Landmark new report to unleash potential of UK as a creative superpower

Today, the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), Arts Council England and the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) launch a groundbreaking new report, setting out a bold vision for the UK’s creative industries that could unlock tens of billions of pounds in economic potential and cement the UK’s reputation as a creative superpower.

The Creative Corridors: connecting clusters to unleash potential report outlines the blueprint for ‘creative corridors’- the joining up of creative hotspots across large geographic areas, supercharging their potential so that they become more than the sum of their parts.

It serves as a bold new framework for action, showing how clusters of creative businesses, arts and cultural institutions, and networks of talent across all parts of country, can collaborate at scale- unlocking ever greater opportunities for investment, jobs, skills provision and cultural access.

The launch follows the recent publication of the Government's Industrial Strategy Green Paper, which firmly positions the creative industries as one of eight sectors the UK's economic growth will be based on.

Launched at The Lowry in Salford by Andy Haldane, CEO of the RSA; Darren Henley, CEO of ACE; and Hasan Bakhshi, Director of Creative PEC, with guest panellists including Northern Metro Mayors Andy Burnham and Tracy Brabin, the report argues that local leaders should be immediately supported to explore how creative corridors might transform places around the country.

Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the RSA said: “The new Government has, through its recent green paper on industrial strategy, put the creative industries front and centre of its growth agenda. This groundbreaking new report outlines the huge potential for the UK’s vibrant and pioneering creative industries and, crucially, explains how this potential can be unlocked. This will mean connecting and collaborating, on a pan-regional basis, as never before to develop creative corridors. The One Creative North initiative, pioneered by the RSA in collaboration with Northern Mayors and the BBC, is one example, but there are many other potential creative clusters right across the UK primed for lift-off. This report explains how to achieve that lift-off.”

Professor Hasan Bakhshi, Director of the Creative PEC said: "It is now well established that creative clusters – areas where concentrated numbers of creative workers and firms compete and collaborate – are found right across the UK. But how can they benefit from the economies of scale enjoyed by a supercluster like London? In this report, we propose a policy framework by which creative clusters can join up in ways that make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, allowing places to super-charge their creative clusters in ways that would simply not be feasible if they were instead to go it alone.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “Working with the RSA and the Creative PEC, we’re shining a light on our nation’s creative people and organisations. By working together, they have the power to drive forward growth, to provide new opportunities and ultimately to change our country for the better”.

A creative corridor for the North of England, ‘One Creative North’, was announced at the Convention of the North by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, in March 2024.

The pan-regional initiative, led by the Northern Mayors and chaired by Jude Kelly CBE, will see the launch of a new multi-million-pound Investment Fund, as well as life-long training opportunities to help nurture and retain creative talent in the North.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “The North’s creative industries are brimming with ingenuity, diversity and attitude, with the potential to add tens of billions to our economy. But for too long, we’ve missed out on the same level of opportunities and investment seen in the South East. Inspired by this new research, and by coming together as One Creative North, we will unleash the full potential of our world-class creative sector, ensuring that even more Northern talent can thrive in a stronger, brighter region.”

The RSA will now work with partners across government, civil society and the creative industries to apply the learnings of this report, identify new creative corridors, and replicate successes such as One Creative North, in places up and down the UK.

ENDS

• Read the full Creative Corridors: connecting clusters to unleash potential report
• Watch the Manchester launch event on YouTube

NOTES TO EDITORS

• Creative Corridors is an example of the RSA’s own Prosperous Places mission in action. Through Innovation Corridors, the RSA brings stakeholders from across regions to collaborate on single, integrated plans for greater pan-regional prosperity.
• Born out of extensive consultation with creative stakeholders across the UK which informed the report, the findings set out steps to kickstart collaboration at scale between clusters of creative businesses, arts and cultural institutions and networks of talent across all areas of the country to unlock greater opportunities for investment, jobs, talent, cultural provision, and skills.

Media contacts

For more information or to interview Andy Haldane, Darren Henley, Tracy Brabin, Andy Burnham, or any other panellists, please contact Ben Oliver, RSA's Head of News and Public Affairs, in the first instance at ben.oliver@rsa.org.uk or by calling 07531129477.

About the RSA

We are the RSA, the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. We are a social impact charity that has been at the forefront of social change for 270 years. Through our Design for Life mission, we turn world-leading ideas into world-changing actions. We’re committed to a world where everyone can fulfil their potential and contribute to more resilient, rebalanced, and regenerative futures. Central to all our work is our global network of over 31,000 Fellows, who work collectively to enable people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony. We invite you to be part of this mission by joining our Fellowship community. Together, we’ll unite people and ideas in collective action to unlock opportunities and regenerate our world.

About Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. This year the National Lottery will celebrate 30 years of supporting good causes in the United Kingdom through raising £49 billion and awarding over 690,000 individual grants since the first draw was held in 1994. Visit the Arts Council England website to learn more.

About Creative PEC

The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) works to support the growth of the UK’s creative industries through the production of independent and authoritative evidence and policy advice. Led by Newcastle University, with the Royal Society of Arts and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Creative PEC comprises a core consortium of Newcastle University, Work Advance, the University of Sussex and the University of Sheffield. For more details visit www.pec.ac.uk and @CreativePEC on X.