East Midlands Rural Creative Industries Research
Important new Creative Industries research now available to download
To find out some more about this research and why and how it was carried out, read the report foreword below from Sukhy Johal, the Chief Executive of Culture East Midlands
Follow the links below to download the full regional report, the case study report and the data report. You can download the reports from this page, or visit the resources section to read these and all 27 district reports.
EM Rural Creative Industries Regional Report
EM Rural Creative Industries Case Study Report
EM Rural Creative Industries Data Report
Report foreword
The importance of the creative industries to the UK economy is now well recognised, in Government and there has been increasing support from cultural agencies, local, authorities, Regional Development Agencies and other partners as well as the industry itself. Many towns and cities have invested strongly in developing creative clusters and cultural quarters to attract and nurture new creative businesses. The benefit to local economies and to the cultural offer has often been substantial.
But the creative industries are still seen largely as an urban phenomenon, associated with ideas of modernity and innovation that the city has long claimed as its own. The idea that the countryside, with its old-fashioned market towns, villages and farms, could incubate contemporary creativity surprises many people.
Yet, as Burns Owens Partnership’s research clearly shows, there is an important and growing creative industry sector in the rural parts of the East Midlands. Interestingly, the sector’s profile is different from that often found in urban areas, with fewer young and start-up companies and more businesses with established markets. There appears to be a complementary relationship between urban and rural creative industry sectors that policy-makers should take account of in planning their support.
This report is part of a substantial body of work undertaken for Culture East Midlands by Burns Owens Partnership (BOP). In addition to this regional overview, separate statistical reports have been published on 27 rural and partly rural districts in the region, alongside a narrative report based on interviews with creative businesspeople.
The innovative but robust methodology developed by BOP, based on Government statistics supplemented with up to the minute market intelligence, marks a major step forward in our understanding of the creative industries sector in the East Midlands. We are delighted that, following the completion of work on rural areas, East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) and EM Media have agreed to extend the work to cover the remaining urban districts. We are also very grateful to Arts Council England and EMDA for their support of the research.
As the diversification of the rural economy continues, and the countryside’s relationship with urban centres changes, it is essential that economic and cultural development agencies work together to support creative and cultural businesses. This report and its counterparts are a vital support for that.
Sukhy Johal
Chief Executive
Culture East Midlands
Find out more
Visit the Culture East Midlands Website
Visit the Burns Owens Partnership Website
last updated: 30-01-2008 16:00