Creative industries sector vision
14 June 2023
The Creative Industries Sector Vision has been published today. Creative Industries Council (CIC) has worked in partnership with the government to develop the vision.
Create Central consulted with CIC during its development and welcomes the vision and the considerable investment it promises.
The government press release outlines a series of new funding commitments:
Government’s plan to grow the creative industries by £50bn and support a million more jobs by 2030, with £77m of new funding for the sector announced
Advanced screen and performance technology research labs to be based in Yorkshire, Dundee, Belfast and Buckinghamshire
£50m to support more regional creative clusters, plus extra cash for music venues, video games studios, London Fashion Week and the next generation of British music talent
Plans to build a pipeline of skills and talent through new creative careers promise.
Create Central is working with regional partners, including Digbeth Loc Studios, to continue to deliver our vision for the future of media production in the West Midlands.
We are looking forward to working with National Lab and Regional Hubs in delivering the ambitious plans for the UK.
Ed Shedd, Chair of Create Central, said "Congratulations to the Creative Industries Council on developing this bold vision. We are very much looking forward to working with partners to turbo-charge the regional impact of this investment.
One of Create Central’s five key missions to 2030 is to position the West Midlands at the forefront of creative innovation, leveraging technology to meet the evolving needs of storytellers. And to make these future media opportunities accessible to the young, diverse, and talented individuals in our region, providing them with the necessary skills and resources for careers in uncharted roles.
Virtual production, motion capture, real-time development, greenscreen, VFX, VR, AR, and utilising game engines like UNREAL and AI creative tools represent the future of media and storytelling. And we’re looking forward to collaborating with Buckinghamshire and the regional labs to bring that vision to life."
Anthony Lilley, Piers Read and Steven Knight of Digbeth Loc Studios said "We are fully committed to playing our part in building a world class creative industries cluster in the West Midlands and will be announcing our plans for a leading edge R&D centre on our Digbeth Loc site later in the year. In the meantime, we look forward to welcoming productions from around the world to Birmingham as our wonderful new facilities become available."
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Developing our region’s creative content production capacity is a key objective for us and that’s why we’ve identified this sector as one of eight clusters in our Plan for Growth. We’re already home to the UK’s fastest growing tech sector and have a thriving production industry that fully embraces innovative approaches to content production.
“We expect to announce further initiatives soon as we forge ahead with the development of a truly 21st century media production cluster.
“Here in the West Midlands, our commitment to building the necessary infrastructure remains unwavering - including in Digbeth. We’ve made substantial investments in equipping people with the skills they need to be ready for the jobs of the future in this industry that are in high demand. We will continue to do so in the months and years ahead.”