Connections and contestations: Film and media as emerging creative industries in today’s Havana

Abstract

Abstract The creative industries, in contradistinction to the ‘culture industries’ (Adorno and Horkheimer [1944] 2002), is a relatively young field of study distinguished by the contemporary entrepreneurial character of cultural production and consumption. Although still incipient, recent economic growth in Cuba owes a great deal to the work of young entrepreneurs in the private sector – workers in new Cuban creative industries – who are contributing to the transformation of Havana’s visual culture and altering previous modes of audio-visual consumption. New economies of film and media development have emerged since the re-establishment of relations between the Cuban and American governments. This article is a preliminary attempt to understand these nascent forms of creative businesses, their connections with government structures, their impact on Cubans’ daily lives, and the role they play in the formation of new forms of spectatorship.