Govt announces new CIC members and trade chairs

The Government has announced new members of the Creative Industries Council (CIC) as part of its commitment to reshaping the body to align with national growth objectives and ensure it more accurately reflects the sector.

Established in 2011, the Creative Industries Council (CIC) serves as a strategic forum for collaboration between industry leaders and government. It provides a unified platform for senior figures across the creative sectors to engage directly with ministers, ensuring a coordinated voice on key issues.

The new membership brings together cultural institutions, trade bodies, creative businesses, regional leaders and sector representatives from across the UK’s creative industries, representing sectors and subsectors, such as film & TV, music and design. The Creative Industries Sector Plan’s themes of innovation, finance, skills and trade will underpin the work of the Creative Industries Council, and are priorities for the next year of activity.

The Department for Business and Trade has also appointed the new Creative Industries Trade & Investment Board (CITIB) chairs, Michael Frohlich, CMO at WPP and Francesca Hegyi, Chief Executive of Edinburgh International Festivaln (both below). They will work together to facilitate collaboration between the public and private sectors and ensure the creative industries contribute effectively to the UK economy.

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The new CIC will establish working groups, with leads sitting on the council, who will develop and take forward proposals in areas of key strategic importance to drive growth across the Creative Industries, as detailed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan.

These working groups will cover Innovation: Accelerate Innovation-led growth; Access to Finance: Secure growth finance for creative start-ups and scale-ups; and Workforce: Build a resilient workforce fit for the future; Trade and exports: Via the Creative Industries Trade & Investment Board: Increase trade and inward investment

Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said: "The Creative Industries Council is vital to ensuring that we are effectively understanding and addressing the needs of the sector. Our ambition is that every corner of this country will flourish, cementing the UK’s position as a creative superpower.

"We are committed to delivering the Creative Industries Sector Plan, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, and the remodelled CIC will continue to play a critical role in that."

Minister for Trade Policy Chris Bryant said: "Our creative industries are world-leading, and we’re championing them as a cornerstone of growth in our modern Industrial Strategy. A revamped Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board will help strengthen our international trading relationships, boost exports and attract inward investment to grow our economy. Congratulations to Francesca and Michael on becoming our new Co-Chairs – their experience and passion will be invaluable."

Co-Industry Chair of the Creative Industries Council, Peter Bazalgette, said: "Our renewed Council, with refreshed representation from across our sub-sectors, regions and Nations, will drive forward the clear growth plan set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy. And we’ll have lots of new ideas too… we are the creative sector!"

Co-Industry Chair of the Creative Industries Council, Shriti Vadera, said: "The refreshed and representative CIC will support not just delivery of the growth plan and the development of new policy, but also ensure we demonstrate to policy makers and the public the UK’s global strength in creative industries and their critical importance to the success of the UK economy."

The New CIC structure is as follows:

Co-Chairs
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy
Business Secretary, Peter Kyle

Co Industry Chairs

Baroness Shriti Vadera
Sir Peter Bazalgette

‍Working group leads‍

• Stephen Pegge OBE, Director UK Business Angels Association (Access to Finance)
• Sinead Rocks, Managing Director of Nations & Regions, Channel 4 (Workforce)
• Sara Pepper, Co-Director, Creative Economy Unit at Cardiff University (Innovation)
• Michael Frohlich, CMO at WPP (Co-Chair of the CITIB)
• Francesca Hegyi, Chief Executive of Edinburgh International Festival (Co-Chair of the CITIB)

See a full list of all the CIC members.

More About the CIC.

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