Government plans tap into the economic potential of the creative industries.
The creative industries will move “from the margins to the mainstream of economic and policy thinking”, according to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, following the publication of a new Government strategy document outlining plans for the creative industries. ‘Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy’, has been published jointly by the DCMS, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), and outlines 26 “key commitments for Government and industry”. These include the recently announced ‘Find Your Talent’ programme to champion cultural activity for school pupils (see AP164), a creative apprentices scheme, an independent review into next generation broadband, measures to support business and a commitment to safeguard intellectual property rights. Because of the devolved nature of creative industries policy in the UK, some of the plans will cover England only, some will cover England and Wales and others will be UK-wide.
At the core of the strategy is the Government’s aim of securing 5,000 creative apprenticeships by 2013, offering “high quality training”. Five “centres of excellence in creative skills” will be established in partnership with “the industries’ most successful creators, including Aardman Animations, EMI and the Royal Opera House”. The apprenticeship scheme will be managed by Creative & Cultural Skills, the sector skills council for the creative and cultural industries. The Government will also explore the creation of an academic hub, to bring schools, art colleges and universities together to share curriculum content, industry contacts and facilities with schools, and enable student mentoring and staff exchanges. [[ACE will support projects that combine artistic excellence with commercial potential]]
Other partners will contribute to the strategy. Arts Council England will support “projects that combine artistic excellence with commercial potential”, expand its Cultural Leadership Programme and work with the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to “provide venture capital to small creative enterprises”. The RDAs also plan to establish a network of regional beacons to assist business development in the creative industries. There will also be support for creative clusters, such as the Watershed in Bristol and the South Kensington hub, and mixed media centres at Broadway in Nottingham, Cornerhouse in Manchester and FACT in Liverpool. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts will launch a £3m Creative Innovators Growth Programme to identify specific support needed by small- and medium-sized creative businesses. The DIUS is commissioning research to quantify the value added to the economy by the creative industries. Other partners in the plans include the UK Film Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Local Government Association and UK Trade and Investment. There are also plans to establish an annual World Creative Business Conference.
The response from the arts sector has been largely positive, although BECTU, the entertainment sector union, has expressed concerns that the new apprenticeships should offer high quality training whilst avoiding exploitation of trainees, and that apprenticeships should not replace existing arts jobs.