Invest Puerto Rico and Sound Diplomacy partner to accelerate cultural industries

Home to some of the top names in reggaeton, salsa — Puerto Rico is known for its music scene and vibrant output. With the goal of further strengthening the island’s music, entertainment, and cultural footprint, Invest Puerto Rico (InvestPR) and Sound Diplomacy have partnered to further enhance the industry.

Sound Diplomacy is an international music policy consulting firm. The consultancy is a global expert in the development of long-term and self-sufficient music strategies.

"The quality of our creative product is rooted in the quality of our entertainment and cultural professionals and supportive infrastructure, from the behind-the-scenes (tech personnel, engineers, designers, production) to the limelight (artists and performers). As such, it's important to better understand how to best foster and market this ecosystem to support sustainable economic development on the Island,” said Ella Woger- Nieves, Chief Executive Officer of InvestPR of Puerto Rico’s position as an international entertainment center.

Through this initiative, investors will better be able to analyze the music industry — a key sector in Puerto Rico’s business ecosystem — and how to foster and market it to support sustainable economic development.

The partnership will allow the creative economy to be better positioned within the music, entertainment, and cultural industries, explained CEO of The Americas for Sound Diplomacy, Katie Durio. Music, live performance, theater, dance, and film — which make up the island’s cultural ecosystem — can bring measurable economic and social benefits if an ‘actionable strategy and implementation plan’ is put in place.

Sound Diplomacy has also collaborated with Inversión Cultural and 71 Associates to ensure that their partnership with InvestPR remains at its core, local, fueled by local knowledge and practices.

InvestPR and Sound Diplomacy’s partnership will accelerate and empower stakeholder success, which spans a wide array of people, including academia and nonprofits, as well as the expected key actors within the public and private sectors.

Over a 12-month period, and with a cross-sector discipline collaborative approach, Sound Diplomacy will map out the cultural ecosystem on the island. Through this, the consultancy will develop a way to assess the local context and compare it with similar territories, conduct a survey for those within the cultural sector, and lead round tables and interview with key players in the entertainment and cultural spheres.

These elements will come together as a comprehensive Economic Impact Assessment, culminating in a strategy and action plan for the coming years.