$3.5 billion and as many as 15,000 full time jobs is a big economic contribution. And that’s what our book, music, film and TV sectors are crowing about with the launch of WeCreate.
The alliance of 20 organisations is out to grow these creative industries and demonstrate their value. It commissioned a report by PwC which shows books, music, television and film industries have a direct impact on New Zealand GDP of $1.6 billion, rising to $3.6 billion when indirect impacts are considered. New Zealand’s total GDP across all industries is around $209 billion.
These four sectors directly provide 14,918 full time equivalent roles, rising to 30,599 through indirect impacts. Our total employed workforce is 2.3 million.
“This is the first time we have been able to truly demonstrate the real value New Zealand’s creators deliver to our economy. Based on four areas alone, we can already see the creative sector is thriving,” says WeCreate chair Paula Browning.
“We are currently working with the games, art and photography industries to incorporate their data in future versions of the report and we anticipate design and others will follow. The aim is to consolidate industry information into an annual report on the economic contribution of New Zealand’s creative sector and acknowledge the thousands of people employed within it,” Browning says.
Among the alliance’s foundation members are Recorded Music New Zealand, Copyright Licensing New Zealand, The New Zealand Screen Association, the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ), the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Artists Alliance.
Chairman of South Pacific Pictures John Barnett says PwC’s report highlights the creative sector’s boost to the economy.
“WeCreate gives a voice to the creative industry to ensure that government, media and New Zealanders at large are kept aware of the value of this sector in terms of local employment.”
Head of Recorded Music New Zealand Damian Vaughan says WeCreate offers a unified voice to make the creative industry stays robust and gets the support it needs to contribute its economic contribution.
Kevin Chapman, former president of PANZ and now director of Upstart Press says development of creative talent helps national pride and identity as well.
“The future Janet Frames and Eleanor Cattons of New Zealand literature can only star on the world stage if we ensure they have the ways and means to benefit from their creativity. That is the mandate we are embracing through Wecreate,” Chapman says.
