Workshop Insights from the Northern Creative Corridor: Key Findings Revealed

Workshop Insights from the Northern Creative Corridor: Key Findings Revealed

Unleashing the Creative Powerhouse of Northern England

Get your hands on the Northern Creative Corridor's groundbreaking policy brief! This exciting initiative aims to interconnect creative hubs scattered across Northern England, catalyzing growth in the region's flourishing creative industries. spearheaded by industry giants such as the Royal Society of Arts, Creative PEC, Arts Council England, the BBC, and various Northern Mayors, this venture seeks to establish a unified, pan-regional strategy with the help of national and devolved powers.

Prior research - Creativity Unleashed: Northern England's Creative Industries - suggests that lifting the creative industries' contribution to the region's Gross Value Added (GVA) to match half of the London-South East's share could bolster GVA by a whopping £10 billion by 2030. Inspired by other projects like Canada's Innovation Corridors and the UK's Thames Estuary Production Corridor, the Northern Creative Corridor is all set to take center stage.

Key Insights:

The policy brief distills insights from workshops held between November 2023 and February 2024, attended by over 70 industry insiders and government representatives. The workshops were focused on four key areas of concern:

1. Nurturing Talent and Skills:
2. Raising awareness of creative careers in schools
3. Fostering flexible technical education and continuous professional development opportunities
4. Exploring regional strategies for creative industries apprenticeships
5. Access to Finance:
6. Expanding existing place-based funding opportunities
7. Attracting venture capital and angel investors to Northern creative industries
8. Innovation and Research & Development (R&D):
9. Defining new assessment metrics for evaluating creative R&D processes
10. Building upon existing funding opportunities for innovation and R&D
11. Simplifying application processes for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and freelancers
12. Arts, Culture, and Heritage:
13. Alleviating funding gaps in the sector
14. Highlighting the region's unique strengths
15. Improving working conditions for freelancers

Policy Proposals:

The workshops led to the generation of numerous policy intervention ideas, including:

• Amplifying Creative Careers Outreach Programs
• Creating a Pan-Regional Training Brokerage Service
• Developing Tax Incentives for Skilled Workers in the North
• Gathering Northern Creative Firms to Attract Private Investment
• Adopting Expansive Definitions of R&D to Capture Creative Industries
• Launching Regional R&D Grants and Innovation Funds
• Implementing a 'Creative Tourist Tax' for Local Development
• Establishing an Umbrella Body to Support Freelancers Across the North

Stepping Forward:

The policy brief serves as a stepping stone, paving the way for further development rather than delivering definitive recommendations. The open discussion will contribute to the creation of a workplan for the Northern Creative Corridor.

To build on this initial foundation, stakeholders are encouraged to expand on these concepts through additional consultation and research. The upcoming phase might involve prioritizing and refining the policy ideas, assessing their viability, and creating more intricate implementation plans.

The continued collaboration between industry, government, and academic partners is crucial for realizing the potential of a Northern Creative Corridor, thus unlocking substantial economic growth in the region's creative industries.

Image credit: Photo by Korng Sok on Unsplash

Contributing Authors

• Iqra Choudhry, Policy Advisor, Creative PEC
• Bernard Hay, Head of Policy

View their full portfolio here

1. The groundbreaking policy brief of the Northern Creative Corridor, a pan-regional strategy for interconnecting creative hubs across Northern England, seeks to establish a unified approach, leveraging national and devolved powers in education, policy, and politics.
2. By focusing on nurturing talent and skills, the policy brief identifies the need for raising awareness of creative careers in schools, fostering flexible technical education, and promoting continuous professional development opportunities.
3. In addressing access to finance, the brief suggests expanding existing place-based funding opportunities and attracting venture capital and angel investors to Northern creative industries.
4. To stimulate innovation and Research & Development (R&D), new assessment metrics for evaluating creative R&D processes and building upon existing funding opportunities for innovation and R&D are proposed.
5. The policy brief also highlights the importance of alleviating funding gaps in the arts, culture, and heritage sector, while improving working conditions for freelancers and exploring regional strategies for creative industries apprenticeships.
6. To attract private investment, the proposal suggests gathering Northern creative firms and adopting expansive definitions of R&D to capture creative industries.
7. Innovative policy ideas include launching regional R&D grants and innovation funds, implementing a 'Creative Tourist Tax' for local development, and establishing an umbrella body to support freelancers across the North.
8. The continued collaboration between industry, government, and academic partners is essential for realizing the potential of a Northern Creative Corridor, driving substantial economic growth in the region's creative industries.
9. The policy brief serves as a stepping stone, with stakeholders encouraged to expand on these concepts through additional consultation and research, leading to the prioritization, refinement, and creation of more intricate implementation plans for the Northern Creative Corridor.

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