£20 million boost for UK creative industries

Creative businesses in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Bristol are to receive £4 million to help them grow, as the government launches new £14 million Creative Careers Programme.

Creative Industries Minister Margot James has announced the creation of a new £14 million Creative Careers Programme to help attract more diverse talent into the UK’s thriving creative industries, aiding the diversity of the sector’s workforce and maintaining the future pipeline of creative talent in an industry that now contributes more than £100 billion to the UK economy.

The programme will see leading industry figures working with schools and colleges to raise awareness of employment opportunities in the sector, reaching more than 160,000 students by 2020. Around two million young people will be able to access better advice about pursuing a creative careers.

Further to this, a £4 million programme to help scale up creative enterprises in Bristol, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands has been made available, helping creative businesses to access finance and translate their ideas into investment. £2 million will also be provided to the ‘Get it Right’ campaign until 2021 - helping to educate consumers on the dangers of copyright infringement and direct them to legitimate sources of creative content online.

James said: “Millions of people around the world enjoy our world-class creative and cultural output every day and we want to stay as a frontrunner in these vibrant sectors. Our creative industries are a vital part of the economy, contributing over £100 billion to the economy so it is important we maintain the pipeline of talent. This package will take the sector from strength to strength by arming the next generation of creatives with the necessary skills and giving businesses in the sector the support they need to succeed.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “The creative and digital industries are hugely important to the West Midlands, contributing almost £4 billion to our economy. We know we have creative strengths in the region. More than 10,000 creative businesses are based here, and we’re working to support the rapid growth in this sector, with the ambition that the digital and creative industry will employ more than 100,000 people in the West Midlands by 2030. We want to continue the momentum we’ve built in recent months. This DCMS funding will allow us to provide dedicated support to our creative industries, match businesses with investors, and sustain the growth of this industry into 2030 and beyond.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said: “Greater Manchester is a proud city-region of innovation and our creative businesses are truly thriving. With almost 9,000 businesses, our Creative sector is the fastest growing part of the Greater Manchester economy. With more than 82,300 people and generating £4.1 billion of economic growth annually we are already home to the largest digital and creative cluster outside London.

“This new programme will help us accelerate our creative businesses with ambitions to grow. We are going to work with creative businesses at scale here in our city-region to help them become investment ready and linked with the wide range of excellent business support that is on offer across Greater Manchester.”

Mayor of the West of England, Tim Bowles, added: “This is terrific news; our region is recognised for its thriving creative sector and Bristol is soon to be home to one of Channel 4’s new creative hubs. This investment will support the work we are doing on the Local Industrial Strategy, which recognises the importance of the creative industries. We are perfectly placed to drive innovation and growth here in the region, setting the direction for our economy and pushing for future growth for the UK and the world.”