Created in Bangladesh

When deliberations on economy centre around gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, export, import, inflation, per capita income, skill development etc., human creativity rarely figures there. The impression is that career building and entrepreneurship are the only drivers behind economic advancement. The innate ability to generate original ideas and theories is hardly recognised. Scientists and artists appear to be poles apart from one another, but a closer look reveals that both generate original, valuable and relevant ideas, solutions and artistic genres that advance human civilisations by several steps. Both use their imaginations, personal experiences and cognitive skills to advance new concepts and creative modes. Creativity can express itself in tangible and intangible forms. Usually, policymakers are concerned about such creations as are functional but the artistic output makes life and society enriched on a plane of emotional intelligence. 

Governments in general do not bank on what is called 'creative economy'. But the incumbent government has made a bold step towards economising creative works. It wants to bring together the creative sectors in order to make those a part of the economy and also highlight the cultural values ingrained in artistic works. Integration of the disparate creative fields starting from social media contents, information and technology (IT) apps to performing arts like music, theatre and cinema to fashion and life-style is planned under the creative economy. The fact is that all such sectors are engaged separately to generate revenue. But the institutional or organisational effort and infrastructure needed for their branding are missing. The government now wants to play the role of a patronage in order to transition the outputs of those sectors into the branding 'Created in Bangladesh'. Some extraordinary talented people may have done the task of branding Bangladesh through their creative works, but others could not market their intellectual and emotional products in the same way. Artists Monirul Islam and Shahabuddin Ahmed, based respectively in Madrid, Spain and Paris, France have done the branding successfully. 

Sure enough, painting, drama and lately cinemas and documentaries produced here are world-class creativity but their promotion has not been carried out in the same measure. With the government's financial backing the intellectual property rights of creative works could be secured and their promotion could be facilitated. In the same way copyrights of apps and digital contents produced by techno geeks have to be protected. The latest Copyright Act 2023 covers artistic, literary, dramatic, musical and cinematographic works along with digital contents. 

If the government is serious about promoting the creative genres of art, culture and scientific and technological products, it has to form a committee or body comprising people of high calibre in the respective fields. They will advise the ministry concerned about promoting potential young talents in various creative fields. If the job is left to the bureaucrats, there is little chance of taking the initiative much further. Whether the affairs involve artistic or digital exercise, the proposed committee will be given the responsibility of monitoring and guiding young talents for realising their potential in a congenial ambience. If the creative economy prospers, it will generate revenue for the government exchequer but it should not be the only objective for financing those sectors. Branding is more important.