Shape the Future: Creative industries EXPO in Coventry
7 October 2024
Part of West Midlands Creativity Week
Create Central and Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, hosted the West Midlands Creative Industries Expo, on Monday 7 October at Coventry University. This event kick-started a week of activity that featured exciting announcements and celebrated the success of our region’s vibrant creative talent.
We highlighted the remarkable and tangible progress made across the West Midlands and unveiled new opportunities and initiatives designed to turbo-charge the region’s creative content sector to new heights.
Hosted by the West Midlands’ own Nikki Tapper, we heard from Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, Coventry City Council CEO, Julie Nugent, Create Central Chair Ed Shedd and other members of the Create Central Board including Coventry’s Debbie Isitt.
The Mayor told delegates:
The BBC is the first partner on board the IP Content Fund. Their involvement is a significant step forward for the fund and the creative talent it will support. And more partners are to be announced before the end of this year.
The West Midlands needs a more coordinated approach to attract production to the region and give them a world-class service when they arrive. An industry expert has been appointed to lead this next phase – to be announced in the coming weeks.
The partnership between WMCA, Create Central and Creative UK has been in development for a number of years, and we are now working together to develop the next phase of investment support, building on the success of the West Midlands Create Growth programme, to create a pipeline from early stage to fully scaled business.
Create Central is partnering with Royal Television Society Midlands to lead the way as the first region to introduce a dedicated Sustainability Award, launching in 2025, driving forward our mission to make the West Midlands the home of UK sustainable content creation in 2030.
The Mayor said these four announcements demonstrate his unwavering commitment to developing ways to grow the sector.
We also heard from some of our partners that are working with us to turbo-charge the region’s creative content sector - Neil Rami, CEO of the West Midlands Growth Company, Hayley Pepler, Head of Culture, Creative Industries and Digital Roadmap at the West Midlands Combined Authority, Kully Khaila, Chair of the Royal Television Society Midlands and Nick Grimshaw, Head of Partnerships at Creative UK.
A highlight of the day was hearing from Create Central Skills Accelerator alumni featured in this video.
The afternoon session featured CoLab showcase and networking and the opportunity to learn about new initiatives coming soon such as CWX - Coventry & Warwickshire’s gateway to help accelerate immersive and creative tech projects.