From theaters and museums to public libraries and art studios, art and culture provides multiple opportunities for learning, entertainment, leisure, personal growth, unity as well as illuminating your creativity and imagination.
Malaysia’s creative industry contribution towards the GDP stands at 1.9% for the last five years, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM). The COVID-19 completely disrupted the cultural and creative industries. From the recent Impact of COVID19 to the Arts and Culture Sector study conducted by CENDANA, what was illustrated in mid 2021 included more than 90% of the arts and culture practitioners being negatively impacted, 77% having lost most or all of their income, 75% of the jobs have reduced in the market and 8% of arts venues have closed permanently.
With the recent reopening of the arts and culture sector, there will surely be a sense of hope and optimism for the industry to bounce back.
On top of that, based on the recent 2022 budget announcement, an accumulated 258 million budget has been allocated to rejuvenate and forecast future plans for the creative industry.
Malaysiakini, KiniEvents and the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) have teamed up once again to bring you Episode 2 of the webinar series titled Anticipating 2022 for the Creative Industry with guest panelists Izan Satrina, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CENDANA, Junady Nawawi, Group CEO, MyCreative Ventures, Zainariah Johari, Head of Arts and Public Spaces, Yayasan Hasanah and Rafe Haneef, CEO, Group Transaction Banking and CIMB Foundation contributing their insights on the latest budget announcement and discuss ways the corporate sector can infuse Environment, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) practices with the Arts.
CENDANA is set up by the Malaysian government to build a vibrant, sustainable and ambitious cultural economy for Malaysia. According to Izan, CENDANA is tasked with promoting and developing the arts and culture economy in Malaysia.
Bringing the art back alive through government’s allocation
Izan noted that it is encouraging that there has been consistent announcements on allocations given to the creative industries, and if there should be a definitive allocation under CENDANA, they would utilise it to resume the recovery initiatives for the arts and culture sector.
“The sector has just opened, and our communities have to rebuild the capital and go back to work. We also have to instill confidence among the public to return to the creative sector avenue because many of them don't feel safe in coming back, she added”
Junady also elaborated that MyCreative Ventures intends to leverage on the allocation and expand further because there is still a lot of push and lifting that needs to be done for the industry as a whole.
“With the allocation granted, we intend to apply a multiplier model, establish smart partnerships such as TripART's programme that was designed by CENDANA, CIMB Group and Yayasan Hasanah. Generally, funding only plays as an enabler, therefore, we have to provide the developmental area and cover a more holistic spectrum in the creative industry, he said”
Strategising Malaysia as a successful Art Hub
According to Izan, strategising our creative economy should begin in our country first, because we have an ecosystem where everyone plays a role including the ministries, agencies, private sectors and the industries as well. She also mentioned that hopefully 2022 could be the year for the sector to escalate with proper data and aligned trajectory in mind.
“For example, CENDANA’s Cultural and Creative City report back in 2016 laid out a baseline of information in terms of the different information, roles, jobs and revenues offered and created by the creative sector. Therefore, it is vital that we make reference to the latest data, create new interventions to scale up the sector and also shift in view of how the COVID-19 has affected the industry as a whole.
Appreciating Malaysia’s creative ecosystem
“The level of acknowledgement in our creative industry has to do a lot with our education system. If cultural awareness is not incorporated into the classroom then the younger generations would be less likely to express their interest in the field, Zainariah said”.
Apart from that, the influence of cultural imports in Malaysia is also a factor that affects the level of creative appreciation of the public. Cultural imports are never deemed as “cool” to the public. Therefore, organisations like ourselves and also other corporate bodies' role is to bring back the appreciation of art.
Implementing ESG practices in the Art scene
Rafe explained that the financial viability and sustainability of an art gallery depends on a steady supply and demand. For an art gallery, ESG practices can be implemented by focusing on the creation, production, distribution and the support of the supply.
Meanwhile, on the demand perspective, awareness has to be done on appreciating art such as quality art education in school and art diplomacy, promoting Malaysia’s heritage and multi-diverse culture as well as running museums professionally because quality tourism is more beneficial than mass tourism coming in Malaysia.
Zainariah also further explained that Yayasan Hasanah implements ESG practices by building capacity programmes and providing arts residency programmes for artists. This is because creating the best crafts alone is not sustainable especially during the post covid environment, and an artist has to know what to do next with their crafts.
Watch the replay of CENDANA’s Episode 2 on Anticipating 2022 for the Creative Industry here, and to watch the previous episode on Corporate Tax Deduction in support of the Malaysian Arts & Culture Sector do visit this link.
Learn more about CENDANA’s Art In The City with KLWknd taking place this 25-28 November 2021 and SENSORii taking place from 1-28 December 2021 via www.baskl.com.my/aitc.
CENDANA is conducting a Cultural Economy Survey 2021 to learn more on Corporate Malaysia's position with regards to arts, cultural and creative economy. The input from this survey will allow CENDANA to see a bigger picture and channel better financial intervention to maximise the impact, therefore do visit this link here.
