Argentina launched a new edition of its Mercado de Industrias Culturales Argentinas (“Market of Argentine Cultural Industries,” MICA) on Thursday to promote cultural exports.
he export of its goods and productions in the sector.
For this edition, 90 international buyers from 23 countries and 300 national buyers are expected, with all casting an eye over production opportunities and goods.
The conference will take place from May 19 to 22 at the Centro Cultural Kirchner in Buenos Aires and will offer more than 10,000 business meetings and some 150 activities such as forums, fairs, exhibitions, talks and workshops.
MICA, a programme launched in 2011 by the National Culture Ministry, launched an online platform in 2021, seeking to boost production and promote commercialisation and export of goods and services of the cultural industries.
In addition to thousands of local manufacturers and producers, potential buyers will fly in from México, Spain, Colombia, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as other parts of the world.
“We work with the whole circuit of management of cultural goods and it is an agenda of promotion, incentive, investment, exports,” said Cultural Development Secretary Lucrecia Cardoso.
“It is a sector that generates a lot of work, grows more than the average of the economy and is the largest generator of youth employment, so it is strategic,” she told AFP.
Cardoso noted that cultural industries represent 2.6 percent of Argentina's gross domestic product (GDP) and that they directly and indirectly generate some 245,000 jobs, according to the latest figures from 2019, based on activity prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, the programme includes proposals from the audiovisual, visual arts, circus, dance, design, publishing, folklore, gastronomy, hip hop, children, music, academic music, tango, threatre and video games sectors.
There will also be activities from the national market of traditional and innovative Argentine handicrafts (MATRIA) and the market of cooperativism and self-managed Argentine cultures (MARCA).
— TIMES/AFP
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