Cultural and Creative Industries and Private Entrepreneurship in Cuba: Notes for Policies to Foster the Development of the Sector

Culture cannot be removed from economic progress because it has an impact on a country’s economy, as an opportunity for development and diversification, or production being vital for many countries, especially developing ones, not only in terms of growth but in job creation too.

In Cuba, the debate regarding culture’s contribution to development is not new, and the economics of culture has been studied by academia. However, the inclusion of the concepts of creative economy and cultural and creative industries in programmatic documents is more recent, and the role of private economic actors is not yet adequately recognised in this sector.

The article shows the results of research developed in four Cuban cities, in which the cultural resources existing, the actors, and the way the ecosystem is structured were diagnosed, so as to identify both internal and external possibilities and limitations for the development of the cultural and creative industries sector.

The article ends with a proposal of principles to promote cultural entrepreneurship in Cuba that ensure the policy’s transversality and sustainability, and that they should derive from a broader national policy for the development of the creative economy.