Creative Pavlodar

In 2021–2022, Pavlodar Region ran a 6-month program to develop its creative economy. The project engaged more than 300 participants — creative-industry entrepreneurs, representatives of local executive bodies, and educational institutions.

The program combined surveys and in-depth interviews with residents, bottom-up strategic sessions (held separately with government bodies and with entrepreneurs), and the creation of a registry of problems and solutions from both sides.

It culminated in the Creative Industries Forum (December 20–21, 2021) and the design-thinking-based «Creaton» accelerator: training and prototyping, refining and defending projects before a jury, and selecting initiatives for implementation with regional support.

The key outcome was Kazakhstan's first regional «Map of Creative Industries»: a mapping of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs by OKED [economic-activity classifier] code, creative infrastructure, and recommendations for developing the sector. The model can be replicated in any region of the country.