The CCI RF hosted a webinar “Cultural Industries and the Pandemic: How to Save and Restart a Business?”

The cultural industry is of great importance for the development of the economy, so it is necessary to develop a clear strategy for its support at the legislative level, experts said during the online webinar “Cultural Industries and the Pandemic: How to Save and Restart a Business?”

The event was organized by the Intellectual Property Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

The discussion was moderated by Ivan Bliznets, Chairman of the Intellectual Property Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Academic Director of the Scientific and Educational Center for Intellectual Property and the Digital Economy, member of the Supervisory Board of Russian Organization for Intellectual Property (VOIS).

During the webinar, the participants discussed how the pandemic and the related actions of the authorities affected the industry, what measures need to be taken, how other countries are coping with the situation.

The online webinar was attended by Igor Butman, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation; Petr Milenin, Head of the Russian Authors’ Society Remuneration Department; Vladimir Zubitsky, General Director of “Russian Show Center”; Pavel Katkov, co-founder of “Katkov and Partners Law Firm”; Evgeny Safronov, editor-in-chief of the InterMedia News Agency; and others.

According to the experts, culture provides up to 10-13% of the gross national product, while in Russia there is no unified policy in this industry.

“The cultural industries combine individual creativity with the potential for added value. Historically, most countries, realizing the importance of cultural industries, have put the basis for their support in the legislation. There is still no such strategy in our country. Our task is to change the attitude towards the cultural industries that is now observed in our society,” said Ivan Bliznets.

Experts agreed that concert and promotion companies, the publishing business, organizers of creative festivals, ticket operators and many others were affected by the coronavirus epidemic.

The online meeting provided data on the state of the industry in other countries. Thus, Sweden has allocated US$ 31 million to support culture, Germany – EUR 1 billion, in France EUR 18 billion will be distributed between tourism and culture.

“In Russia, the salvation of culture is in the hands of the cultural workers themselves,” said Pavel Katkov, co-founder of the Katkov and Partners Law Firm.

In turn, Igor Butman emphasized that the current force majeure situation is an excellent reason for uniting representatives of cultural industries.

“The entire jazz community was stirred up when Aleksey Kozlov wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin asking for state support. I agree that jazz needs it. Jazz in Russia is no longer an outcast: the one who plays it will not “sell the Motherland”. But this also means the need to use the pandemic to its advantage, while understanding all the problems and force majeure associated with it. For this, it is important to unite and show that we are together, ”commented Butman.

The speakers are confident that the country needs to change its attitude towards the cultural industries, to convey to the authorities how important it is to support the cultural sphere.

“We are all thinking about how to get out of this situation, how to preserve everything that has been achieved by Russian culture for centuries. It is important not to lose these achievements. And most importantly, the state should develop an understanding of culture not only as entertainment, but also as a business, and in some ways – as the fundamental for the economy of the country,” concluded Ivan Bliznets.