Cinea strategises for more proactive role in creative industries’ development |18 November 2020

Mrs Mohideen addressing the gathering during the workshop (Photos: Joena Meme)

The Creative Industries and National Events Agency in collaboration with The Guy Morel Institute yesterday held the first of a series of planning workshops to devise a strategic plan for the agency, with the aim of reforming it to play a catalytic role towards propelling the creative industries to become a pillar of the economy.

Ran by The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI) executive director Shella Mohideen, the workshop was attended by a small group of stakeholders from the creative industries, namely musicians, poets, visual artists, dancers, photographers and filmmakers, for stimulating reflections, assessment and discussions on the current operating environment of the Creative Industries and National Events Agency (Cinea), what stakeholders expect from the agency, the critical issues that the agency has faced since its establishment four years ago and the strengths and weaknesses of the agency over the four years since it was established.

In order to devise an effective strategic plan to guide the actions and functions of Cinea, Ms Mohideen proposed that delegates focus on areas of strategic focus, namely management, leadership and governance of the agency, its role in facilitating access to finance for local artists, infrastructure, intellectual property, education and skills, and partnership, as there is a tendency to work in silos and compete against one another.

Ms Mohideen further recommended that stakeholders put forward ideas as to how Cinea can support the creative industries in commercialising and internationalising arts.

Cinea chief executive Galen Bresson said “this workshop is very important to structure all that we think has been missing. One of the successes of Cinea thus far, is that Cinea has pushed the agenda, so today foreign artists performing in Seychelles are now taxable in Seychelles. One of the areas in which we have done well, is that the government has until now collected R600,000 to R700,000 from gainful occupation permits (GOP) issued to international artists performing in Seychelles.”

“If you look at the creative sectors all over the world, they make a lot of money, so policies and guidelines put in place by government should help the industry to grow. I think it is important for policy-makers to understand what they formulate and the environment that we work in, so as to ensure there is synergy,” added Mr Bresson.

In small groups, delegates discussed the main areas of strategic focus, highlighting issues, including the fact that Cinea’s mandate is not necessarily clear-cut to stakeholders and that Cinea was not as stipulated in its mandate fulfilling all its functions, most specifically in relation to the development of the creative industries.

Numerous propositions and recommendations were put forth relating to the amendment of the parent act, the various roles and expectations that stakeholders have of Cinea, and the synergy between related ministries, departments and agencies to really propel the local creative industry, and give it the much needed boost stakeholders have been expecting for so long.

Laura Pillay