UK government announces £50 billion funding to support the creative sector

The UK government has announced a £50 billion plan to support the creative industries of the country such as television, gaming, film and others. The move is likely to create employment opportunities in this sector by 2030.

The announcement lists financing plans like £5 million in funding for gaming studios through the UK gaming fund and £77 million for setting up advanced screens and performance technology research labs amongst many others. The labs will be centred in Buckinghamshire, Belfast, Dundee and Yorkshire.

The government has allocated £50 billion to create the next generation of musical talent for the UK. The move will help in building new music venues, creative clusters at the regional levels and gaming studios. This fund will be also used for the London Fashion Week.

Why is this crucial?

The creative industries form a crucial part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's global British success story plan. As part of the plan, Sunak is prioritising some sectors to bolster economic growth and the creative industries feature high on the list. The industry has grown 1.5 times more than the economy in the last decade, pumping in £108 billion in gross value-added GVA every year.

Since 2011, the creative industries feature higher employment than any other industry. Employment is five times higher here than in the rest of the economy.

The Prime Minister underlined this at the London Tech Week conference where he labelled the creative industries as the "gangbusters" growing at an exponential rate and this showcases a unique side of Britain.

In such a scenario, the Creative Industries Sector Vision reports published by the Creative Industries Council put forward ideas to bank on this growth by pumping in £50 billion into the sector by 2030. It seems to create a pipeline of talent for this sector through this.

The primary driving force behind this growth would be to facilitate investment and innovation which would be helped by a £77 million backing from the government.

Rishi Sunak spoke of stars from the British music industry like Ed Sheeran and Adele who have captured the global audience, highlighting the efficiency of British cultural institutes like the National Theatre. He underlined the importance of the creative industries in driving the country's national pride as well as the economy.

Maximising the sector's potential

The cultural secretary of Britain, Lucy Frazer echoed similar sentiments when she spoke about the creativity and ingenuity of British artists like designers, musicians, producers, actors, writers, content creators and many more. As such the government is supporting these creative people who are steering the economic growth. They want to maximise these industries' strengths.

For this purpose, the government is pouring investment into building creativity clusters all over the country. The Sector Vision talks about driving innovation in the field and attracting investment to sustain it.

Supporting the sector to stay at the top

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt spoke about the yearly revenue generated by the creative industry which goes beyond the glitz and glamour of the industry.

This is the primary reason the government is giving them a multi-million-pound boost so that the sector remains at the top of the global cultural chart and helps in scaling up startups, creating CEOs out of entrepreneurs, said Jeremy Hunt.

Apart from the investment, the government will support the sector with continued tax relief and incentives which would help in film, television and games production.

How did govt funding help in the past?

As mentioned in the Sector Vision, since 2021, the government has spent £230 million or more on this sector. A major chunk of this investment of £75.6 million went on to create the largest virtual production R&D network in Europe. This has placed the UK at the forefront of motion capture technology, visual effects and artificial intelligence for live and on-screen performances. The announcement of regional research labs will further add to this. The labs will get £63 million in additional investment from the industry.

The new funding areas

Industry co-chair of the Creative Industries Council, Sir Peter Bazalgette said that this sector has entered an ambitious phase which requires R&D-led innovation to develop future skills and talent. The government funding will help in that process.

1. The UKRI's Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) program alone will make more than 820 people employable in the UK. In the next plan of the program, six clusters will be identified where there are entrepreneurs and businesses waiting for innovation and investment. At present, 300 or more such creative businesses exist in the UK and they compete to get a share of £13 million grants from the government.
2. DCMS plans to increase the total funding to £28.4 million for the next two years in order to support 2000 businesses. This will help them to scale up and commercialise their ideas and create CEOs of the future from entrepreneurs.
3. Emerging musicians will get the necessary support for touring and other such activities that help them make a mark in the global market under the Music Exports Growth Scheme which will be increased to £3.2 million over the next two years.
4. Grassroot Music Venues Fund will pump in £5 million to build up 400 music venues at the grassroots level.
5. The UK Games Fund will be increased to £13.4 million by pumping £5 million into the system. This will help in scaling up gaming studios and startups into businesses
6. A £2 million funding has been announced for the 2023-25 London Fashion Week and £1.7 million for the 2024 London Film Festival. The latter will be given to the British Film Institute.