The 17th ENCATC Annual Conference will take place from 22nd to 24th of October in Barcelona, Spain.

Organized by ENCATC in close cooperation with the University of Barcelona this major event will bring together more then 250 professionals from several countries in order to discuss about creativity and innovation in the field of education and training in cultural management.

The ambition of ENCATC is to organise a major event in the framework of the year 2009, European year of “creativity and innovation through education and culture”.

With more than five million people working in culture, the cultural sector makes a substantial contribution to the EU’s economy, growth and employment. The Commission seeks to promote culture as a catalyst for creativity. Encouraging creativity is in line with the Lisbon Strategy because of the importance of the cultural sector to the economy. Indeed, according to one groundbreaking Commission-funded study, it contributed approximately 2.6% to the Union’s GDP in 2003, with growth in this sector being significantly higher than that of the economy in general between 1999 and 2003.

Moreover, the cultural and creative sectors have indirect impacts on the European socio-economic environment and the achievement of the EU’s goals. One such impact is that the cultural and creative sectors foster innovation in other sectors of the economy.

Secondly, the cultural and creative sectors are crucial for the further development of information and communication technologies, which are a key component of the Lisbon Strategy because they provide content to fuel digital devices and networks. A recent study carried out for the Commission on ‘Interactive Content and Convergence’ foresees that, by 2010, revenues from on-line content will reach €8.3 billion, a growth of over 400% in five years.

Thirdly, the cultural and creative sectors have a multiple role to play in local development, as they constitute a powerful catalyst for attracting tourists, are of strategic importance for growth and employment in cities and regions and have significant social impacts at local level in terms of social regeneration and cohesion.