As part of the Isan Creative Festival 2023, Mekong Institute (MI) organized the Hybrid Regional Expert Talk on Promoting Resilient Creative Economy through Cross-sectoral and Regional Collaboration on April 3, 2023. The aim of the event was to exchange best practices and experiences to build resilience, anticipate future threats, and prepare for change and transition with recession-proof skills. Throughout the event, MI received support from the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), who hosted the Isan Creative Festival 2023.
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Executive Director of MI, pointed out the purpose of the event and expressed hope that the GMS countries would use this as a forum to work together, share knowledge, and address common issues.
Mr. Chutayaves Sinthuphan, Director of the Khon Kaen Office of the CEA, highlighted the theme of this year’s Isan Creative Festival, “Regional Enlightsation,”, explaining that it means growing together as one single unit. He emphasized that the festival is not only about Isan as a region, but also about neighboring countries and the GMS countries. This year’s event was the first to achieve successful international collaboration.
The half-day talk was held at Ad Lib Hotel Khon Kaen and online via Zoom, and brought together 35 online and 20 onsite representatives and experts from creative industries, governments, international development organizations, and non-governmental organizations. During the panel discussions, the participants had the opportunity to learn from the panelists. They gained insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by various creative industries and explored how cross-sectoral and regional collaboration can help overcome these challenges and create new opportunities.
The panel discussion comprised four sessions, with each panelist focusing on different aspects and contexts, and discussing the challenges and opportunities faced by various creative industries in the current economic climate. They also talked about how collaboration through multi-sectoral and cross-countries partnerships could help overcome these challenges and create new opportunities. The four key topics covered Creative District to Creative City, Cultural Diplomacy and People-to-People links, Gastronomy Network and Food Tourism, and Creative Industry 4.0 and Regional Platform. Following the fruitful discussions, Mr. Suriyan, as a moderator, encouraged all participants to initiate a program that fosters exchange across the Mekong countries to add value to their current work and explore more co-creation of opportunities.
