A recent study conducted by ISSEK in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Human Potential evaluates how creative industries are developing across Russian regions. The study surveys a wide spectrum of creative activity, including architecture, design, sound recording, photography, publishing, performing arts, IT and video games, cinema and animation, fashion, arts and crafts, advertising and public relations, as well as television and radio broadcasting. The goal is to understand regional strengths, gaps, and potential for growth within the broader cultural economy.
To quantify regional performance, researchers devised the Russian Regional Creative Industries Index (RRCI). This index relies on 48 indicators, which are organized into 12 categories and further grouped into four thematic areas that reflect different aspects of creative development. The method allows for a nuanced comparison across territories, revealing a spectrum of outcomes rather than a single national snapshot.
From the analysis, regions were categorized into four groups: leaders, evolutionary, influential, and catching up. This classification helps policymakers and industry leaders identify where to focus investments, policy adjustments, and capacity-building efforts to accelerate growth in the cultural economy.
In the Leaders group, a core cluster of 21 regions demonstrates stronger performance across multiple indicators of creative activity. Notable entries in this group include major metropolitan areas known for dense creative ecosystems, where infrastructure, talent pools, and markets reinforce each other. These regions tend to outperform others on metrics such as industry density, new business formation, and access to specialized facilities and networks.
The Evolutionary group comprises regions with high potential but where current outcomes lag behind the national average. This group contains about 19 territories, including a mix of republics and oblasts. While the fundamentals are solid—skilled labor, educational resources, and cultural capital—their creative industries have not yet translated those advantages into consistently higher levels of activity and output. The report suggests targeted interventions to unlock latent capacity and accelerate momentum without sacrificing local context.
Regions classified as Influential sit above the national average in several indicators, reflecting established creative ecosystems and more mature markets for cultural goods and services. Led by one of the prominent regions in this category, these areas show a robust mix of production capabilities, demand for creative offerings, and supportive governance structures that encourage investment and experimentation in the arts and related sectors.
The Catching Up group is the largest, comprising thirty constituent entities. These regions face challenges such as lower urban density, fewer dedicated creative institutions, and limited access to specialized networks. As a result, their progress trails behind the leaders by a wide margin. Strategic planning for these regions emphasizes building foundational infrastructure, cultivating local talent, and creating gateways to broader markets to spur sustainable growth in creative industries.
Overall, the analysis reveals uneven development of creative industries across the country. While some regions are pulling ahead and shaping resilient creative economies, others are still building the essential scaffolding needed to translate cultural assets into economic value. The government has targeted a goal to raise the creative economy’s share of gross domestic product to a defined level by 2030, but current trajectories indicate substantial work remains to reach that target. The study underscores the importance of aligning regional policy with the specific needs and opportunities of each territory, balancing investment in infrastructure with support for entrepreneurship and cultural innovation.
Historical notes indicate that prior assessments in neighboring districts have influenced subsequent planning, but the most recent results underscore that regional development remains complex and dynamic. Moving forward, coordinated efforts that leverage regional strengths, pair funding with capacity-building, and promote cross-regional collaboration will be essential to expanding the footprint of Russia’s creative economy across all areas.