Creative industries sector vision: a joint plan to drive growth, build talent and develop skills
Culture is something we all share. All of us have favourite songs that soundtrack the most meaningful moments in our lives. All of us remember childhood stories we want to read to our own children. All of us have a TV show we’re binge watching and turn to films, games, or the theatre to transport us to a different world.
Many of our favourite things are made here, in the UK. And that’s true for people the world over. The creative industries are a true British success story, from global music stars like Adele and Ed Sheeran to world-class cultural institutions like the National Theatre. These industries have a special place in our national life and make a unique contribution to how we feel about ourselves as a country. You can see it in events like Eurovision, shows like Life of Pi, or games like Football Manager: so often the creative industries help to strengthen the bonds between communities.
As well as projecting our values on the world stage, the creative industries drive our economy at home. The contribution they make has often been underappreciated. These industries generate £108 billion a year. Employ over 2.3 million people in every corner of the country. And there is a real sense of energy in the sector, which has grown at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade.
I’m personally committed to the success of the creative industries – and so is the government I lead. That’s why, at the height of the pandemic, when the very survival of our cultural industries was on the line, I was proud to introduce the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. And it worked. A recent research report showed it protected over 5,000 organisations and supported 220,000 jobs.
Now, we’re determined to go further. Growing our economy is one of my priorities. And growing the economy means growing the creative industries. So today we’re setting out this new vision to realise the enormous potential of our creative entrepreneurs and businesses.
Our ambition is nothing less than to grow the creative industries by an extra £50 billion while creating one million extra jobs by 2030.
Read full report here
