Creative UK

Starring Derby-raised Jack O'Connell, who has often spoken about how access to the arts has shaped his own journey, highlighting the importance of affordable, local opportunities that allow young people all across the UK to discover creative confidence.

Shot entirely in the UK, the film utilises many locations across the country, including Ennerdale Valley and Bowness Cottage in Cumbria, Lindisfarne (Holy Island) in Northumberland, and Wensleydale in North Yorkshire.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple - which arrived in cinemas last week - is a reminder of the power of UK storytelling, talent and locations 💥

Regions set to benefit from new creative industries funding Minister Murray encourages regions to bid for funding in next wave of the Creative Clusters programme, which has boosted Liverpool’s music innovation sector

& Investment in the Creative Content Exchange, a future trusted digital marketplace for digitised cultural and creative assets, through the Research and Development Missions Accelerator Programme.

Find out more 🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

£369 million allocated to the creative industries by @ukri.org which £100 million is to support innovation

£25 million secured at 2025 Spending Review for @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social Createch Futures programme 

£155 million to develop creative economy infrastructure through the DiSCCO

Regions encouraged to bid for Creative Clusters funding 💡

Regions are offered the opportunity to replicate Liverpool City's success after it was awarded nearly £7 million in 2024 as the UK's leading music innovation and technology cluster.

Follow the thread for more info ⬇️

Creative Enterprise are hosting Future Proofing Content - an online session for #creativebusinesses and #freelancers who are looking to strengthen their digital strategy in a fast-changing digital landscape.

Register for the session - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/future-pro...

#OnlineWorkshop

Creative UK | Crowdfunder UK Crowdfunder have raised over £200 million for start-ups, business ideas, charities, community groups, social enterprises, sports clubs, political movements and so much more through crowdfunding. Get e...

-Creative UK’s ongoing partnership with @crowdfunder.bsky.social UK continues to support the sector, enabling creative organisations to launch crowdfunding projects with 0% platform fees.

🔗  www.crowdfunder.co.uk/creative-uk?...

STREAMED AND RETAIL ENTERTAINMENT SALES GREW FOUR TIMES FASTER THAN UK ECONOMY IN 2025 Entertainment retail trade Association representing retailers of music, video, DVD and computer games.

-A new article from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association highlights strong growth across UK entertainment sectors in 2025, outperforming the wider UK economy and reinforcing the value of creative-led industries.

🔗 www.eraltd.org/streamed-and...

Webinar: Building Financial Resilience - Figurative Join the team at Figurative for a free webinar exploring financial resilience and repayable finance. Learn how cultural organisations can diversify income and leverage impact investment alongside gran...

@figurative-org.bsky.social is hosting a free, online webinar supporting cultural and creative organisations to explore financial resilience, including how repayable finance can play a role in long-term sustainability.

🔗 figurative.org.uk/event/webina...

Aardman partners with Bristol Beacon in its 50th anniversary year | Bristol Beacon A music charity, renowned venue and award-winning music education hub. We're here to help make space for music every day, with everyone.

-As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, @aardmananimations.bsky.social has partnered with @bristolbeacon.bsky.social as its corporate partner for 2026, bringing together two iconic cultural organisations rooted in Bristol’s creative heritage.

🔗 bristolbeacon.org/blog/aardman...

What has been happening with #CreativeUK members this month? Follow the thread to find out about creative news happening in our network ⬇️

Explore Membership 🔗 membership.wearecreative.uk

#Membership #CreativeIndustries

Kicking off the Create South East summit 🎉

An exciting lineup meeting businesses who have taken part in the regional support programmes.

We'll be hearing pitches, viewing the businesses expos, and ending with a keynote from the British Business Bank ✨️💸

#CreativeBusinesses #CreateGrowthProgramme

Behind the Scenes of Hamnet: Why Herefordshire Was the Perfect Backdrop - Find out where Hamnet, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, filmed in Herefordshire in the West Midlands.

Go behind-the-scenes on Hamnet, which filmed in locations across Herefordshire.

Last summer, director Chloé Zhao arrived with stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal to film key scenes of Hamnet.

Find out where they filmed: www.filminginengland.co.uk/where-did-ha...

