Creative industries: the regional dimension?

Creative Industries: The Regional Dimension is one of a series of reports published in recent years by the UK government which outlines the importance of creative industries to economic growth. It is in these terms that central government has promoted the creative industries as a newly recognised and fast-growing sector of the economy, thus seeking to quantify the Cool Britania branding so famously propagated by the then newly elected Labour government. The author unpacks the enthusiasm for the creative industries at the national level, and further investigates how the creative-industries developmental agenda has been unfolding within UK regions. The trajectory of the United Kingdom’s creative-industries agenda is contrasted with policy and developmental strategies undertaken elsewhere in the world. It is argued that implementation of a creative-industries agenda at the regional level in the United Kingdom is at best patchy, and there is currently a lack of strategic planning, best-practice models, and empirical research to guide policymakers. The West Midlands is then addressed in more detail, and it is argued that at the regional administrative level, a creative industries development agenda per se is all but lost. The implications of this policy trajectory are discussed.