We’ve now published a full cycle of our new ‘State of the Nations’ series – which use the latest data to inform policymakers on ways to support the creative industries across the four UK nations. The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) is the go-to source for independent evidence and policy advice to support the growth of the creative industries.
It’s a year since Creative PEC moved to a new twin-hub model – with a research unit at Newcastle University and a Policy Unit at RSA House, London – thanks to renewed five-year funding from the UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This moment marks an opportunity to reflect on the findings and implications of our ‘State of the Nations’ series to date.
The research themes were selected because they represent the fields where there is sufficient data to explore longer term trends and provide insight on where policy interventions could be best placed.
Each thematic area is led by a research consortium partner:
- Arts, Culture + Heritage – led by University of Sheffield
- Creative Education, Skills and Talent – led by Work Advance
- Internationalisation – led by Newcastle University
- R&D, Innovation and Clusters – led by University of Sussex
Geographies of Creativity
In December 2023 we published Geographies of Creativity. It found that investing in ‘creative clusters’ of a range of sizes continues to be key to driving local economic growth across the UK. It analysed creative industries data on clusters at three different scales: microclusters, clusters and creative corridors. The report found:
- Several areas with potential to be ‘creative corridors’ – bringing supercluster benefits such as attracting talent, investment, knowledge exchange and fuelling economic growth.
- Creative cluster activity exists across the whole country – not just in urban centres – and could play a role in reducing regional inequality.
Microclusters are associated with higher levels of growth, both before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially those located within the DCMS-55 clusters. Companies in microclusters located outside of creative clusters appear to have been hit harder by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Creative PEC is building on this research in partnership with the RSA and Arts Council England through a forthcoming report on creative corridors, and continues to support regional policymakers in the development of a Northern Creative Corridor across the the North of England – as highlighted in a new policy brief.
UK Trade in a Global Creative Economy
In March we published ‘UK Trade in a Global Creative Economy’. It confirms the creative industries are a UK export success story but warns against complacency suggesting increased global competition, finding:
- Increased digitalisation of the economy and increased share of digitally delivered services means we must improve statistical capabilities to have a more accurate understanding of the scale of this trade.
- UK trade policymakers need to negotiate digital agreements within existing and new trade agreements.
- Creative service exports are robust and growing – and represented 14% of all UK services exports in 2021 (the most recent year data is available) – however the outlook for creative goods exports is stagnant and shows large drops in 2016 and 2020, with no sign of recovery in 2021, when creative goods fell to below 3% of total UK goods exports.
- Experimental data analysis suggests UK export growth in the video games sector accelerated during the pandemic, reaching a level in 2021 around 2.5 times greater than in 2016. The UK appears to be the fourth largest exporter of video games in the world, with the US in pole position.
In our just published policy brief on International Trade and the UK Creative Industries our policy unit sets out options for consideration:
- Relevant bodies and UK government departments including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Department of Business & Trade (DBT) should work together to develop a consistent approach to measuring digital trade data. An independent Commission on measuring digital trade would support government in establishing best practice.
- DBT and DCMS should include the creative industries amongst priority sectors in current and forthcoming trade negotiations.
- The UK Government should seek to reduce creative export barriers within the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement in upcoming negotiations.
- Provide additional support for creative firms to export, especially at the regional level.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Audiences and Workforce
In May we published ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Audiences and Workforce’. It used official data sets to provide in-depth insights into audiences and workforces. An interactive dashboard was also developed, enabling every local authority to see the number of cultural workers based in their area. It gives local policy makers the tools needed to identify local specialisms and help inform development plans and investment decisions. The data further provides granular detail on the demographics of the arts, culture and heritage workforce by ethnicity, age, disability, gender, sexuality and religion to help inform Equality, Diversity and Inclusion planning.
The report found a number of significant findings around audiences and workforces within parts of the arts, culture and heritage sectors:
90% of people in England had engaged in the arts in some way, with similar figures overall for the rest of the UK
- Cultural engagement has recovered since the end of lockdown restrictions, though with some important differences across the ACH sectors relative to pre-pandemic rates – for example, attendance at live music events is even higher than prior to the pandemic, whereas attendance at the cinema has dropped since before the pandemic
- The proportion of people working across arts, culture and heritage who are White is 90%; higher than the general workforce figure at 85% according to Labour Force Survey data from 2023.
- In terms of class inequality, 60% of arts, culture and heritage workers grew up in a household where the main income earner was in a ‘managerial or professional’ role; the equivalent figure for the whole workforce is 43%.
- Occupations in the arts, culture and heritage sectors have smaller fractions of heterosexual/straight people than the rest of the workforce
- In ‘Film, TV, video, radio and photography’ just 8.4% of people identify as being from a working-class background.
- Women comprise only 34% of ‘managers and directors in the creative industries.’
The research was published via an exclusive with Channel 4 News generating significant discussion on the findings. Report co-author Dr Mark Taylor set out detail on the innovative methodology used in the report in this Arts Professional opinion piece.
In our new policy brief the recommendations focus on how cultural data on equality, diversity and inclusion could be better used, captured and embedded:
- Policymakers at a national, regional and local level should embed EDI targets for all place-based ACH interventions
- Embed robust monitoring and evaluation in policies designed to address inequalities in ACH sectors, drawing on novel data sources and collection mechanisms
- Make more effective use of existing ‘what works’ style research to support further data collection and evidence development across the ACH sectors examples?
- DCMS and ONS should examine possibilities for increasing data on EDI within official datasets
Creative Further Education in the four UK nations
Our latest State of the Nations report was launched at RSA House with an audience of policymakers, industry professionals and researchers. Coverage on Channel 4 News again supported widespread discussion. The report authors set out the scale of the challenge in an FE Week opinion piece.
- Creative FE enrolments are declining in all parts of the UK, and at a faster rate than average across all subject disciplines.
- A 57% drop in creative subject FE enrolment in England between 2014/15 and 2022/23 (aged 19+) – compared with a 31% drop across all subjects.
- A 68% drop in creative learning at FE institutions in Wales between 2012/13 to 2022/23.
- A 20% decline in college students studying Creative FE in Scotland (full time equivalent) over the same decade.
- A 28% fall in enrolments on creative subjects at FE institutions in Northern Ireland from 2017 to 2022.
The report launch and discussion with industry guests and those working in the FE sector is available to on the RSA’s YouTube channel.
Forthcoming State of the Nations reports:
The next four State of the Nations reports are in the pipeline as follows:
- R&D Innovation Finance – October 2024
- Foreign Direct Investment – November 2024
- Creative subjects in Higher Education – December 2024
- Creative Skills Monitor with a focus on employer perspectives – March 2025
All four State of Nations reports were designed by Mike Green of Green Doe Graphic Design. Editorial proofing of the State of the Nations series by Tate & Clayburn.
