10th edition of OcioGune 2015

The Chair in Leisure and Knowledge of the Institute of Leisure Studies at the University of Deusto will be holding Ociogune 2015, International Forum for Research, Thought and Reflection on Leisure. This year, the main topic will be  “The social effects of cultural and creative industries: Measuring the unexpected.” This event, which is an open forum for discussion between researchers, experts and professionals interested in the field of leisure, will be held next 11 and 12 June at the Bilbao campus of the University of Deusto.

Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) have become one of the most influential emerging sectors in advanced economies in the last decade. This particular cluster of industries also generates knowledge and business value through creativity and innovation. CCIs comprise a wide range of sectors in which creativity, innovation and economic productivity appear as feasible and interdependent horizons.

The latest figures confirm that ICCs account for 3.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Europe and they employ about 6.7 million people. However, their central role beyond their potential as an economic driving force lies in the belief that their effects outweigh the economic dimension and have a positive impact on other aspects involved in community development and welfare.

In keeping with the humanist turn that prevails in the new development paradigm promulgated by the United Nations, where economy shares the leading role with many other different indicators (psychological, cultural, environmental, educational…), ICCs emerge as one of the major assets to offer an innovative response to the search for new scenarios and models of society that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

OcioGune 2015 International Forum will explore the CCI phenomenon to further debate on the challenges and opportunities they offer, the difficulties involved in their consolidation from an international comparative perspective led by renowned experts. In particular, it will address the progress made in recent years in creating methods and tools aimed at measuring and assessing the social impacts, often unforeseen, of CCIs. The aim of OcioGune 2015 is therefore to become a useful forum for sharing and debate, which calls for the need to give new meaning to the role played by CCIs in development processes in their broadest sense.

The 10^th edition of OcioGune is structured around three Ideas Forums that seek to examine the emerging CCI phenomenon from three approaches that will be the main challenges faced by cultural and creative industries in the coming years: The social effects of CCIs: Progress and issues to explore; Tools for measuring contingencies in CCIs; Artistic creativity and digital innovation.

Further information: www.ocioguneforo.deusto.es / ociogune@ocio.deusto.es