Creative Industries Council

The UK is a creative powerhouse, with more than 55 clusters and 700 microclusters of creative businesses, institutions and freelancers across the UK. Yet growth is unevenly distributed across the country, with the London and M25 region accounting for 68% of UK creative industries GVA in 2019. So how can we unlock the growth potential of the sector across the entire country, widening opportunity for all in the process? New research from the The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and Arts Council England explores one potential mechanism for nurturing regional growth: creative corridors. Creative corridors are large geographical areas of multiple creative clusters and microclusters joined through supply chains, labour markets, networks, and coordinated policy under a common goal. While the evidence base for creative corridors is still developing, the report analyses the success of the London and M25 creative supercluster and innovation corridors internationally to explore the potential of creative corridors as a policy intervention. It also includes an eight-step plan that local leaders can undertake to seed a creative corridor, as well as outlining how national policymakers and funders could support them in this endeavour. https://lnkd.in/ez4ipM7H https://lnkd.in/ez4ipM7H

⚡ We're now on Substack - join us there? ⚡ Eagle-eyed subscribers might have noticed that today's newsletter looks a little different, as we've moved to Substack. Subscribers will still get newsletters delivered to their inbox, but you can also read on the app or online, where you can also add comments. Today's newsletter is jam-packed with useful news, research, events and opportunities from across the UK creative sector, including the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)'s Creative Communities, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Creative Cardiff, Institute for Government, What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth, Centre for Cities, Local Government Association, Arts Council England, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Department for Education, Heritage Crafts, UK Research and Innovation, Discover Creative Careers, Digital Catapult, Advertising Association, St George's, University of London, The Goldsmiths' Company, Aston University Engineering Academy, BAFTA albert, IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), Centre for Sustainable Design at University for the Creative Arts, Film London, CreativeZero, Serious, PRS Foundation, Innovate UK, The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), Culture Commons, Design Council + more. Have a read 👇 https://lnkd.in/dkTZTdJF

The creative industries are among eight growth-driving sectors to be identified in the UK's new industrial strategy. The government aims to stimulate investment and activity in these sectors. As well as the creative sector - which contributed more than £124 billion to the UK economy in 2022 - the government has identified a further seven sectors with existing strengths and emerging growth potential: advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, digital and tech, financial services, life sciences and professional and business services. The strategy states that "unlocking private investment, boosting exports, and developing its highly skilled workforce" are the key to boosting growth in the creative sector. It adds that the government "needs to ensure that the UK sector remains globally competitive as a home for world class talent while maximising access to important markets to tour and collaborate". It also highlights the sector's role in driving growth across regions and nations, through creative clusters and corridors across the country that spread opportunity and prosperity in communities, as well as driving growth by enhancing access to skills, spillovers, and knowledge sharing. During the next phase of the strategy's development, the government will identify specific sub-sectors which have the highest potential to boost the economy, create jobs across the country, and fight climate change. https://lnkd.in/ex8ZmH7E

New research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre provides vital new evidence on the availability of growth finance for the creative industries. The research, led by Josh Siepel with Sawan Rathi and Marc Cowling, explores the demand for finance, the supply of venture capital (VC) and investors’ ability to exit their investments in creative businesses. Key findings include: 📝 Creative firms are more likely to identify investment opportunities for R&D, particularly for new products, and less likely to identify potential capital investments in plant, facilities and property.  📝 VC finance for creative firms is heavily concentrated in London and the South East – with 63% of all investments made in these two regions, compared with 11% in the North of England, 5% in the East of England, 6% in the South West, 5% in Scotland, and just 2% in Wales and Northern Ireland. 📝95% of investments were made to creative businesses in creative clusters and microclusters. 📝 Creative businesses are far more likely to be acquired than to grow via an IPO (listing on a stock market), with only four creative industries IPOs recorded in 2021 versus 130 acquisitions. It includes a range of recommendations to improve access to growth finance, including: ✅ Supporting creative firms to become “investment ready”, especially across sectors and regions where equity capital is not prevalent. ✅ Further investigation into how stock market listings of creative businesses can be unlocked.  ✅ Developing a broader range of finance options that are better suiter to the needs of creative businesses, such such as new, intellectual property-backed forms of finance, impact investing and community forms of finance. ✅ Strengthening links and understanding between creative industries and providers of financial services. ✅ Collecting better data capturing the flow of capital – public, private and philanthropic – into creative sectors, to attract new investors to the sector. https://lnkd.in/ep3mBqE3

