It has been a big week for Scotland and Dundee’s creative industries, as 11 UK MPs – the Scottish Affairs Committee – visited Dundee on Monday for their inquiry into the creative industries in Scotland.
The Inquiry met some local creative businesses and generated lots of media coverage and the original transcript can be read here and viewed here. We were also (surprised and pleased to be) invited to meet the MPs for an informal meeting before the Inquiry to give them a flavour of the strengths and challenges the creative sector faces. This was a pretty interesting insight into their areas of interest/priorities and useful to acknowledge aspects where there’s still work to do in terms of communicating what we as a sector do.
Meeting the UK-wide MPs in Dundee.
Your views on Scotland’s creative industries matter >
Separately but very much related, Creative Scotland, the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries, has just published its Creative Industries Draft Strategy 2015-17. It sets out a number of aims, priorities and actions to help ensure the continued growth and impact of the creative industries across Scotland.
The strategy is aimed at those working within the creative industries, therefore Creative Scotland is really keen to hear a wide range of views on the Strategy.
This Strategy will shape their activities over the next two years, so we would encourage you to give it a read and then use the simple feedback form on the same page to let them hear your thoughts.
You can read, download and feedback here: Creative Industries Draft Strategy.
The deadline for feedback is 5pm on Monday 16 November 2015.
Clive Gillman, Director of Creative Industries at Creative Scotland, said: “The contribution made by the Creative Industries in Scotland is hugely significant, acting as a driver and a catalyst for creative endeavour across the wider economic, social and cultural landscape in every corner of the nation. We know that the sector in Scotland generates £3.7 billion GVA and employs over 71,000 people and as such is a vital part of Scotland’s economy.
“Creative Scotland is working with partners to grow stability and to enable sustainability for this sector at all scales through supporting the kinds of innovation, specialisation, localisation, learning and resilience that we need to help make Scotland’s economy work in the 21st century.
“Creative Scotland cannot deliver this work alone. There are many people and organisations across Scotland, the wider UK and internationally who deliver important work that helps generate the conditions and routes to market to support Scotland’s creative industries to thrive. We will work with Scotland’s Creative Industries Partnership to achieve this.
“Our draft Creative Industries Strategy is based on the following four cornerstones; Investing together to grow sustainable creative businesses; Innovating for the wider economy; Inclusivity through people and place; and International positioning.
“Over the past few months we’ve had the privilege of talking to hundreds of people who work across the creative industries and who through their enterprise create many of the wonderful things that make our lives rich and colourful.
“For this strategy to succeed, we need to ensure it’s tuned to meet as many of the needs of the 14,000+ businesses that we know are active in Scotland. I very much look forward to hearing what people have to say through this consultation.”