CEA Executive Director Apisit Laistrooglai said COVID-19 and technological development changed consumers' behaviors. This provides a turning point when cultural capital is used to increase the value of products and services. In 2021, the economic value of creative industries is estimated at 1.45 trillion baht and it will increase by 3.57% to an impressive figure of 1.51 trillion baht in 2022.
CEA, as a main organization promoting the creative economy for the economic development of Thailand, therefore teams up with 8 creative organizations to develop cooperative networks. They include associations, an educational institution and medium and large-scale private organizations in related industries. It signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with 7 organizations and agreed to co-host activities with an association to promote the development of individual creative industries. The MOU partners are the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT), the Advertising Association of Thailand (AAT), the Association of Siamese Architects (ASA), the Thai Animation and Computer Graphic Association (TACGA), the Contemporary Arts & Culture Industry Promotion Trade Association, the College of Creative Industry by Srinakharinwirot University and Bangkok University. Its activity co-host is the Thai Digital Asset Association. The collaboration is aimed at developing the creative economy and quickly increasing business competitiveness.
Regarding the development of the creative economy this year, CEA organizes Creative Industries 2021 to demonstrate the potential of creative business and realize it. The development efforts involve music, Film & Video, Advertising and arts which are considered as soft power. The efforts are happening through a strong and sustainable network which gathers concerned parties in creative industries including the government, organizations, networks in the private sector and the educational sector. This will increase the value of the industries and result in their international competitiveness. Creative Industries 2021 was scheduled from August to October 2021 and its activities fall into 2 categories.
1. Creative Originals - This category contains crafts, music, performing arts and visual arts. For music and performing arts industries, CEA organizes the 2nd edition of CEA Live House which provides rookie artists with the live recording sessions held with international standard by a leading production company in Thailand. Through the activities, Thai artists have opportunities to upgrade their performances to international levels and present them locally and internationally. This year, CEA Live House attracts 36 music performances and 13 groups of performing arts. The private sector will support the project by organizing activities to promote the music industry and introduce T-POP to the international community. Cultural capital and designs will be creatively applied to bring Thai music to the digital world. The project is expected to materialize in late 2021.
Besides, CEA and the Contemporary Arts & Culture Industry Promotion Trade Association (CAPT) organize CAPT Fest 2021 featuring online lectures and workshops to share knowledge and understanding on contemporary arts and culture industries and enable personnel and businesses to catch up with global changes in their respective industries. Details are available at https://www.captthailand.com.
2. Creative Content and Media - The category encompasses film & video, broadcasting, publishing, and software. CEA together with the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT) develops Thai Book Fair Web Archive, an online publishing platform to gather creative ideas about book and publishing business. The archive collects literature containing the creative ideas which creative industries further developed. Among them is the novel entitled Love Destiny by Rompaeng that was transformed into a TV series and sparked people's interest in Thai history. The copyright of the novel was also sold to other countries. The web archive is linked with the website of the Thai Book Fair that is Thailand's biggest online hub for book trade. The connection provides the website with continuous updates on creative content and inspirations for creativity. The website also allows people to place orders conveniently. More information will be available in November at www.thaibookfair.com.
In addition, CEA and the Advertising Association of Thailand have developed the Adman, Ad Fest, Cannes Lions Web Archive to include and exhibit Thai advertisements that won awards and received certificates from reliable and widely respected organizations such as Adman, Adfest and Cannes Lion over the past 3 years. This is aimed at storing information systematically for efficient use by industries and educational institutions. The information also presents the potential of the Thai advertisement industry to Thai and foreign advertisers and attracts investors in creative business. For more information, please visit https://data.cea.or.th or https://admanawards.com/archive.
For broadcasting and film & video industries, CEA together with experienced partners in the private sector produced relevant documentaries. They include a short documentary on Y series to present in-depth information about Boy's Love series (Y series) which have generated huge income in local and foreign markets. The documentary was made to stimulate motivation and creativity. It covers plot construction, pre-production, production and post-production which can lead to events or acceptance from many countries. CEA also teams up with JustดูIt to make a short documentary on reasons behind the success of the I Told Sunset about You series by director Naruebet Kuno and director of cinematographer Tawanwad "Tang" Wanavit, which made visits to Phuket a pop culture, and another short documentary on the international film-making success of Nuttawut Poonpiriya who was well-known by Bad Genius and together with director Wong Kar-wai, a big award winner in the Sundance Film Festival 2021, made a Thai-language film that made its international presence, One for the Road. Hollywood standard is the next step for the Thai director. There is also a short documentary on foods in films to promote Thailand with stories about internationally recognized Thai food.
As for activities to share knowledge, Mr. Apisit said CEA collaborated with the Thai Digital Asset Association to organize activities related to non-fungible token (NFT) to introduce Thai creative industries to digital art markets. The activities include a project to create opportunities in digital art markets with NFT and workshops on NFT for creatives as well as activities for singers, musicians and songwriters to sell their works in the NFT form. CEA also organizes online workshops with TAGCA, DCAT, TGA and Bangkok ACM Siggraph to share software knowledge and innovations related to games and animation in the Bangkok International Digital Content Festival 2021 (BIDC) and online discussions on the future of Thai creative industries with about 30 gurus in the Standard POP Live Special: Creative Weekend program.
"Regarding efforts to develop 15 Thai creative industries, we expect them to be the models of cooperation among people in creative industries so that they can exploit and apply their potential to quickly respond to global trends. This is to promote cooperation among different industries and drive the Thai economy in 2022 as planned," Mr. Apisit concluded.
Nenin Ananbanchachai, President of the Thai Game Software Industry Association (TGA), said that the market for Thai games was big and its value over the past year was estimated at about 29 billion baht. Games on mobile phones form about 67% in the market. Games on personal computers account for about 20% and console games make 10%. In the market, Thai games have a revenue share of only 3%. Foreign high-profile games including those from China, South Korea and Japan are dominant. The value of worldwide game markets is estimated at US$150 billion which is larger than sports and film industries. Human resources are the strength of the Thai game industry. They include capable creatives and game artists with 2D and 3D excellence. Some of them are at animation studios. Besides, Thai game programmers are comparable to Southeast Asian peers. There were positive signs for Thai game developers over the past 3 years as 1-3 Thai games won international awards annually. This proves to the international community that Thai game studios have developed quality products which are internationally recognized. The Thai games that have been exported include Home Sweet Home, TimeLie, Fallen Knight, Bounty Brawl and Kingdom Reborn which won BIDC and made sales worth nearly 100 million baht via Steam within less than 1 year.
About Creative Economy Agency
Creative Economy Agency (Public Organization) or CEA is an organization dedicated to turning creative ideas into a powerful engine of the creative economy. It attaches great importance to the development of creative industries and support for manufacturers to apply creative ideas to increase the value of products and services to enhance the competitiveness of businesses and the nation.
1160 Grand Postal Building, Charoen Krung Road
Bang Rak Sub-district, Bang Rak District, Bangkok 10500
Tel: (66)2 105 7400
For updates, please visit:
www.cea.or.th
Facebook: Creative Economy Agency
Youtube: Creative Economy Agency
Source: Creative Economy Agency