Strengthening its competitiveness of the music sector in Costa Rica
Through a series of online training modules organized by UNESCO in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture and Youth, the Costa Rican music sector seeks to strengthen its competitiveness and promote its professionalization. These activities aimed at artists, producers, technicians and music professionals will take place between April and July 2021 and seek to meet the need to update the players in the sector in the face of constant changes in the music industry, the use of new technologies and the search for new business models. They are part of the “Music FFWD Costa Rica” project, implemented by UNESCO together with the Ministry of Culture and Youth within the cooperation program of the European Union and UNESCO framework for the strengthening of cultural governance and the promotion of South-South cooperation.
The first training module is taking place place between Tuesday 13th and Friday 16th of April and focuses on exploring the music ecosystem in Costa Rica. 140 people registered to participate in this first module. Throughout four days, spaces of exchange and dialogue are offered by experts in the field of music at a national or international level to address topics such as music in the context of current change, the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, or the roles and responsibilities of the various actors that make up the music ecosystem.
“The key to the success of this project is the involvement of the organizations and people that make up the sector. Their participation will allow a better approach to the numerous aspects that this initiative seeks to cover and, above all, will allow to strengthen the meeting spaces between artists, technicians, decision-makers and professionals from all the areas that make up the music sector ”, highlighted Mrs. Caroline Munier, Specialist of the Culture Program of the UNESCO Cluster Office in San Jose.
For her part, the Minister of Culture and Youth of Costa Rica, Mrs. Sylvie Durán Salvatierra, highlighted the importance that this activity has for updating this sector, which since the 1990s has been a pioneer in the modernization and use of new technologies. Likewise, the Minister pointed out participation and involvement as a key factor in promoting associativity and the visibility of the sector.
Costa Rica is one of the twelve countries selected worldwide to benefit from the UNESCO-European Union cooperation program, which offers technical assistance for the strengthening of cultural industries. The project is also part of the Costa Rica Creative and Cultural Strategy 2030, launched by the Ministry of Culture and Youth, to promote the development of the creative and cultural industry of Costa Rica. Through the establishment of an ecosystem that enables the development of the productive units, providing conditions to improve their competitiveness in national and international markets. In Costa Rica, this project implemented in a context of important changes for cultural development, which is driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering this, the project seeks to meet the main social and economic needs of the sector to promote its recovery.
The next training modules are the following:
- May 04-07: Associativity
- June (dates to be determined): Digital content: curatorship and digital music
- July (dates to be determined): Business models.