By Beverly Rademacher
Copyright expressandstar
The fund was announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan in June, as part of Industrial Strategy, where the Government shared its intention to invest £150 million in the creative industries of six regions outside of London – Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, North East, West of England, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has revealed the fund will be split equally across the regions to drive growth, innovation and investment – and the money will be used to grow the flourishing creative industries including film and TV, video games, createch, music and performing arts and design.
She said: “Creativity has no postcode – whether it’s a musician in Birmingham, a filmmaker in Coventry, or a video games developer in Wolverhampton.
“We know that it is not one size fits all. That’s why we are committed to growing our creative industries in every corner of the nation as part of our Creative Industries Sector Plan, and hope this devolved funding will be just what these regions need to make their creative industries the best that they can be.”
The fund will empower local Mayors to support creative professionals, businesses and young people in their communities with access to finance, mentoring and networking opportunities to help them connect with investors and skills programmes.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Our region is well known for its grit and graft as the manufacturing heart of Britain. But our film and TV sets, gaming studios, music venues, theatre stages, and digital workshops are also fast becoming a major part of our regional economy.
“We have the talent, the locations and now the government’s backing to write a new chapter of growth – one that turns more of our stories into exciting jobs and new opportunities. This is about putting our people and places centre stage in the UK’s fast growing creative sector.”
The West Midlands is already home to more than 15,000 creative enterprises, including Digbeth Loc Studios and BBC StudioWorks, while Birmingham has World Craft City status, and the creative industries are at the heart of the Mayor’s West Midlands Growth Plan as one of the high growth sectors being promoted to drive the region’s economy into a new era of prosperity.
It’s a new approach to supporting creative industries by devolving funding to high-growth potential Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs).
The £25 million allocations will be awarded to the six MSAs over three years, starting in the 2026 financial year, for them to distribute according to local barriers and opportunities.
This is part of a range of support announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan including providing business support for local creative businesses, regional skills initiatives, innovation capacity building programmes, or by providing sector specific support such as TV and film production funds.
Separately, the Government was today announcing that more than 100 micro, small, and medium-sized creative enterprises across 12 regions, including the West Midlands, are to receive a share of £8 million in grants through the Create Growth Programme.
The grants, ranging from £20,000 to £140,000, are aimed at helping high-growth businesses commercialise their ideas and access resources, knowledge and private investment to scale up – turning today’s growing businesses into tomorrow’s success stories.
