Creative Industries - Outcome 1

Clare Flynn A0113914

The UK’s creative industry has become an innovative tool that is key in promoting
social values, diversity in cultures and importantly has a sustainable economic
growth for the UK. The DCMS definition of creative industry is, “Those industries
which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a
potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of
intellectual property.” This industry is made up of numerous sectors that include,
advertising and marketing, architecture, crafts, product design, graphic design and
fashion design, film, TV, video, radio and photography, IT, software, video games
and computer services, publishing and translation, museums, galleries and
libraries, music, performing arts, visual arts and cultural education.
The creative industry has become an integral part of our country, culturally and
financially as it has become a monetary success due to exporting abroad. It
generates over £100bn a year to the UK economy and employs over 2 million
people. The UK delivered £27bn of service exports in 2016 which works out to be
11 percent of all UK exports. In Scotland the creative industry contributes over
£5bn to the economy every single year. The industry in partnership with the
government created a plan to develop this number to £31 billion by 2020. The UK
creative industry has become a driving force in broadcasting the cultures and talent
we have. In 2017 there was an estimated 290,000 creative businesses which was
increasing by 1.9 percent which proves it to be a thriving and progressive industry
that many want to get started in.
However, a great problem within this sector is that as creativity is intangible it can
be hard to put a value on such a thing and so it can be undervalued as there are
struggles to put a fair price and value to its worth. A prime example of this is the
music business as people now believe that it is their right to listen to music for free
as without listening to it via a CD or vinyl, you do not hold the music in your hand
so it’s as if it does not exist. Also, new businesses in the creative industry tend to
undervalue their talents and so undercharge themselves as they enjoy the work they
are doing, as many can’t believe that they get to do what they love as a job.
An estimated 1.5 billion people speak or are learning to speak English. This means
that getting a job in the UK creative sector is an alluring sector to get involved in
and is popular to over sea clients as it offers a wealth of diversity in cultures and as
creativity is a universal language that everyone understands, it brings people from
all over the world together. However, the last Creative Skillset Employment
Census taken in 2012 reported that “Representation of Black, Asian and Minority
Ethnic people (BAME) has declined further since the last Census. Almost 2,000
BAME people have left the industries since 2009, reducing the representation to
just 5.4 per cent of the total workforce”. I believe this figure may have risen by
now due to the industry’s intense push to become an inclusive place to work in and
its great advocation for BAME people to work within it. In good news the census
did find that, “Representation of women has increased from 53,750 in 2009 to
69,590 in 2012. Women represented 36 per cent of the total workforce in 2012
compared to 27 per cent in 2009. This reverses the previous decline seen between
2006-2009".

References
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