Create an audiovisual cluster in Costa Rica. This industry will create high value added jobs; attract foreign direct investment and creative opportunities for our film artists and technicians.

Name of Project:
Costa Rica Audiovisual
 
What will it do?
Create an audiovisual cluster in Costa Rica. This industry will create high value added jobs; attract foreign direct investment and creative opportunities for our film artists and technicians.

Who/what will it benefit and how?
Costa Rica, as this new industry is a very attractive in terms of job creation, attraction of foreign direct investment and development of small and medium enterprises.
The film artists and technicians as new sources of creative and professional development will be created.
The rural communities with beautiful scenery where movies are shot. 25% of the total cost of a production is spent in the location where it is shot with a very high multiplying effect in the economy.

How will it be implemented?
Costa Rica Audiovisual is led by me as vice minister of Culture, but it is a joint effort between various public and private institutions. We have developed a strategy for the program and we have already started implementing it through various actions in the three pillars of the strategy: attraction of foreign direct investment, development of opportunities for SMEs to export services and the government support to creators and artist in this field.

What is your role?
My role is of an integrator and builder of alliances among people and institutions with different views and interests. I share with them a vision and work on aligning the project with their own perspectives. My background in business and my position in culture give me a very unique profile to promote this initiative.

Since I am not Viceminister of Culture as of late June, I am in the process of redefining from what position to continue with this role. There are various options we are studying.
 
How it will be measured?
• Direct investments in the field
• Exports in the field
• Increase in the production of local audiovisual material
 
Does it meet the criteria for projects laid out in the project descriptor?
 Yes. It engages my personal passion of finding synergies between business and the arts and the development of the creative industries in Costa Rica. It addresses a pressing need to create new economic opportunities for our people and new creative opportunities for our artists. It is innovative as it is the first time that arts and business are being joined in a national strategy. It is already making a difference. It is definitely a stretch from what a Vice minister of Culture does as the scope of this project is much wider than the Ministry of Culture and integrates very different sectors.

Why is this project worthy of CALI?
It promotes the kind of values that CALI has. It already has the support of three CALI fellows (Arturo Condo, Luis Javier Castro and Hannia Vega)