Kuala Lumpur, November 5, 2020 – Grants and loans, support for marketing and promotion as well as job creation are the top three priorities on the Malaysian creative industries’ wish list for the upcoming Budget 2021, according to a poll carried out by MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd (MyCreative) in October.
Titled “Malaysia’s Creative Economy Participants’ Wishlist for Budget 2021”, the survey received responses from 365 creative practitioners and businesses, which represent one of the hardest hit sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic, who hope to receive continued Government support when the Budget is delivered in Parliament on Friday.
This is very much reflected in the fact that 70% of respondents ranked Government Grants and Loans as number one on their wish list. Also high on the agenda were the request for help with marketing and promotions with 42.2% as well as job creation with 39.5% listing it among their top priorities.
Government measures the vast majority of respondents rated ‘very important’ include:
• To include the creative, arts and cultural sectors as priority sectors in the country’s COVID19 recovery plan (81 percent)
• To ensure that the support to cultural organisations reaches artists and other creative professionals that are self-employed (80.8 percent)
• To foster a more sustainable Creative Economy in view of developing careers and businesses (80.1 percent)
Thinking beyond their own economic and financial survival, some of the respondents also opined that the Government should put in place measures to advance the Creative Economy in a sustainable manner that yields both economic and societal benefits.
Another suggestion from respondents was for the authorities to ‘focus on arts in education to cultivate audiences and talents for the creative ecosystem’.
MyCreative Chairman Mohd Naguib said, “During these trying times, we need to get the creative industries active again – to be resilient and survive the disruption caused by the pandemic and to also continue giving voice, context and substance to the nation and rakyat’s struggles. The survival of our talent pool and its transformation or adaptation to the new normal is paramount but we hope to achieve this with financial prudence and sustainability in mind as well. In light of the upcoming Budget 2021, MyCreative is hopeful and ready to champion and deliver the solutions to the issues highlighted in the poll, especially by offering valuable training, upskilling and expansion of competencies and skillsets during these periods of disrupted employment or business activity.”
“We also hope that the current ‘PENJANA Plan for the Creative Industries’ can be extended further, especially for sectors we have seen strong numbers applying and strong proposals, particularly music, performing arts, traditional arts & crafts, arthouse films and literature, to continue
supporting them,” he added.
Creative practitioners can still seek support for a range of schemes and initiaves under MyCreative such as Digital Marketing and Promotions Grants, Digital Marketing and Promotions Grants, Digital Velocity Program, Creative Industry Recovery Grants, CENDANA Recovery Initiatives, Fast Track Soft Loans including the Creative Industry Bridging Facility for Content Producers (CBFC), Creative Industry Micro-Financing for Creative Entrepreneurs (CMCE), and Creative Industry Business Revival Loan
(CBRL), as well as Matching Investment Loan Schemes.
Mohd Naguib concluded, “We understand that it is a difficult time for businesses and individuals, but I hope we can lift the morale and spirit of our creative practitioners that are severely affected by the pandemic and inspire them to get busy again and to seek new opportunities and collaborations, both digitally or online and through the various upskilling programmes MyCreative offers.”
–NMT
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