A five-year plan to create thousands of new jobs in Leicester’s creative economy and engage hundreds more adults in the city’s arts and culture scene has been published.

Leicester Leading: 2025-2030 is an ambitious vision for the future of the city’s cultural and creative industries, developed and funded by Leicester City Council, in partnership with De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), the University of Leicester and Arts Council England.

The strategy aims to build on the city’s status as one of the most creative cities in the UK and reflects Leicester’s ambitions to be more vocal about its success in the sector.

Work carried out for the strategy revealed that Leicester had almost three times as many creative economy jobs as official figures* suggested – 15,600 compared to 5,310 – with people working in the arts, computer consultancy, music, photography, publishing, film and television . , design and designer fashion, advertising and marketing as well as software and games.

But over the next five years, the city council wants to see the number of jobs in this fast-growing sector increase by 28% to 20,000.

It also wants to increase the number of adults in the city actively participating in cultural and creative activities, with the aim of increasing engagement from 80% to the national average of 90%.

Professor Katie Normington, Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University, played a key role in creating the strategy.

Professor Normington, himself a trained dramatist, said: “Leicester’s reputation for creativity and culture is a real strength for the city. Adobe recently named Leicester the fifth most creative city in the UK.

“But this strategy aims to weave creativity into the fabric of the city, to widen access to culture and build a strong pipeline of creative activity, through education, into industry.”

The team behind the new strategy, at the launch event in Phoenix Leicester

Deputy Mayor for Culture Cllr Vi Dempster said: “Over the last decade or so, the City Council and its partners have supported Leicester’s creative economy with around £75 million, investing in major projects – including the expansion of the Phoenix Arts Centre, DOCK workspaces and Leicester Museum & Art Gallery – which has helped create a strong and diverse creative sector.

“Together with our partners, we want to build on that success and showcase the city as a leader in the cultural and creative industries – and promote it nationally as a place to invest.

“We also want to reach out to the people who live here and engage more of them in the city’s rich and varied cultural life. Whether it’s visiting a museum, attending a festival, learning a new skill, helping to plan cultural and heritage celebrations or taking part in a creative activity, these experiences can significantly improve the quality of people’s lives and their enjoyment of their City.

“So this new strategy will have real benefits for the people of Leicester, while providing an ambitious roadmap for change and growth for the city and its creative sector over the next five years.”

Consultants Fifth Sector conducted the initial engagement on the strategy, involving hundreds of key stakeholders in roundtable discussions, one-to-one meetings and online questionnaires.

Extensive research and consultation helped shape the strategy and identify its eight key themes: Leicester Leading; Empowering Talent; Share and shout; a signature festival; Inclusive heritage; Inspiring spaces; Creative Circles; and Vision for Growth.

Central to the development of each theme is a commitment to promoting equality and inclusion, challenging entrenched inequalities, celebrating diversity and providing access to opportunities for all in Leicester.

Peter Knott, Area Director for the Midlands at Arts Council England, said: “Leicester is a diverse and international city, with its artists, cultural organizations and creative industries making it a fantastic place to live, grow up, study, work and visit.

“This strategy provides an ambitious path so that by 2030, people at all stages of their lives, and from all parts of the city, can actively participate in and benefit from high-quality cultural and creative activities.”

Professor Henrietta O’Connor, Provost and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, said: “We are delighted that Leicester City Council is leading a new strategy for cultural and creative industries, which will support the growth of these important sectors in the city. .

– University research and innovation have a key role to play in the regional economy. This is exemplified by the partnership between the University of Leicester, Leicester City Council and the National Space Centre, which is transforming the local technology economy in Space City. Home to global leaders in the space sector, including Rolls Royce, Airbus, Maxar and CGI, the £100m Space Park Leicester will contribute £750m to the economy and create high value employment.”

Leicester Leading: 2025-2030 was launched at the Leicester Business Festival and is available to download here

Detailed background research conducted by Fifth Sector is available here

Published on Tuesday, November 19, 2024