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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.
View the Creative Industries factsheet
Please note: The Sector Factsheets have not yet been updated to provide new details for each sector. This is due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented events of the last year resulting in the Office of National Statistics (ONS) having to delay the release of a variety of data due to their work on tracking the outbreak. As such, we have been unable to update the statistics used within these Sector Factsheets. As soon as the data becomes available from ONS we will work to rapidly update all of the accompanying statistics and provide the complete picture. We really do appreciate your patience and urge you to sign up to the Invest newsletter; here we will update subscribers as soon as the new data is released.
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.
Plymouth is leading the international commemorations for Mayflower 400, marking 400 years since the voyage of the Pilgrims to North America.
It will deliver a world-class series of events, public art and wider content that will commemorate this exceptional voyage and provide a major ongoing impact across the partnership, knitting together communities, inspiring creativity and culture, driving economic growth, and promoting understanding and education.
An international partnership of 13 locations across three nations, UK, US and Holland.
The Box is Plymouth’s major new museum, gallery and archive and the largest cultural and heritage space to open in the UK in 2020.
It has transformed the former museum and art gallery, central library and St Luke’s Church into a cutting-edge visitor attraction, and has leadership role as a regional centre of excellence for the visual arts.
The Box has nine permanent galleries that showcase the city’s art, natural history, human history, film, photographic and archive collections, with additional spaces for high profile exhibitions, educational activities and research.
The Box will host the largest commemorative exhibition dedicated to the Mayflower 400 anniversary until September 2021. From November 2021 until February 2022, it will host British Art Show 9 – the UK’s biggest touring exhibition of contemporary art.
iMayflower is a £6m Cultural Development Fund project that is developing the use of immersive and digital technologies to drive growth in the local economy and pride in the city. It aims to support digital creative makers and doers, unlocking innovation and supporting a positive change in every sector whilst showcasing Plymouth as a leading light in all things creative.
Plymouth Culture is an independent charity working strategically with the creative industries to place culture at the heart of Plymouth’s development into one of Europe’s finest, most vibrant waterfront cities.
It leverages investment into the sector and ensures that culture is a driving force for shaping positive economic and social impact across the city.
One of the few remaining independent colleges of art and design in the UK with a history dating back to 1856.
Provides unrivalled specialist learning in a range of Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Pre-Degree study across Art, Design and Digital Media.
The college is a UK Advisory Council Member of the Creative Industries Federation, a Member of the Crafts Council Advisory Group and a Steering Group Member of the Cultural
Learning Alliance. In 2019, Plymouth College of Art was granted Taught Degree-Awarding Powers, and conferred with International Baccalaureate World School status.
The University is supporting the creative industries through The Bridge, which coordinates Knowledge Exchange initiatives for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business. It does this by acting as the interface between the Faculty (and its resources such as the Digital Fabrication Laboratory) and the outside world. This includes helping businesses and organisations to develop new products, services and experiences and gain access to skills, talent and resources. The Bridge 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 University also houses The Arts Institute, which provides world-leading research across, between and with arts and humanities disciplines. It also coordinates 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, its programme includes exhibitions, dance, films, music, performance and lectures.
Located on the University’s campus, Formation Zone nurtures and develops new, high-value businesses. It 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.
Located in Plymouth’s Royal William Yard, Ocean Studios is home to resident and visiting artists who regularly host workshops, exhibitions and events for Plymouth’s creative community.
Visitors can learn new skills, relax in the café with a coffee, or make use of the flexible co-work space, ideal for artists, makers, entrepreneurs and businesses and accessible via the Real Ideas Membership.
Marjon Arts Centre: The creative hub for the north of the city boasting a 250 seater theatre and black box studio providing facilities for touring companies, exhibitions, an arts centre cafe and open mic venue. The cinema and theatre spaces support programmes across the performing arts.
The Workshop, based at the BBC campus provides excellent industry standard radio and television broadcasting studios. It links the journalism programmes to the BBC and provides digital opportunities for students and commercial ventures.
A dynamic community music organisation increasingly recognised as a model of excellence both locally and nationally.
We use the power of music to reach out and help transform the lives of some of the most at risk children, young people and adults across Plymouth and beyond.
Plymouth Design Forum (PDF) is an independent, representative voice and a meeting place for the design business community in Plymouth. PDF promotes design’s value and impact with a vision to transform the city into a respected and dynamic creative hub, attracting investment, commercial opportunities, whilst growing and retaining the best talent. www.plymouthdesignforum.co.uk
Plymouth was the UK’s first city to join the Fab City network and is also the world’s first twin Fab City, twinned with Brest, France. Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Council, University of Plymouth and the Real Ideas Organisation worked jointly on the Fab City commitment to produce everything the city consumes by 2054.
‘The Art of the Possible’ has secured £700,000 of National Lottery funding as part of a wider £2.2m investment in Mayflower-themed cultural activity, including:
Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America: a travelling exhibition curated by the Box, uniting contemporary US-based indigenous artists and educators with UK museums through the creation of a new wampum belt.
This Land: In April 2021 Theatre Royal Plymouth will stage its first-ever international community production, created and performed by representatives of Plymouth, UK and the Wampanoag nation
The Hatchling: join as us an extraordinary visitor roams through Plymouth in summer 2021. Produced by the award-winning creative team at Trigger.
Once refurbished the Market Hall will be a world-class space for digital, situated in the heart of historic Devonport.
Building on Devonport’s incredible heritage of innovation and exploration, the Market Hall will be home to an awe-inspiring immersive dome as well as providing space for people to learn, work, develop new ideas and have fun!
The 15m diameter immersive dome – the first of its kind in western Europe – will allow you to explore a virtual world, without the need for a VR headset, opening up a world of immersive experiences.
The project is led by local social enterprise, Real Ideas Organisation, in partnership with Plymouth City Council, the Institute of Digital Arts and Technology (i-DAT at Plymouth University), City College Plymouth and Devonport High School for Boys.
In addition to providing work space, lab and teaching spaces for the partners, the Market Hall will also offer space for events and meetings, a range of education programmes and a digital arts visitor centre.
At Creative England, we believe that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That’s why we build programmes that create opportunities for talent to access the best support and reach the next stage in their creative entrepreneurial journey.
Creative England is working to build the right environment for the future of the creative industries by helping creative businesses raise their ambition, create jobs, grow turnover and build the confidence and networks they need to be truly innovative. They invest, connect, mentor, advocate and collaborate at all levels of the industry, from individuals and small independents to large internationals, creating the right conditions for success.
Fab Lab Plymouth is a digital fabrication laboratory based at Plymouth College of Art, providing access to the latest in digital design technology including 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC milling machines.
Plymouth Arts Centre is a nationally acclaimed centre for contemporay art, independent cinema, and creative learning.
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