On a recent sunny Tuesday, 17 people sat in a circle in a gray-and-white loft space, listening intently as the Swiss Cameroonian curator Simon Njami waxed poetic about the benefits of culture.

Hailing from around the world, these cultural leaders were here in Milan thanks to the Creativity Pioneers Fund, an initiative launched by the Moleskine Foundation — a nonprofit organization funded by the Moleskine Company, but which operates independently. This morning’s conversation was part of a leadership seminar they were attending at the foundation’s office space at BASE Milano, in the city’s Tortona district.

The clutch of mustard-yellow buildings, which now house not only the foundation’s space but also fashion studios, exhibition spaces, co-working offices and even a bar, was once an industrial metalworking plant. After the plant was closed in the 1980s, the city decided to transform the buildings into this creative hub.

It is, said the Moleskine Foundation’s chief executive and co-founder Adama Sanneh, a perfect example of public-private partnership, with the city of Milan leveraging its cultural and creative sector to create economic growth.

“This is not just a theoretical approach,” Sanneh said in a video interview from Milan a week before the conference. “And you are able to create this only as a city if you create the condition so that the economic indicator is not the only one that counts for public interest.”

Worldwide, this idea of investing in the creative industries has seen an uptick over the last decade as governments realize filmmaking, visual arts, music, fashion, design, dance, theater and craftsmanship can not only galvanize economies but also help countries present themselves in a positive light.