Background
In June 2023, the Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities (YU)1, Dr Peter O’Brien, attended the first Northern Creative Industries Corridor (NCIC) Summit, convened by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire; Tim Davies, Director-General of the BBC; and Andy Haldene, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). The Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, and other senior representatives from local government, and the arts and culture sector, were also in attendance.
The Summit coincided with the relaunch of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC), to be co-hosted by the RSA and Newcastle University. The meeting saw the presentation of a new PEC North of England Creative Industries Briefing, identifying
the potential opportunity for a cross-regional creative industries super-cluster; ‘A Northern Creative Corridor’, that could match the GVA and growth of creative industries in the south east of England, and could add £27bn and 500,000 jobs to the Northern creative economy. A formal launch of the NCIC, with a new Charter, took place on 14 November last year.
The NCIC has been working in tandem with the UK-wide Creative Industries Sector Vision to leverage the tools and insight of the UK Vision to deliver a practical plan for the Northern creative sector. The aim is to strengthen the north of England’s creative industries within the UK’s wider network of creative and cultural hubs. A creative cluster in the north, combining the different specialisms and strengths of universities, businesses, local and regional government, and private funders, is essential to help realise this ambition. With this in mind, Mayors and local authority Leaders met in York, on 4 September 2024, to agree a new pan-northern partnership, and to announce the establishment of ‘One Creative North’, a ambitious programme seeking to grow the creative industries in the north of England.
In October 2024, the RSA published a report in partnership with the PEC and Arts Council England – Creative Corridors: connecting clusters to unleash potential. This is intended to serve as a new framework for action, showing how clusters of local leaders, creative businesses, arts and cultural institutions, and networks of talent across all parts of the country, can collaborate at scale – unlocking opportunities for investment,
jobs, skills provision and cultural access.
The launch of the Corridors’ report follows the recent publication of the Labour Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper, which firmly positions the creative industries as one of the eight key sectors on which the UK’s economic growth will be based.
At the start of these developments, YU was invited to be part of the coalition promoting the distinct value of Yorkshire within a pan-northern cluster. An initial task for YU was to ‘map’ the cultural and creative industries activities and assets of all twelve YU member institutions. This report, based on information provided directly by YU members, as well as evidence gathered through desk-based research, undertaken by the YU Executive Team, is the culmination of this exercise. It provides an illustration, at the point of collection at the start of 2024, and it does not seek to present a quantitative or qualitative assessment. A copy of the report was shared with the RSA and PEC team. YU is committed to working with the PEC and RSA, and partners in the north of England, to ensure that the role and contributions of YU member institutions feature at the heart of plans to increase the scale and impact of the creative industries – reflecting YU member capabilities in research, innovation, knowledge exchange, business support, civic engagement, skills, and graduate employability support.
1 Yorkshire Universities is a registered charity representing eleven universities and one specialist higher education institution in Yorkshire, with a combined student population of 212,000. Members are: Leeds Arts University; Leeds Conservatoire; Leeds Beckett University; Leeds Trinity University; Sheffield Hallam University; University of Bradford; University of Huddersfield; University of Hull; University of Leeds; University of Sheffield; University of York; and York St John University.
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