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Culture minister outlines plan to boost UK creative industries by promoting creative skills in schools
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 18 May 2023
The UK’s Culture Secretary has said that the government needs to do more to “build a pipeline of talent into our creative industries”, including by boosting creative skills through formal education and other training and apprenticeships.
Lucy Frazer was speaking at the ‘Media And Telecoms: 2023 & Beyond’ conference organised by Deloitte and Enders Analysis. Among other things she previewed a new Creative Industries Sector Vision that is being developed by the government’s Department For Culture, Media & Sport alongside the Creative Industries Council.
After the customary bigging up of the UK’s creative and entertainment industries, the minister told the conference: “I have zero doubt that we in government can do more tangible things to support our creatives. But we cannot simply copy and paste the formula for that past success. We face increasing global competition and we cannot afford to be complacent”
“We need to maximise potential”, she went on. “So I am committing to growing the creative industries by an extra £50 billion by 2030; creating a million extra jobs – all over the country – by 2030; and delivering a creative careers promise that builds a pipeline of talent into our creative industries”.
Which all sounds lovely. And – Frazer added – when it comes to achieving such bold ambitions: “I want to work with you to deliver it”.
“Over the next few months we will be identifying how we can go further”, she went on, confirming that education has a key role to play. A big priority, she said, would be “growing these sectors by promoting skills from primary school children to those returning to the workforce. Whether that is in music at school or extracurricular activities, and working with the creative sector on maximising the opportunities of bootcamps and apprenticeships”.
The creative industries – including the music industry – have felt that for too long now the UK government has tended to prioritise science and maths over creative subjects within the school system, despite creative skills being valuable in numerous careers, within but also well beyond the creative industries.
This makes Frazer’s focus on education as part of her Creative Industries Sector Vision particularly interesting. However, whether she’ll be able to enthuse her colleagues in the Department For Education with this vision remains to be seen.
