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Press Release – Volume 1
Press Release – Volume 2
Press Release – Volume 3
“To meet this moment, we will need financial communities and fine art communities, pension fund managers and performing artists, all working in collaboration. Fortunately, thanks to organisations like Upstart Co-Lab and their partners Nesta’s Arts & Culture Finance and Fundación Compromiso, impact investors are already spurring just that.”
Darren Walker -President, Ford Foundation
“I very much hope that this collection of essays will stimulate new thinking about how we fund creativity and, in particular, the role that impact investment can play in helping our cultural institutions and our broader creative economy expand their influence and reach.”
Sir Ronald Cohen – Chair, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment
“Creative industries can enliven understanding of what is needed and how to move forward and connect people to an inspiring vision grounded in a more dynamic concept of value.”
Rosemary Addis – Founding Managing Partner, Mondiale Impact; Executive Director, Impact Strategist
“Culture and creative work are having a positive impact on the most serious issues facing our society, and they’re doing so right now.”
Yo-Yo Ma – Cellist
“May artistic expression continue to be the manifestation that moves desire, the poetry that brings us together and the emotion that allows us to dream of a better future. Because art can save the world!”
Marta Minujín – Artist
“SoGal’s portfolio demonstrates an idea that resonates through the 100 essays in the Creativity, Culture & Capital collection: creative people solve problems.”
Elizabeth Galbut & Pocket Sun – Co-Founders & Managing Partners, SoGal Ventures
Overview
To celebrate 2021, the United Nations International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, Upstart Co-Lab, Nesta’s Arts & Culture Finance and Fundación Compromiso partnered to bring attention to the potential for impact investing in the global creative economy with Creativity, Culture & Capital: Impact investing in the global creative economy.
The Creativity, Culture & Capital collection includes 100 essays from 123 global arts, creative industry, and impact investing leaders representing 28 countries. Essays by Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation; Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment; Rosemary Addis, Executive Director, Impact Strategist; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; artist Marta Minujín; and Elizabeth Galbut and Pocket Sun, Co-Founders and Managing Partners of SoGal Ventures; anchor the collection.
These authors have contributed essays along two themes: Creativity at Work, which illustrates how the creative economy is addressing key issues of inclusion and sustainability, and Connecting Impact Capital, which describes a range of efforts to finance creative activity in alignment with values.
The Creativity, Culture & Capital website, www.creativityculturecapital.org, will continue to serve as a living resource and community platform. Available in English and Spanish, Creativity, Culture & Capital is distributed in partnership with the British Council, the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing (GSG), SOCAP, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Opportunity and Impact
The creative industries make a substantial contribution to the global economy. According to UNESCO, the creative economy will represent 10 percent of global GDP in the years to come.
Global creative industries employed more than 50 million people worldwide in the formal economy alone, according to a June 2021 economic outlook report from UNESCO. In emerging markets, the artisan economy is a major driver of informal jobs for an estimated 300 million people and is projected to reach a global valuation of $985 billion by 2023.
Culture and creativity are critical to a sustainable and inclusive future. The innovative artists and cultural entrepreneurs featured in this report demonstrate the powerful and positive potential of the creative economy — from the artisan craft sector and the role of culture in placemaking; to the opportunities for digital technologies to broaden and democratize access to great art.
Seasoned impact investors are already putting impact capital to work in Ethical Fashion, Sustainable Food and Social Impact Media to achieve impact goals such as environmental conservation, gender and racial equity, and access to economic opportunity. As demonstrated in this report, impact funds are already investing in the creative industries of Africa, Europe, North America, and South America in support of a more just and sustainable global creative economy.
Implications
The examples and perspectives captured in Creativity, Culture & Capital are intended to inspire global policymakers, fund managers and wealth advisers, institutional and individual investors, and philanthropic funders of the global ecosystem for impact investing to prioritize the creative economy. This report is a call to action to art patrons and collectors, commercial and charitable creative organizations, and leading artists and designers regarding a new opportunity to attract financial resources to meaningful endeavors in art, design, culture, heritage and creativity.
While the creative sector has faced unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that creativity and culture will play a vital role in an inclusive and sustainable recovery fueled by conscious capital.
Upstart Co-Lab is grateful to our partners:
