Background
The creative industries are often described as an enabler of inclusive growth and having profound social impact on communities. However, there is a need to substantiate these claims as evidence and documentation on their impact are lacking.
We have therefore commissioned Nordicity and Bayan Academy to research how creative enterprises operate in the country, investigate their contribution to social impact and inclusive growth, and explore opportunities for further development.
Methodology
Drawn from interviews and case studies on creative enterprises in Metro Manila, Baguio City and Cebu City, the report presents the following information:
- Social missions, motivations and levels of awareness of creative enterprises.
- Overview of awareness of the challenges and opportunities creative businesses face in aligning social and creative agendas.
Creative sectors
The sectors represented include animation, video games, design (fashion, furniture, handicrafts) and film. Toon City Academy, Veer Immersive Technologies , Kenneth Cobonpue (Interior Crafts of the Islands, Inc.) and Voyage Studios are just some of the creative enterprises that the research focused on.
Key findings
- Through ten case studies, valuable learnings can be taken from the experiences of Filipino creative enterprises on their social impact areas, including providing professional development opportunities and empowering women, youth and marginalised groups. The studies illustrated the strengths that the local creative enterprise community can leverage to grow and be able to compete on the global stage.
- Creative enterprises in the Philippines contribute towards inclusivity and impact society in different ways. Many of them have adopted a triple-bottom line in trying to achieve social and environmental benefits. These range from building a community, promoting social issues and causes, to contributing towards advocacy and social justice.
Triple bottom line is a sustainability-based accounting framework that examines the three Ps: profit, people and planet.
- There are varying degrees of social impacts based on the intended and unintended outcomes of a creative enterprise. These impacts were categorised into four: social, environmental, cultural and economic impacts.
- While many creative enterprises lacked a formal social mission, many were driven by social causes or based their business decisions on social and cultural factors. Creative entrepreneurs viewed their own enterprise interests as being intertwined with societal and environmental interests, observing that ‘what’s good for society is good for their business.
Through this report, we hope that there will be an increased effort to support creative enterprises that bring about creative and social agenda from policy makers, researchers, impact investors, development organisations, creatives and sector advocates.
