Hubs for Good Malaysia Report by Rachael Turner Situational Analysis of Creative Hubs in Malaysia July 2020 www.britishcouncil.org Contents Contents ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Foreword ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction by the author ............................................................................................................ 5 Definitions ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.1 Malaysia country overview .............................................................................................. 7 1.2 Malaysia Hubs Typology ............................................................................................... 11 Impact .................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Hubs contribute to the (creative) economy ................................................................... 13 2.2 Hubs create social impact ............................................................................................. 14 2.3 Hubs educate ................................................................................................................ 14 2.4 Hubs bring communities together ................................................................................. 15 2.5 Hubs provide ways for artists to develop ...................................................................... 16 2.6 Hubs invigorate cities and towns................................................................................... 17 2.7 Hubs collaborate ........................................................................................................... 18 2.8 Hubs innovate ............................................................................................................... 19 2.8.1 New forms of creative hub ...................................................................................... 19 2.8.2 Continuous innovation ............................................................................................ 20 2.8.3 Engaging audiences in new ways .......................................................................... 20 Challenges ............................................................................................................................. 22 3.1 Finding the right sustainability model ............................................................................ 22 3.2 Staffing and talent retention .......................................................................................... 23 3.3 Evidencing impact ......................................................................................................... 24 Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 25 4.1 Personal development for hub leaders and future leaders ............................................ 25 4.2 Audience development ................................................................................................. 26 4.3 The environment ........................................................................................................... 26 4.4 Further research ........................................................................................................... 27 4.5 A focus on buildings and placemaking .......................................................................... 28 4.6 Hubs advisory network .................................................................................................. 28 4.7 UK-Malaysia hubs collaboration.................................................................................... 29 4.8 Repositioning the creative industries, nationally ........................................................... 29 4.9 Quantifying the impact of Creative Hubs ....................................................................... 30 www.britishcouncil.org 2 Hub profiles ............................................................................................................................ 31 5.1 Arts-ED ......................................................................................................................... 31 5.2 Arus .............................................................................................................................. 32 5.3 Hin Bus Depot ............................................................................................................... 33 5.4 Obscura Festival of Photograph ................................................................................... 34 5.5 Penang Art District ........................................................................................................ 35 5.6 Projek Rabak ................................................................................................................ 36 5.7 A Place Where (APW) .................................................................................................. 37 5.8 Five Arts Centre ............................................................................................................ 38 5.9 New Naratif ................................................................................................................... 39 5.10 Perbadanan Kota Buku ................................................................................................. 40 5.11 Rimbun Dahan .............................................................................................................. 41 5.12 REXKL .......................................................................................................................... 42 5.13 Zhongshan Building ...................................................................................................... 43 5.14 Asylum Art Club ............................................................................................................ 44 5.15 Bentarakata .................................................................................................................. 45 5.16 Kota-K ........................................................................................................................... 46 5.17 Borneo Laboratory ........................................................................................................ 47 5.18 HAUS KCH ................................................................................................................... 48 Directory ................................................................................................................................ 49 www.britishcouncil.org 3 Foreword The British Council has worked with over a thousand creative hubs globally since 2014. We see creative hubs as communities of support for artists and creative professionals first and foremost, as well as key elements contributing to a growing, inclusive and sustainable creative economy. We focus on nurturing networks of hub leaders who share, learn, innovate and support each other towards strengthening their communities, and when appropriate, we help facilitate platforms for dialogue between these largely grassroots (and sometimes informal) organisations and the relevant policy makers. Big or small, rural or urban, creative hubs almost always respond to a local need, bringing about potential for social and economic advancement in their areas. Nevertheless, they face many challenges, from ensuring sustainability, to communicating effectively their impact. In Malaysia, creative hubs are numerous, spread across the country, and extremely diverse - by type of community, mission or business model. Yet, stakeholders remain largely unaware of their potential and positive impact on local communities. Little support exists for those who are not versed in business development; however, their overall resilience and innovation aptitude is nothing short of impressive. Therefore, this country wide situation analysis report aimed to study as many creative hubs and community-based collectives as possible, in an effort to understand who they are, what they do, share their successes and challenges, and imagine what a preferable future could look like. The research exercise was commissioned in September 2019 as part of the Hubs for Good programme led by British Council Malaysia, in-line with a South-East Asia regional effort. It aimed to produce an analysis on the sustainability and potential social and economic impact of creative hubs across the country. This report is a follow-up to ‘Mapping Creative Hubs in Malaysia’ (2017) which came out of ‘Connecting Creative Communities: Creative Hubs in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines’ (2017). The research was carried out in the latter part of 2019, before the COVID-19 virus crisis. The COVID-19 crisis has disturbed the culture and creative sector too, the full impact of the pandemic on the sector remains to be seen. Halted tourism, the bans on live gatherings and necessary digital transformation, among other reactions, will most likely be damaging the livelihoods of creative practitioners and could precipitate temporary and even permanent closures of spaces. We hope this report would help in the restoration process, by enabling creative hubs to find,