Want to help shape the future of creative education in schools? As part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the Department for Education is holding a series of national roadshow events across each region in England. Industry experts, parents, teachers, leaders, students and employers are invited to share their expertise and experience to help shape the recommendations.   Attendees will have the opportunity to hear directly from the chair of the Review, Professor Becky Francis CBE, as well as other panel members. There will be opportunity to ask questions, discuss key topics and themes with other attendees, and feedback your thoughts directly to the panel. https://lnkd.in/egSEa4E2

Creative businesses are invited to get involved with Discover Creative Careers Week from 18-20 November. The initiative is designed to provide young people from England with encounters and experiences of the creative industries through in-school, workplace and online opportunities. Employers can: ✅ Use the week to launch new career offers and programmes for young people ✅ Introduce the different roles and pathways available in your sector by hosting a careers talk or Q+A with staff from different departments (online or in-person) ✅ Visit a school to give a talk in assembly ✅ Open your workplace up for local school and college tours ✅ Host a workshop or activity that demonstrates the skills needed for a role in your sector ✅ Get in touch with Speakers for Schools and volunteer to host an online session as part of the virtual Discover! Creative Careers Week 2024 Companies can download an industry toolkit for activity suggestions, planning tips and more. https://lnkd.in/e5mPeSvE

Along with organisations from across the sector, we've partnered with Culture Commons on a research and open policy development programme to explore how devolution and increased local decision making might impact on the creative, cultural and heritage ecosystem in the UK. You can find a wealth of research, insight and discussion papers and evaluation reports on the programme hub. https://lnkd.in/dvGKJMJX

The government's devolution agenda is putting 'place' at the heart of policymaking, and universities are emerging as key players in driving local economic growth. Arts Council England CEO Darren Henley CBE and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)’s Prof Katy Shaw have co-authored an essay on the role that universities can play in supporting the region's creative industries. It highlights how universities can: ✅ Foster collaboration between local communities, researchers, industry and local government to co-create a thriving creative ecosystem. ✅ Provide R&D expertise and skills training to support the growth of the creative sector. ✅ Produce evidence and insights to shape effective, place-based policymaking. It's among a collection of 40 essays outlining the economic and social benefits universities have on their local communities, published by the UPP Foundation in memory of Lord Bob Kerskale, Chair of the UPP Foundation’s Civic University Commission. https://lnkd.in/eGvKtmDE

Liverpool City Council has announced plans to shape the future of music-making in the city with four proposed new projects. 🎶 The Music Futures Lab will enable musicians and music businesses to innovate using AI and VR. 🎶 The Music Futures Cluster will bring academic and private sector bodies together to create a talent and training pipeline. 🎶  Immersive Liverpool will be an immersive audio and visual visitor attraction featuring residencies with top artists 🎶 A new recording facility and rehearsal home for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is also planned. This would be the only UK studio of its kind and capacity outside London – “the Abbey Road of the North”, offering recording facilities for musicians, TV, film and gaming, and training, performance and rehearsal spaces for young people. The proposals are expected to be funded by private sector sources with Government support, with Universal Music Group expressing their commitment to the concept. https://lnkd.in/eVhAfdwE

A project to explore the concept of Creative Corridors - joining up existing creative clusters to become more than the sum of their parts through better collaboration and coordination - takes another step forward this month. Over the past year, The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and Arts Council England have been developing a prototype creative corridor model in the North of England to explore the concept's potential. Now they’re launching a policy framework for action, setting out the underlying case for creative corridors, exploring the opportunities and barriers for growth and laying out practical next steps. The report will be launched at a live-streamed event on 24 October, with speakers including CEOs from Arts Council England, Creative PEC and the RSA, along with a panel including Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture Creative Director Shanaz Gulzar, tech entrepreneur and investor Tom Adeyoola and Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire. https://lnkd.in/ehApf_xV