Liberal Democrats Party Conference: Britain: Creative Highway

Date: 21.09.2010 18:15 - 19:15

Location: Tate Liverpool, Hospitality Suite, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB

Britain: Creative Highway or the End of the Road?

The UK leads the world in the creative industries and recent NESTA research has shown that this sector is growing at twice the rate of the rest of the economy.

But in the brave new digital age how does the UK preserve its world-beating status? We put together a leading panel to tackle this challenging question.

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Use the thumbnails below to select different speakers

Creative value

Jon Kingsbury opened a lively discussion on how emerging digital technologies are challenging and transforming the UK's creative industries by reminding the audience of the value of the sector.

Citing NESTA research he explained that Britain's creative industries are world-beating: worth £20 billion globally and £2 billion annually in the UK alone. The simple message is: we need to support them.

Charles Cecil

Charles Cecil gave a history of video games from a cottage industry started by adolescents in their bedrooms to a global success story that gives film and music a run for its money. He made a plea for a benign tax regime (carefully avoiding mentioning the games tax credit!) and a need for targeted education and training.

Colin Tweedy

Colin Tweedy gave a sneak preview of research due to be published on Friday which shows that confidence in digital and social media is widespread, and that there is a strong link between users of social media accessing information about arts and cultural organisations and events - often without the involvement of the arts organisations themselves.

He stressed that the research shows that if content online is good and adds value, it can provide a new source of revenue for the arts, and opens up new and exciting opportunities for fundraising.

Lee Hardman

Lee Hardman from Lime Pictures showed how emerging digital platforms arre changing the ways that audiences are engaging. He cited an example from one his own productions: 30% of the Hollyoaks audience access it via social media.

They are increasingly working on a new generation of stortytelling which works across TV, online, social media and mobiles - but alas his press office wouldn't let him follow Colin's lead and tell us about a new project Conker media are about to launch!

Don Foster MP

Don Foster responded by outlining the importance of finance. He explained that the government has already reduced corporate tax rate to enable the UK to compete better internationally.

He talked about the importance of better broadband infrastructure and challenged creatives to produce even better online content to drive demand for highspeed broadband.

Skills are crucial, and it is clear that too few specialised courses validated by Skillset are not delivering what the industry needs.

He stressed that it was crucial to protect IP, in order that Britain's creative industries can grow, as NESTA research predicts, to compete with the financial services.

Challenges from the floor

Questions came from the floor and online and included: how better links could be forged between design and engineering and manufacturing, and create a more vibrant manufacturing industry; how government can support new business models and better networking among creative industries; and finally what the structure of DCMS should be to support the creative industries.

The meeting wound up with Jon Kingsbury remarking that what is clear is that the creative industries are not asking for handouts but for support and clear guidance.

Speakers

• Jon Kingsbury, Head of External Supply, Future Media & Technology at the BBC, and NESTA fellow
• Don Foster MP, Liberal Democrat spokesman for Arts and Culture
• Charles Cecil, Managing Director, Revolution Software
• Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive, Arts and Business
• Lee Hardman, Lime Pictures