British Council, Yayasan Sime Darby and Universiti Malaya Launch Creative Hubs Programme and Digital Platform

British Council, Yayasan Sime Darby and Universiti Malaya launched the Hub for Good programme today. The programme which will be running over a period of 3 years aims to support Malaysian creative hubs by creating awareness, building capacity and connecting the creative sector.

So, what is a creative hub? Creative hub is a physical or virtual space that brings creative people together. And it is more than just a home for creatives. Creative hubs play an important role fostering social, cultural and economic growth for the city and the community.

One of the examples would be Little Giraffe Story House. It is a community library that can be turned into a performance space, or an art exhibition space, or a children storytelling space. Malaysian Writers Society, which is an online community for writers, also facilitates a large number of events such as MYWritersFest.

Image source: Eat Drink KL

The Hubs for Good programme connects Malaysian creative hubs and hub leaders with each other and to various local stakeholders who are unaware of the positive impacts of creative hubs. It also provides research-based resources to help creative hub leaders and managers grow professionally.

As co-funder of the three-year programme, Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) has aided scholarships for research assistants to work on research and the development of a Hubs for Good toolkit and digital platform.

According to Dr Hjh Yatela Zainal Abidin, CEO of YSD, YSD hopes that this initiative will support the improvement of national policies in creative industries towards sustainability.

Universiti Malaya, Malaysia’s renowned research institution, believes that this combination shall benefit the society by engaging the society closer through a digital platform. Through the scholarly endeavour, this new knowledge can aid society in its development especially in the area of Creative Economy.

In the past, capacity training workshop had been held for creative hub leaders to plan and articulate their hubs’ goals and visions. Grants have also been launched for creative hubs to undergo digital capacity building clinics and hubs sharing sessions.

The Hubs for Good digital platform can be accessed at https://www.creativehubs.my/.