Why is creativity not a thing in Lithuania? The state of Creative Industries in Lithuania

Creative industries — those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation (DCMS). Not only that creativity is beneficial to the financial economy of the World, the creative “sector contributes to behavioral, social, and institutional evolution” (Potts, 2011). With the ability to improve most aspects of everyday life, creative industries have the potential to be a nation’s driver to success. However, not all countries know how to use the benefits of the sector to their advantage — that list includes Lithuania.

The creative industry is a lucrative part of Lithuania’s economy as well as an important factor in societal development. Creativity does not rely on natural resources that a country has to offer and rather focuses on the intellectual abilities of an individual. While most parts of the world are still highly driven by manufacturing or oil extraction industries, it is wise for a country with limited resources for either of the fields to encourage growth in the number of creative professionals. As countries will begin to come to an end of their finite natural offerings, those that invested in creative industries will begin seeing the benefits of their advanced creative economies. The growth in the creative industry sector has been fast while its contributions — large. UNCTAD (2018) reports that Lithuania’s Creative goods exports more than tripled from $397 million in 2005 to $1.3 billion in 2014. The creative industries are not only beneficial to the economy but also aid culture and society. The industry helps to preserve existing and create new traditions for the country as well as add to the identity of Lithuania. By expanding creative industries in the country, there is a potential of reducing bullying, intolerance, and integration of socially excluded people into society (Ministry of Culture, 2015). The diversity of the creative field allowing a positive change in society’s virtues could get Lithuania closer to its western ideals and increase people’s level of satisfaction. The impressive results of the creative industries beg the question, why is only 3.9 percent of the country’s labor market employed within the creative sector (LFC and LKC, 2020).

One of the biggest roadblocks for countries wanting to expand in the creative industries is the lack of information available. Specifically for Lithuania, no comprehensive studies on the impact of design on the economy have been performed (LFC and LKC, 2020). The report by the Ministry of Culture of Estonia (2010) found that only fragmentary data is currently available. Their research also shows that databases provide insufficient information, while some sub-sectors have no statistical data at the national level at all. The absence of thorough research leads to an unsuccessful explanation of the impact and value creative industries have. This results in failure when supporting the sector on a governmental level in financial as well as legal aspects. One of the main issues Lithuanian businesses within the creative industry face is the lack of incentives and prosperity-supporting conditions, to successfully create competition in the sector. Local companies in smaller markets are finding it especially challenging to secure the necessary capacity to develop competitive, high value-added products and services (LFC and LKC, 2020). As a result of one another, the small scale problems aided by the lack of attention from governmental institutions form a single large barrier to the development of the creative industry sector within the country.

Since the creative industries rely on an individual’s intellectual resources, education in creativity and art becomes a determining factor of a nation’s success in the field. Research indicated that educators do not have the necessary skills to develop creativity. The lack of competence in the creative field is also aggravated by the curricula that do not focus on developing creativity (Ministry of Culture, 2015). As a student coming from a very academic, exact-science-focused country of Lithuania, I must agree with the results conducted by the analysis. It is simple-minded to expect for a country to be leading in the creative industries when students are given a single 45-minute class a week to explore art, design, and the history behind it. Such restrictions make it tough for students to invest time into the development of their creative abilities, which leads to a lack of creative professionals the country has to offer. From the eighteen universities in Lithuania, only two are entirely creativity focused. The insufficient amount of attention on educating creative minds, rightfully, results in the widespread belief that art can not be a sustainable stream of income in the country. With no interest in creativity on a national scale, one is forced to turn away from their dream and look at a more “feasible” plan for their future, no matter the cost of the decision on the individual.

It is not as difficult to solve one problem at a time, but when a single issue creates a snowball effect, it gets increasingly challenging to untangle a complex, large-surface-covering obstacle. The procrastination from the Lithuanian government to thoroughly analyze the creative industries and their value to the economy does not help to improve the country’s standing. When a field shows faster growth than any other while subsequently leading society towards a positive change, a government should be immensely concentrated on that sector, allowing it to prosper. The state of creativity in education, that’s trailing far behind the achievements of other nations, will take years to catch up with the western ideals resulting in shortages of design thinkers, but the lack of instant gratification should not be seen as an encouragement to stay stagnant. Seeing the socioeconomic benefits of creative industries, it is obvious that no individual should be held back from their creative goals, yet it is happening, and it is time for Lithuania to change that.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in Avril Joffe (2009) ‘Policy-making for the creative and cultural industries’ [PowerPoint Presentation] Cultural sector mapping Using data for policy-making. Available at: https://en.unesco.org/creativity/sites/creativity/files/digital-library/Avril%20Joffe%20Cultural%20sector%20mapping%20and%20data.ppt (Accessed: 20 November 2020)

Potts, J. (2011). Creative Industries and Economic Evolution. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)(2018) CREATIVE ECONOMY OUTLOOK Trends in international trade in creative industries. Available at: https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcted2018d3_en.pdf (Accessed on: 20 November 2020)

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania (2015) Įsakymas dėl Kultūros ir kūrybinių industrijų politikos 2015–2020 metų plėtros krypčių patvirtinimo [Order on approval of Cultural and creative industries policy development directions for 2015–2020] (ĮV-524). Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC) and Lithuanian Council for Culture (LKC) (2020) Veiksmo įgyvendinimo koncepcijos forma [Form of action implementation concept]. Available at: https://finmin.lrv.lt/uploads/finmin/documents/files/LT_ver/DNR%20plano%20dokumentai/KONCEPCIJOS/KM_KKI%20Veiksmo%20koncepcijos%20forma_2020%2009%2006(1).docx (Accessed on: 20 November 2020)

Estonian Ministry of Culture (2010) Creative Industries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Available at: http://www.esa.ee/cms-data/upload/files/CreativeIndustries_EstLatLit.pdf (Accessed: 20 November 2020)