The creative industries, from libraries, galleries and museums to the screen industries, design, advertising and the digital economy, are vital to the UK economy. Dynamic, innovative, and export-orientated, they are one of the UK’s greatest success stories, growing at double the rate of the rest of the economy. This is in no small part due to the skills and talents of the UK’s creative workforce.

The creative industries rely on world-leading talent, capabilities and highly developed skills, employing significant numbers of STEM as well as humanities graduates, combining a range of specialist as well as generalist skills. Drawing on a wide range of expertise of researchers, computer scientists, artists, dancers, makers, designers, and finance and marketing professionals, they contribute not only to economic performance, but also deliver substantial cultural benefits both in the UK and abroad.

With their role as a key area of competitive advantage and economic success in the global economy, and in a post-Brexit era, the creative industries have become a central part of the Government’s new Industrial Strategy (HM Government 2017) and the economic strategy in Wales (Welsh Government 2017), Scotland (Scottish Government 2015, 2019) and Northern Ireland (Department for the Economy NI 2017). The Sector Deal signed between the Creative Industries Council and Government will unlock over £150m in investment over the next five years to sustain growth and generate an additional 600,000 new jobs in the creative economy by 2023; growing the workforce by 20% (HM Government 2018).

Indeed, the future for the creative industries and economy is bright. Creative jobs are expected to prove more resilient to automation (Osborne, Frey and Bakhshi 2015) and the advent of new technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality, and the growing global appetite for UK content – from music to video games, film to fashion – is expected to not only fuel ongoing growth of the creative industries, but enhance the need for creativity across the economy (Bazalgette, P 2017; Easton and Djumalieva 2018).

But as we witness unprecedented tightness in the UK labour market, combined with a continued growth in high skilled roles, will there be talent available to fill these roles? In the face of rapid change in the market, can we be confident that the skills that businesses need to thrive in the future are being developed by those learning in schools, colleges and universities today? As we strive to build a balanced and inclusive UK economy, will the Executive Summary Supported by opportunities created in this vibrant sector be accessible to everyone – regardless of their socio-demographic background or where they live?

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