Cultural and creative industries have taken the world by storm. Macao is a fusion of western and eastern cultures, and the city’s creative and cultural industries has taken a huge hit in recent years as it opened up its gambling and tourism sectors, flooding Macao with foreign goods. We should consider how to make use of Macao’s unique culture to create indigenous cultural and creative industries. I propose using “Love, Culture, Creativity” as a guiding principle for how to achieve this, which includes raising the standard of cultural education in Macao and increasing investment in these industries.

Cultural and creative capital

Cultural and creative capital, or resources, are the foundation upon which cultural and creative industries are built and made competitive globally. By cultivating creativity, we can enhance residents’ attitudes towards it and create whole new interpretation of culture, increasing the cultural and creative capital of the city. However, governments often focus too much on the money needed for creative and cultural industries, rather than on the storage and utilisation of the capital. Macao should build on its existing culture and find ways to inject new thinking into it to create a new cultural concept. It can marry that with commercial products to create a new cultural and creative brand image. Right now, Macao’s cultural and creative industries lack any sort of innovative thinking. Like the gambling industry, the cultural and creative industries are dominated by a structural problem of dominance. A creative solution is needed to break out of the impasse.

Developing cultural and creative industries in a city is contingent on that city possessing a deep tradition and atmosphere of culture. Therefore, building a living environment that cultivates creativity is key. After that comes the attitudes, products, services and systems needed to drive the development of these industries and making them sustainable.

Cultural and creative education

Education can help improve people’s quality and abilities. It is important for consolidating and accumulating cultural and creative capital. The development of cultural and creative industries depends as much on education as it does on external and internal market forces and government policy. Cultural and creative education should start from kindergarten level to primary and secondary schools. At university, students should be encouraged to create and research, and think about protecting intellectual property. Governments must emphasise the importance of education in breeding cultural and creative industries and take a long-term view when thinking about how to sustain them and create the right kind of local talent. How to stay competitive in the face of globalisation is also important. Only by implementing education policies that focuses on local aesthetics and creativity can the government truly help Macao develop its own cultural and creative industries.

Cultural and creative competitiveness

Cultural and creative industries need to be competitive. At the moment, Macao’s advantage is that it enjoys strong corporate and market support from the government, but in terms of education there is a lack of a clear education strategy. Right now, the public’s appreciation of these industries and creativity is not quite sufficient, so there is a lack of cultural and creative capital. Without that fundamental competitiveness, it is difficult to create sustainable cultural and creative industries. This essay proposes that education is the crux of whether Macao can improve the competitiveness of its cultural and creative industries. I would like to remind the government, schools and the business community of the importance of education and hope that together they can find a common and meaningful education strategy. Only by constantly accumulating cultural and creative capital and cultivating the ethos of “Love, Culture, Creativity” can we raise the public’s affirmation in cultural and creative industries and let Macao take its rightful spot in this global trend.