Culture Secretary outlines close to £50m funding and promises 'ambitious' vision for creative industries

The government is hoping to publish a new vision to ensure the UK creative industries are globally competitive, inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and embedded in communities.

In a speech to the Creative Coalition event, Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, announced the timing and objectives for the vision while detailing 'close to £50m' of support for the UK creative industries.

This investment will include £21m to deliver a multi-year UK global screen fund, £8.4m for the UK games fund and £18.4 million for an extension of the creative scale-up programme to support the fastest growing creative businesses across the country.

The Culture Secretary said this support would form the foundation for an "ambitious creative industries sector vision, which we're hoping to publish in the summer".

She said the vision would have four key objectives, to ensure the UK creative sector was globally competitive, inclusive, environmentally sustainable and embedded within communities up and down the country.

Dorries said: "And I'll be bringing my own clear personal priorities into this vision. I know for example, that it has to focus on improving accessibility. We have to do better, and make sure that people from deprived backgrounds instinctively feel that the creative industries are for them too.

"I'm also very keen to make sure this vision is directed at our overall mission to level up, that it asks how we can use the creative industries to regenerate left behind towns and communities and drive growth across the entire UK. After all, levelling up isn't just about transport links and infrastructure projects, It's about giving people the chance to live rich and fulfilling lives, wherever they are in the UK.

"Lives full of creativity and culture and good jobs in those industries. Those are my priorities. But my department will be working closely with the Creative Industries Council to develop the vision and I'm keen to hear from the wider sector about what you'd like to see. We want this piece of work to be really visionary, ambitious, and optimistic."

Read the full speech.

Government announcement.

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