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Creative Industries
Plymouth is home to an eclectic and diverse cultural and creative industries sector, which includes creative and digital media, audio-visual, design TV and film production, visual arts, music technology and games development.
Made up of a vibrant mix of cultural businesses including the award winning Theatre Production centre TR2, a rich programme of arts and cultural performances across the year and a growing number of artists and creators driving forward the city’s reputation as a centre for high quality creative industry.
Creative industries are increasingly becoming an important ingredient to enhance productivity in Plymouth’s traditional key sectors such as marine, manufacturing, medical and healthcare through the integration of creative technologies from enhanced design, to computer modelling, artificial Intelligence and gamification to improve productivity.
Over 6,000 employees are engaged in the creative industries in the Plymouth travel to work area.
Click here to see the Creative Industries factsheet.
Key headlines
- £16 million investment from The Arts Council England who are excited about the city’s power to regenerate through culture.
- Plymouth sits centrally within a regional cluster of small independent production companies producing programming for major broadcasters such as Denham Productions, Original Concept Productions, Redhanded TV, Beagle Film, Defacto Films, Media Workshop, River Collective etc.
- Take advantage of the city’s diverse and exciting creative eco system that spans across design, advertising, marketing, crafts, TV, video, radio and photography, publishing, fashion, software services, museums, galleries and libraries, music and performing and visual arts.
- Pick from our future talent pool of 5,500 students enrolling in Arts & Humanities across the University and the Plymouth College of Art or from the 360 talented Creative Arts & Design graduates becoming available per year.
- A region with a pedigree to annually create Royal Television Society award winning graduates.
- The University has a well-respected BA in Film & Television Production and just down the coast in Cornwall, Falmouth University’s BA in Television has launched the career of a huge number of key people working in television today.
- There are also a range of degrees available in ancillary subjects, such as Film, Animation and Graphics degrees at Plymouth College of Art (one of seven only specialist art/creative colleges in country) and Acting, Game Design and Music Production degrees at Plymouth Marjon University.
- The city has opened the new £13million STEM regional centre of excellence, which will be a vital facility for helping Plymouth employers to better meet their need for highly skilled, higher-level technicians and apprentices.
- Named geographic priority area for targeted investment through Arts Council (ACE) grants for the Arts programme and managed funds.
History dating back to 1856, the college provides unrivalled specialist expertise across the Fine Arts, the Applied Arts, Spatial Design, 3D, Animation, Photography, Media and Entrepreneurship
BTEC Extended Diploma, Foundation Levels and Apprenticeships, through to a full spectrum of BA Honours Degree and a Masters programme.
The University is home to the highly successful i-DAT (Institute of Digital Art and Technology) network, which has been delivering world class cultural activities since 1998. I-DAT pushes the boundaries of digital arts / creative media practice.
The Arts Institute provides world-leading research across, between and with arts and humanities disciplines.
Creative Summer Studio offers a range of collaborative services specifically designed to help businesses solve creative challenges.
Peninsula Arts is the wide-ranging public arts programme of the University and plays a pivotal role in building culture and art in the city and South West region, supporting established, new and emerging artists from around the world. The programme includes exhibitions, dance, films, music, performance and talks.
Aims to place culture at the heart of Plymouth’s development into one of Europe’s finest, most vibrant waterfront cities, where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed by everyone
Plymouth’s creative industries generate an estimated turnover in excess of £250 million, with 11 million day visitors a year coming to Plymouth
Located on the University’s campus, Formation Zone nurtures and develops new, high-value businesses Provides a dynamic environment encompassing the knowledge, facilities and resources to inspire and enable successful business ideas
Priority areas for business ideas include creative industries, hi-tech, marine, environmental, and advanced engineering
A dynamic community music organisation increasingly recognised as a model of excellence both locally and nationally
Part of a network of Youth Music Action Zones set up in areas of social and economic need by national charity Youth Music
A multi-million pound arts and creative hub bring affordable studios to our next generation of creatives as well as accessible art to our City residents – all within beautiful seafront heritage buildings.
Plymouth is leading the international celebrations for Mayflower 400 in 2020, to mark the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers which will support/highlight the US-UK special relationship through major history, culture and military partnership events. An international partnership of 13 locations across 3 nations, UK, US and Holland.
As part of the Mayflower 400th anniversary commemorations we will see the opening of the Plymouth History Centre, a £37 million scheme to transform the current museum into a cutting-edge cultural centre. The History Centre takes a major leadership role as a national centre of excellence for the Visual Arts.
Award winning CIC, RIO are transforming The Market Hall derelict Grade II listed building into a £7million cutting-edge space for digital skills, research, learning and entertainment which incorporates an impressive 15m ‘heads up’ immersive dome theatre, the first of its kind in Europe.
Plymouth Arts Centre is a nationally acclaimed centre for contemporay art, independent cinema, and creative learning.
Supports, develops and champions the creative industries outside London through talent and audience development, supporting businesses, facilitating production, funding and advocacy.
Launched in October 2011, with a mission to develop the film, games, digital and creative sectors in the English regions.
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