The ‘Informal Cultural and Creative Industries in Cambodia: Mapping Human Resources and Socio-economic Conditions’ report, from Creative Industries of Cambodia Association for Development and Advocacy, aims at understanding the landscape of informal cultural and creative industries in Cambodia, mapping demographic background, education and skills, working conditions, livelihood characteristics, and challenges and career pathways of artists and workers in the informal cultural industries defined as those classified as freelance, self-employment, volunteer, non-full-time, informal owners of enterprise and family business.
The study employed online and in-person questionnaire surveys of 414 artists and workers from different parts of Cambodia and conducted unstructured interviews with seven key informants who participated in the survey, to understand their concerns, challenges, and prospects.
The study found that most artists and workers in the informal cultural industry are males, as females tend to leave their careers early due to marriage and household and child-rearing duties. Most artists and workers lived and worked in the country's major economic centres, mainly Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Siem Reap. Cultural artists and workers do not have to earn university degrees to work in the industry, as they mainly acquire skills from informal training. While all artists and workers have many skills in the cultural industry, most of them have primary skills in music and performance.
The artists and workers in the informal cultural industries face many challenges, most of which are the lack of recognition by different stakeholders even though they have committed to preserving Cambodia’s valuable culture and traditions, especially the music and performance artists and workers. The latter have claimed they cannot survive on the income generated from the performance services, but they want to preserve the culture. Almost all artists and workers said they have not benefited from social protection schemes. Given their significant contribution to preserving Cambodia's culture and active contribution to the economy, these artists and workers should be benefited from governmental support.
In Cambodia, cultural industries (CIs) have contributed at least 1.53% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 91.4% of this contribution results from core cultural activities, and 8.6% of related supply chains, such as equipment, of cultural activities. In 2011, 0.54% of the employed population in Cambodia had occupations in cultural establishments (41,543 people: 58.3% male and 41.7% female). 59.6% held occupations in central cultural activities, while 40.4% held careers in the equipment/supporting related activities1.
The contribution of CIs to GDP is already significant, but it considers private and informal cultural activities. The gift of informal cultural activities is underestimated. The informal economy and non-market establishments of CIs, and the activities associated with such industries, have yet to be officially included in the GDP calculation. Like other informal economic activities, informal CIs have not benefited from the official social protection scheme, especially in pandemic-induced crises and other fiscal policies for cultural industries.
The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are at the heart of the creative economy. Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the CCIs, leaving many jobless, but it also caused the socio-economic change that has prolonged adverse effects on CCI artists and workers. Physical and live performance industries have been the hardest hit, impacting livelihoods, artist mobility, market access and artistic freedom, together with broader repercussions for the value chain of suppliers and service providers (UNESCO, 2021). The pandemic has severely impacted tourism sectors, where artists and workers of CCIs had engaged the most. The pandemic-induced CCI crisis has exacerbated pre-existing trends. It has exposed the pre-existing inequalities and precarity of the CCI in most countries worldwide, especially countries where state social protection schemes for the CCI sector are not in place. The post-pandemic economic recovery has been slow and appears to have been exacerbated by the volatile global economic change. Cambodia’s CCI has no exemption affected by such dramatic change.
This report aims at understanding the landscape of informal cultural and creative industries in Cambodia, mapping demographic background, education and skills, working conditions, livelihood characteristics, and challenges and career pathways of artists and workers in the informal cultural industries defined as those classified as freelance, self-employment, volunteer, non-full-time, informal owners of enterprise and family business. The study employed online and in-person questionnaire surveys of 414 artists and workers from different parts of Cambodia and conducted unstructured interviews with seven key informants who participated in the survey to understand their concerns, challenges, and prospects. The study found that most artists and workers in the informal cultural industry are males, as females tend to leave their careers early due to marriage and household and child-rearing duties. We found that a few artists and workers are people with disabilities. Most artists and workers lived and worked in the country's major economic centers, mainly Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Siem Reap. Cultural artists and workers do not have to earn university degrees to work in the industry, as they mainly acquire skills from informal training. While all artists and workers have many skills in the cultural industry, most of them have primary skills in music and performance. The rest worked in the craft and culinary, audio-visual arts, visual arts, and literature and presses.
While a minority of artists and workers self-identified as owners of family businesses, some consider themselves freelancers, self-employed and volunteers who worked without formal written contracts or agreements. Those in self-employment status belong to mostly music and performance arts whose annual incomes are season, and thus, lower than those of the visual arts, audio-visual arts, and craft and culinary whose incomes are, on average, above gross domestic product per capita, attesting that they have significantly contributed to the country’s economy. Due to the low-level education and income, music and performance artists and workers are more susceptible to economic volatility, affected severely by the pandemic. Almost all artists and workers claimed they did not receive any support as they were affected by the pandemic. Nearly all artists and workers do not affiliate with any non-governmental and governmental membership organizations or associations as they are unaware of any and whether or not the associations, if exist, can support them during the crisis. About forty-five artists and workers said they were in debt with relatives or micro-finance institutions/banks.
Despite their hardships, almost all artists and workers said they would not change their careers. A small number of them said they would change, while the rest are unsure. To enrich their career in the digital technology age, about forty-five percent of artists and workers want to acquire skills in digital technologies. The study observed that all the artists and workers owned and used smartphones and accessed the internet. The artists and workers in the informal cultural industries face many challenges, most of which are the lack of recognition by different stakeholders even though they have committed to preserving Cambodia’s valuable culture and traditions, especially the music and performance artists and workers. The latter have claimed they cannot survive on the income generated from the performance services, but they want to preserve the culture. Almost all artists and workers said they have not benefited from social protection schemes. Given their significant contribution to preserving Cambodia's culture and active contribution to the economy, these artists and workers should be benefited from governmental support.