Creative UK and partners at the South West Creative Leaders Breakfast

We spent Wednesday morning this week at Bristol Beacon with Creative UK and partners at the South West Creative Leaders Breakfast, talking about how we grow and sustain the creative industries across the South West.

A few things that struck a chord:
• The region has incredible talent, but it is still more fragmented than it needs to be.
• Freelancers and early-career creatives are carrying the highest risk with the least visibility.
• A potential skills cliff needs to be avoided as creative education continues to narrow.
• Culture is starting to be understood as infrastructure. Something that should be planned and invested in with the same seriousness as transport or housing.
• Finally, we love the idea of a Single Front Door, which came up a number of times. We think a clearer, joined-up way for people to navigate support, funding, skills and opportunities is a great way forward and something to be developed to address the fragmentation.
What struck us most about the table around was the shared desire to connect the dots, to stop working in silos, to make the region (and other regions in the UK) easier to navigate and to listen to the people powering the work, not just the structures around it.

Lots to reflect on and lots of opportunity ahead.
Thanks to Creative UK, Bristol Beacon and everyone who contributed so openly. Happy to swap notes with anyone working on the Creative Places Growth Fund or the Single Front Door thinking.

Thanks for your active participation:

Simon Wales, James Mackenzie-Blackman, Martin Berry, Nona Hunter, Cathy K, Charlotte Wood, Richard Spilsbury, Caroline Norbury, OBE, Bizzy Day, Chris Slesser, Nick Grimshaw, Paul Appleby MBE, Adrienne Noonan, Scott Wright, David Prior