Expanded Focus on Arts and Innovation in the Northern Regions of England
The creative industries in the North of England show strong potential for growth, yet they currently lag behind London and the South East in terms of funding, employment share, and access to opportunities. This disparity is a concern, given the North's rich cultural heritage and dynamic creative sector.
Key points outlining the current state and growth potential:
- Funding Disparity: Despite a narrowing gap, there remains a significant "cultural funding chasm" between London and the North of England. The funding gap narrowed from £691m in 2017 to £411m in 2025 but persists strongly, limiting cultural development and creative career opportunities in the North.
- Employment and Clusters: Creative industries tend to cluster geographically; London dominates in employment share, while the North hosts emerging clusters with the potential to add up to £10bn to the UK economy with coordinated investment and support.
- Access and Inclusion: Young people in the North face barriers in accessing cultural opportunities and careers within the creative sector, reinforcing regional inequalities and limiting talent development.
- Support Ecosystem and Innovation: Initiatives such as Creative UK's Enterprise programmes, which provide funding and training to emerging screen businesses, exemplify efforts to level the playing field by supporting underrepresented groups and fostering innovation across regions.
How a cross-regional strategy can support growth:
- Equitable Funding Distribution: Redirecting or increasing investment in the North’s creative industries would address historic underfunding and improve cultural access, helping unlock the sector's full potential.
- Leveraging Clusters and Collaboration: Building on the existing creative clusters in the North through partnerships, shared resources, and networking can stimulate innovation, resilience, and business growth.
- Policy Alignment and Inclusive Support: Government strategies focused on fostering inclusive growth, supporting female founders and marginalized communities, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration can enhance skilled employment and creative outputs.
- Integrated Planning Across Regions: A coordinated cross-regional approach promotes knowledge sharing, wider market access, and ensures the North can complement London’s strengths rather than compete, scaling national creative capacity effectively.
In summary, the North of England’s creative industries have significant growth potential that remains underexploited due to funding and access inequalities compared to London and the South East. A strategic, regionally coordinated effort focusing on investment, inclusion, and cluster development can help close this gap and drive balanced national growth in the creative economy.
This background paper sets out how policymakers and industry could work together to realize this potential, via 'creative corridors'. Other discussion papers delve into topics such as climate and sustainability, business models and access to finance, and the geography of the creative industries. The creative industries' global reach is also explored in papers like "The Motives of Inbound Foreign Direct Investors in the UK Creative Industries".
If the North were to grow its sector share modestly, the benefits would be considerable, with a potential GVA boost of around £10 billion by 2030. Previous research suggests that regional 'rivals' are more successful when they work together to grow their Creative Industries. Moreover, the discussion paper "Building sustainable regional music industry clusters" explores the role of the creative industries in supporting the Levelling Up agenda. Collaboration and coordination are key to unlocking the North's creative potential and driving balanced growth across the UK.
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