Culture as Growth Infrastructure This paper draws on qualitative evidence gathered in July 2025, during Creative UK’s national Culture as Growth Infrastructure evidence session. The UK’s cultural sector contributes around £38.2bn in ...

The paper also found:

-Cultural assets drive regeneration & confidence
-Improve health & wellbeing, reducing pressure on public services
-Culture attracts talent, tourism & private capital

Download the paper and join the conversation report.wearecreative.uk/culture-as-g...

#Wellbeing #Culture

Culture isn't a "nice to have", It's one of the UK's least recognised growth engines.

Analysis from our recently published paper shows that publicly funded arts and culture generated more than £3 of economic value for every £1 of public investment ⬇️

Town of Culture: The playing field so far - Arts Professional As Bradford wraps up its festivities as UK City of Culture 2025, towns across the country are signalling their intention to become the first Town of Culture.

The Town of Culture programme has the potential to rebalance cultural investment beyond major cities, but early progress shows uneven access and long-term questions around funding, capacity and legacy.

🔗 Read more www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/town-of...

Our most downloaded report? Unleashing Creativity, which was downloaded a whopping 1,096 times. 

Check out the links to read them again ⬇️

Public view of Creative UK reports www.wearecreative.uk/champion/pub... 
 
Creative UK members portal: portal.wearecreative.uk/membership/r...

In 12 months, we published 8 original reports and papers. Including Unleashing Creativity; Forging Freelance Futures; Benchmarking Leadership Diversity in the Creative and Cultural Industries; and Culture as Growth Infrastructure.

Creative Industries come together to change perceptions of creative careers among young people from working class backgrounds - Creative UK Reflecting on the immense impact of this year's Discover Creative Careers campaigns, co-curated with ScreenSkills, DCMS and industry.

Discover! Creative Careers will continue as part of the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan, supporting the long-term creative talent pipeline and regional growth hubs.ly/Q03YkYXF0

This campaign reinforced the amazing work happening during Discover! Creative Careers Month, involving nearly 500 industry employers who provided almost 80,000 school students with creative career experiences across the UK.

With industry outreach from Creative UK, support from advertising partners and backing from sector ambassadors, the campaign reached millions of people across the North of England and beyond, amplifying stories of young people succeeding in creative careers in their local areas.

2025 has been a record year for engagement with the Discover Creative Careers programme and industry involvement 🎉 In November, a DCMS-led campaign helped change perceptions of creative careers among young people from working-class backgrounds, running in tandem with Discover! Creative Careers Month

Read the report: report.wearecreative.uk/culture-as-g...

Findings from academic research, alongside insights presented during the evidence sessions, demonstrate that the case for more strategic long-term investment could be made if there were better systems in place to measure the true economic impact of culture.

This original paper draws on qualitative evidence gathered in two national evidence sessions led by Creative UK – in which academics and over 30 sector leaders presented evidence that cultural investment already delivers strong returns.

In our new report, ‘Culture as Growth Infrastructure,’ we draw on qualitative evidence that highlights how culture is key to the UK’s sustainable economic growth.

ITV partners with FTVC on freelancer support programme The ITV Green Room is designed to support freelancers seeking their next role

@itvnews.bsky.social launches The Green Room with the Film & TV Charity offering freelancers workspace, mentoring, mental health training & networking between gigs.

🔗 www.broadcastnow.co.uk/itv/itv-part...

🗞️ @broadcastnow.bsky.social

#Media #Freelancers

Stars Join Forces with Creative and Cultural Organisations from Across UK and Europe to Remove Barriers to Touring and Drive Growth 03.12.2025: Stars have joined forces with creative and cultural organisations from across the UK and Europe to remove barriers to touring, support cultural exchange and drive growth.

Artists and creative organisations from across the UK and Europe have joined forces to call for the removal of touring barriers that continue to restrict growth for the music and cultural sectors 🎉

🔗 www.ukmusic.org/news/stars-j...

[…] from policy to practice, as well as our wider work on leadership diversity, industry access, and diverse creative business development & growth.

New EDIAG members join from January, alongside the group’s existing members.

🔗 www.wearecreative.uk/edi-advisory...