Iran is looking to tap all its cultural and economic potentials to exploit the worldwide markets, said the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili.
According to the ECO Cultural Institute, We enjoy enormous capacities in the fields of culture and economics and we’re seeking to penetrate the international markets,” Esmaeili tweeted on Friday.
“Cultural negotiations should not be limited to several exhibitions and overseas performances, but they need to be deployed to create job opportunities and economic activities in art.”
The minister’s remarks were echoing his statements in a meeting with Iranian visual artists on Wednesday, where he said, “One of our top priorities in the Culture Ministry is to boost the financial aspects of arts and culture in the country.”
“Iran is among leading countries in producing artworks, so we’ll also have to reach a high global status in terms of art economics,” he said.
The minister also stressed the cultural attaché’s role in this respect, saying, “Their responsibility is to develop the economics of arts in Iran, so the newly-appointed cultural attachés will have to possess the experience and new ideas.”
Also in the meeting, Deputy Culture Minister for Art Affairs Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, delivered a report on his department’s performance in recent years.
Iranian calligraphist Javad Bakhtiari, sculptor Taher Sheikh-ol Hokamaei, Ahmad Arbani, the high-profile Iranian cartoonist, and graphic designer Iraj Mirza-Alikhani were among participants of the meeting.