Creative industries: £35m fund seeks to drive growth

A new fund worth £35m has been established to support government efforts to boost the UK’s creative industries, with firms working in the museums, galleries, libraries, performing and visual arts sectors all eligible to apply.

The Creative Growth Finance II fund, which is being delivered in partnership by Creative UK and Triodos Bank, follows the first Creative Growth Finance fund, which launched in 2019.

The new fund is intended to provide investment to meet the targets set out in the Government's Creative Industries Sector Vision, which aims to boost the value of the sector by £50bn and create one million more jobs by 2030.

Despite being among the nine subsectors of the government's definition of creative industries there was no new funding for museums, galleries, libraries, performing or visual arts as part of the £77m of public money announced alongside the sector vision when it was published earlier this year.

But Creative UK has confirmed that these areas are all eligible to apply for the money announced today.

Caroline Norbury, Chief Executive of Creative UK, said: “Over the past decade, the UK’s creative industries have grown more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, currently generating £108bn in economic value and employing 2.3m people.

“However, this country’s talented creative businesses are experiencing a significant gap between their immense growth potential and access to the vital capital they need to succeed.”

She said that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had acknowledged the “enormous potential of our creative entrepreneurs and businesses” and said that “growing the economy means growing the creative industries” but that there is a danger that the potential is unfulfilled if creators do not have access to financing.

“That’s where Creative UK comes in,” she said. “We know that with the right investment, the power of the sector to drive growth and innovation across all corners of the UK can be truly transformative.”

Building on previous growth

The new fund will build on the success of the first Creative Growth Finance fund, which was worth £17m.

A total of 30 creative business – operating within sectors including film & TV, virtual production, narrative-based video games, advertising and software – were funded through it, reporting an 108% improvement of average monthly revenues and a 39% headcount growth average by August 2023.

In total, 225 new jobs were created and around £19m was raised in further third party funding.

“Promising creative companies are too often prevented from unlocking their full potential by barriers to accessing the financing they require to grow. Our new Creative Growth Finance II fund removes those barriers,” said Tim Evans, Creative UK’s Investment Director.