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The Economic Development profession has been paying ever increasing attention to the Creative Industries (CI) sector in recent years, and it’s easy to understand why.
This sector has been on a strong growth trend for some time and ticks several boxes for anyone involved in economic development: innovation, cutting-edge technologies, new job creation, investment, growing exports (goods and services) and economic diversification. Furthermore, new and widening career opportunities, especially for young people moving from the world of education into employment.
It is not just an area of interest for the economic development profession as the impact and reach of the CI sector plays a clear role in any locality’s ‘cultural offer’. Colleagues involved in education and skills, galleries and museums, tourism, events and place-based branding will all have a stake or interest in this sector.
What are creative industries?
The sector is vast in its scope. The Government’s definition includes: Advertising and marketing; Architecture; Arts and crafts; Design (product, graphic, fashion); Film, TV, radio and photography; IT, software, computer services and video games; Publishing; Museums, galleries, libraries and heritage; Music, performing and visual arts.
Some headline statistics (mostly from 2023) highlight its importance to the economy, at a national level:
Aside from the economics, the sector is highly visible and touches upon our lives more than most. There is something tangible within the CI sector that most of us are exposed quite regularly in our lives. Whether it be us as users or consumers enjoying art, books, music, photography, gaming, TV, film and video, computers, or our increasing reliance on tech and AI. Or our appetite to visit places of historical interest, themed events, galleries and other ‘assets’, venues and attractions.
Beyond that, everyday businesses are making increasing use of creative talent to promote themselves. The growing use of social media for marketing and promotion relies on good content, branding, imagery and videos, supported by great websites and often app-based platforms. Doing any type of business in the 2020s provides opportunity for creative talent.
The state of your sector
A starting point for much of my work commissioned by Local Authority Economic Development teams has to been to gain an understanding of the state of the sector in their patch. How many CI businesses are there? How many people are working in the sector? Are there any particular clusters of activity? What are the key strengths?
Mapping out businesses and CI sector work is a challenge. Much is happening ‘under the radar’ and creative practitioners often thrive in informal networks through personal contacts, or specialist social media based groups. With a significant amount of people working in a freelance capacity, and/or with sole trader status, these can be harder to identify as they won’t appear on typical databases that Councils and partners have access to. I have found that a mixed approach is required – making use of data and information but also doing the hard graft of digging deep through consultations, making enquiries and other research.
Business databases (which tend to list limited companies) can be a useful starting point, but these also need careful interrogation. The alignment of the SIC codes to creative industry activity is not always a neat fit. Also, some companies may be registered in one location but be based in another and this can skew the data showing the scale of business activity within your own locality. Moreover, there are likely to be staff with creative sector talent delivering creative output within larger firms whose main business activity seemingly has nothing to do with the CI sector. The in-house marketing, design and social media team at a large engineering firm will not show up on a SIC code-based database.
To build on this, check out what networks already exist. You may have your own set of contacts from delivering events or business support services, or you may have creative sector tenants in your managed workspace facilities, but reach out to your local stakeholders that are working with creatives, such as Create Growth, Arts Council and Creative UK. Talk to those key stakeholders operating local theatres, venues, arts groups, and look on social media for tech-based and other informal groups of creative entrepreneurs. The local Chamber and FSB may be able to help here too.
Further research may take the form of making approaches to contacts who may shed light on further contacts, groups or activity taking place. The “have you spoken to X?” comment can unearth some real gems. In one town I consulted a design company that recommended another firm who had significant ambitions to grow. They were doing fine and had no interaction with their Local Authority, but by arranging to talk to them I found they were planning to double staffing levels and were on an ambitious growth trajectory. A local, home-grown business with global clients. This presented an opportunity for the Council, the local FE College and other partners to then engage with the business and see how any support could be directed to assist their growth and meet their recruitment needs. In another town, a young local entrepreneur had established a video gaming company. His business took off and within a couple of years he had taken on several staff and was now having to “turn down work (largely from American buyers) which would double (his) turnover” so he was open to support through this rapid growth phase, especially around finding talent.
Building up a picture of your CI sector takes time and any fresh database you create should be a work in progress that can be added to in real time as new contacts become known. Doing so will also help identify whether there are any key specialisms – business sub-sectors and/or occupations – that appear to be over-represented locally and may represent some form of opportunity for further ‘clustering’. The growth of the gaming sector in Leamington Spa or the film production sector in Hartlepool are just two examples of towns that are carving out specific concentrations of CI sector activity.
It is also worth examining your asset base. The facilities, equipment and expertise that exists locally is likely to be more significant and widespread than initially envisaged. Local schools, colleges and universities (if you have one) are likely to have performance and design space, equipment and tutorial talent that plays a key role. This can be brought to bear in any strategy to support your CI sector as well as highlighting some of the career pathways for young people to move into employment. Some colleges and universities may also have incubation space for business start-ups and on-site enterprise support.
‘Work from anywhere’: new opportunities for towns and rural and coastal communities
Covid-19 lockdowns forced changes in the pattern of work and technology enabled a shift towards a ‘work from anywhere’ approach for some businesses. CI sector clusters and activity tended to be concentrated in London and larger cities, but flexibility in where entrepreneurs can choose to work has opened up opportunities for growth in rural and coastal communities and towns outside of larger cities.
What are your objectives?
What do you want to do? Are you looking to identify and support companies with high growth potential, likely to need higher level skills and pay good salaries? Or do you want to support the ‘arts and crafts’ lifestyle-type of creative practitioners who may be satisfied with earning a modest income to sustain themselves but with no plans to grow further or employ additional staff?
The temptation and likely pressures on Economic Development teams will be to pursue the former. Whilst this is quite a crude split between different business types and occupations, the CI sector is so wide ranging that some focus is required. It is unrealistic to deploy your time and resources on all aspects of the sector and on all business types.
That said, it is worth considering how the smaller and more arts and crafts-based businesses contribute to the wider cultural offer and enrich community life, add to the social fabric of the community and a locality’s ‘brand’ and image. The quality of life and positive social impact arguments for supporting a thriving arts and crafts scene are important aspects of any place-based wider strategy.
What support are creative industries likely to need, and what is the role for the Local Authority?
They might need help on a number of fronts: dedicated or collaborative business space; equipment; bespoke business advice; mentoring; access to finance and investment; IP advice; business planning; co-ordinated efforts to help them trade more (online platforms and meet-the-buyer events); a robust talent pipeline; access to networking and events, and more.
Beyond direct business needs, there is a supply side issue to examine. Providing clarity on potential career pathways, and developing a closer alignment of the education landscape to employer’s needs and projected skills needs of the local economy, are key to help local people tap into opportunities and pursue career options they have an interest in.
Some of this may already be underway, either by the Local Authority, business support partners or wider stakeholders, but local authorities can play an important role in helping facilitate and co-ordinate a broader strategy to support the Creative Industries sector.
Strong partnerships in other locations have been characterised by:
Key actions
Before concluding that a shiny new Tech Centre or Creative Hub will be the ‘must have’ solution, it would be wise to take a step back and not assume a ‘build and they will come’ approach is wise. It may be those type of facilities are needed and there is demand, but I would suggest some serious research into the issues highlighted to have a robust basis for developing an Action Plan to support your local creatives.
Adam Jeffrey is CEO and Founder of Chimera Consulting.
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