about us
Creative Industries Agency was founded in 2004 by Elena Zelentsova and became the first expert, consulting, and event agency promoting creative industries across Russia

Since its inception, the mission of the agency has been the scientific understanding and practical implementation of creative industries. Over the years, we have launched a great number of education, popularization, research, event, and discussion projects

We are a visionary team that promotes the most daring ideas
our major principles
  • Interagency cooperation
    We work with related organizations and institutions and rely on development programs at various levels
  • Collaboration
    We closely collaborate with stakeholders, target audiences, and experts
  • Interdisciplinarity
    привлечение экспертизы (региональной, федеральной, глобальной) из разных областей
Education projects and activities
From 2004 to 2007, our agency was a partner of a number of cultural and educational events.

Since 2008, we have been implementing our own projects: We have launched an online education program for creative startups School of Creative Entrepreneurs, started the Creative Industries program at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES), organized seminars, summer schools, and exhibitions, and even created art objects.

Since 2021, our academic partner has been the Center for Creative Industries of RANEPA.

Our agency collaborates with the world's most famous experts in creative industries, who give public lectures, organize masterclasses and seminars in Russia: John Hawkins (author of the book The Creative Economy: How People Make Money From Ideas), Charles Landry (The Creative City), Kate Oakley (author of numerous works on the creative labor market), Justin O'Connor (author of numerous works on the history of creative industries and their development around the world), David Parrish (T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity), David Throsby (Economics and Culture).
Publishing
Our own publishing and popularization program includes a series of articles in various media publications and the following books: Creative Industries: Theories and Practices, Cultural Policy and the Economics of Culture, and a number of others. Thanks to our agency, John Hawkins's book The Creative Economy: How People Make Money From Ideas was published in Russian. Our agency also boasts a media project called Creative Plankton, which is a podcast in Russian about the creative economy.
Work in Russian regions
We organize seminars, lectures, and project sessions in more than 20 regions of the Russian Federation, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.

Within the framework of our regional projects, we have prepared several strategic documents: the concept of cultural policy of the Perm Region (2009), the mapping of creative industries in Krasnoyarsk (together with Siberian Federal University (2009)), and the mapping of creative industries in Novosibirsk (2021). Currently, we are working on the concept of the development of creative industries of the Murmansk Region (2022).
Creative Business Cup
Since 2013, our project pool has expanded thanks to the international creative competition called Creative Business Cup (CBC). Every year, about 100 of the best creative businesses from all over Russia take part in Creative Business Cup Russia Finals. Our agency runs the competition at national level. In the past years, the following Russian projects became winners: Miro — ex-RealTineBoard (2013), iFarm (2018), and Playtronica (2021).
Expertise
An important part of our mission is participation in expert councils, groups, and other organizations that develop strategic and legislative initiatives. Our experts were part of the working group that defined a concept of the development of creative industries in the Russian Federation and designed a strategy for the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation.