The government’s new Creative Industries Section Vision to 2030 has been published setting out the importance of the creative industries to the entire UK economy.
It has an objective to create a million new creative jobs and add an extra £50billion to the economy by 2030.
It notes the way that technology is infusing across into the creative sector and that the UK’s competitive advantage in it globally is a huge opportunity for UK PLC.
So, cultural and creative industries are big business. And they are crucial for our future economy too. Prior to Covid, creative industries contributed £111+ billion to the UK economy. That’s £13 million every hour – and more than automotive, aerospace, life sciences and oil and gas industries combined.
In the West Midlands, cultural and creative sectors combined are bigger than construction, life sciences, healthcare, logistics and transport technologies,
and low carbon and environmental technology sectors in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA).
Cultural and creative industries are industries of the future – resilient to robots and artificial intelligence taking over people’s jobs. West Midlands already once nearly lost its fortunes by the decline of traditional industries.
We need to futureproof our workforce and business sectors by ensuring we invest into our cultural and creative industries.
WMCA is working with partners to help realise as much of the sector's potential as possible for the benefit of our region, our citizens and economy. In addition, WMCA is developing a new broader approach to the sector, beyond its previous focus on screen and creative content only, with details being developed and consulted on during autumn 2023.