Creative Industries Advisory Group established

A new group which will grow Scotland’s creative industries has been set up by the Scottish Government

The Creative Industries Advisory Group, which was a key Programme for Government commitment, will advise Ministers on the support the sector needs to ensure it continues to thrive in Scotland.

Invitations to become members of the group have been sent to industry leaders from across the country in areas such as architecture, visual art, craft-making, music, fashion and textiles, performing arts and film production.

The final membership list will be announced in the coming weeks, and the first meeting of the group is expected to take place in the first few months of 2017.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop will chair the Advisory Group, which will meet twice a year.

Speaking about the announcement, Ms Hyslop said:

“Scotland is renowned for its world leading expertise in creativity and innovative design . The Scottish Government is committed to developing this ingenuity and nurturing the creative industries for generations to come.

“This advisory Group will support more collaborative working by enabling the diverse range of business and entrepreneurs across the creative industries to engage with each other and with Government to discuss and advise on high-level issues of relevance to the whole sector.

“I want to hear directly about the successes, issues and priorities the sector is experiencing so we can collectively take a strategic view on how the Scottish Government and its public agencies can further support the creative industries sector as a whole.”

Background

The Scottish Annual Business Statistics defines the Creative Industries as:

Advertising

Architecture

Arts

Crafts and Antiques

Computer Games

Design

Fashion and Textiles

Film and Video

Music

Performing Arts

Writing and Publishing

Photography

TV and Radio

Software and Electronic Publishing

Museums and Galleries

Cultural Education

As one of Scotland’s key growth sectors, there is clear evidence of the continuing significance of Scotland’s creative industries in respect of scale, employment and growth within Scotland’s overall economy. In 2015, the creative industries employed 73,600 people and new figures this year show the creative industries comprised 15,420 registered enterprises. The GVA of the creative industries also continues to grow and was £3.7 billion in 2014 .  This is a significant increase since 2010 when GVA stood at £2.7bn. Further information can be found in the Scottish Government’s Growth Sector Statistics Database:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Publications/GrowthSectors/Database.

A Creative Industries Strategy for 2016-17 was published by Creative Scotland on 17 May 2016: http://www.creativescotland.com/resources/our-publications/plans-and-strategy-documents/creative-industries-strategy-2016-17.

Contact

Duty press officer 0330 244 4000