Trama: culture and creative economy

After a decade of developing projects and initiatives with the most important entities in panama's cultural and creative sectors, in 2015 the ciudad del saber (city of knowledge) launched the trama program to help connect the key actors and strengthen the culture and creative economy sector, as well as its entities and professionals, in a collaboration/competition ecosystem that generates social, cultural and economic value, in favor of sustainable development. with the same purpose, cds organized in 2015 the first trama meeting of creative economy, which brought together managers, entrepreneurs and professionals of culture and creativity, representatives of ngos, international organizations, academia, business and public sector, from panama and latin america. more information here. at the end of 2015, trama - with the support of undp - launched a call for creative entrepreneurs. nearly 100 entrepreneurs participated in the training process with 39 business projects oriented to the production, distribution, exhibition, dissemination and/or commercialization of cultural and creative products and services. more information here. between 2016 and 2017, the program was completed and two studies were published: cultural entrepreneurship in panama (maria angeles salle) and the music industry in panama (javier stanziola and maritza vernaza). the first one described the local panorama and the main national and international policies and experiences carried out to promote creative entrepreneurship and to solve the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs. the second study aimed to explore strategies to facilitate the creation and appropriation of value by panamanian musicians, as well as the comparative advantages and challenges faced by the panamanian music to be able to grow and to expand internationally. in march 2017, the city of knowledge co-organized, together with the inter-american development bank and the panama film festival -iff, the regional forum on creative and cultural industries - vitamin c, a panel of national and international experts presenting studies, projects and successful policies in this sector of the economy, as well as entrepreneurship. more information here. the second edition of the trama meeting, in 2018, was entirely dedicated to the music industry. it included conferences, round tables, master classes and presentations of project pitches, attended by approximately 400 people, most of them young audiences. trama 2018 showcases featured 12 local bands that were selected. the event featured as speakers around 20 key figures from the music industry in panama, latin america and europe. more information here. website: http://trama.ciudaddelsaber.org/ that same year (in september), city of knowledge launched the creative industries cluster for panama, supported by the ministry of commerce and industry. city of knowledge proposes to set up a cluster of companies, enterprises, foundations, universities and other key players on its campus, as well as to provide a space for articulating and collaborating with the various players involved in the creative industries value chain, in an effort to become more strategic and competitive. more information here. in 2019, the city of knowledge and the iesa school of management launched the first music business diploma, offering its 30 participants a window of possibilities and knowledge for developing their careers, entrepreneurship and innovation in the music sector. the first edition concluded successfully and will be launched again virtually in 2020. more information here. with the leadership of city of knowledge, in october 2018 the panama chamber of commerce launched its creative industries commission, in an effort to establish consensus, strategies and initiatives in order to be able to collaborate as a private sector in the promotion and development of the creative economy. more info here the commission is currently working (with financing from the idb) on the elaboration of an action plan to be ready by september 2020. the third edition of the trama meeting was scheduled for the end of july 2020. more information here. given the current situation caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the event has been restated. the activities have been taking place virtually since april and will continue in that way in the coming months. this edition of the event includes 9 creative sectors, and it is oriented to the update and exchange of knowledge among professionals.