The national funding received by the North’s creative industries has been a "good start, but it is not enough", according to a new report by The Growth Company.
The organisation has published its first report examining the future of the creative economy in the North of England, with a focus on Greater Manchester.
While the report praises the resilience and innovation of the sector throughout the pandemic, it highlights the challenges ahead – and what a lack of investment in the creative industries would mean for Greater Manchester’s creative sector SMEs and wider business ecosystem.
READ MORE: Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett reveals how he makes $1.2m a year from his Diary of a CEO podcast
According to the Creative 海角视频 Group, the North West of England’s creative sector alone has lost £900m and seen a 13.2% decline in gross value added (GVA) due to the pandemic.
The North West has the highest creative cluster outside of London, with Greater Manchester home to 19,000 digital, creative and tech companies.
The report includes research from the successful Creative Leaders Festival, which took place for the second consecutive year in May, attracting more than 600 registrations from creative businesses in the North.
Latest Greater Manchester Business News
More than 30 industry leaders with links to high-profile trade bodies and associations, including Creative England, Channel 4 and the Northern Ballet, have contributed their insights.
Most Read
The report focusses on six creative subsectors, highlighting challenges to overcome such as diversity and digital confidence and opportunities for growth.
MediaCity海角视频, in Salford, is identified as "having the potential to accelerate the region’s recovery", boosted by the BBC’s recent announcement to increase the number of staff beyond 3,500.
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
Head of digital, creative and tech sector support at the GC Business Growth Hub, Sarah Novotny, said: " Greater Manchester and the North of England’s creative industries are world class and prior to the pandemic the industries were growing four times faster than the rest of the economy.
"We want to continue to support the creative sector and keep running our highly successful business support programmes. But we can’t do this without continued investment.
Have you followed our yet? Click for the latest updates, stories and analysis from across the region.
"The past year has been incredibly challenging but our region is known for its resilience, diversity and creativity.
Don’t miss
"These traits will not only be the basis of our recovery but will also be the foundation of establishing our creative sector businesses as global thought leaders.
"It has been a privilege to help the creative sector adapt, collaborate and innovate and we hope we will be able to continue this support."