In the Spotlight: flagship investments for UK’s creative industries

In the run-up to London 2012, the Olympiad is responsible for a number of UK-wide projects involving theatre, film, art, dance, music, storytelling, museums, libraries and festivals.

Artists Taking the Lead, for example - developed by Arts Council England in partnership with London 2012 and the arts councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - is one of the Olympiad's creative highlights, resulting in 12 new works of art across the country. The Royal Shakespeare Company is also developing a celebration of Shakespeare "as international property" in performance, with a series of collaborative productions with UK theatre companies and their international counterparts.

[…] A British success story - London and the UK are at the centre of the global film industry

Amanda Neville

Director of the BFI

But, then, from music, cinema and theatre to fashion, design and architecture, the UK has always broken new ground and enjoyed a thriving creative scene recognised across the world (Glasgow and Liverpool, for instance, were awarded European Capital of Culture status, in 1990 and 2008 respectively). With a diverse talent base and acclaimed colleges - such as the Royal College of Art, London College of Fashion, Goldsmiths, Central St Martin's College of Art and Design, Edinburgh College of Art, the National Film and Television School and the Northern Film School - the UK creative sector is inventive, life-enriching and an important part of the economy.

Securing the future

More recently, the UK has launched a series of cultural initiatives and investments to help secure Britain's future as a world leader in the creative industries. In October, the British Film Institute (BFI) announced that the Government had committed £45million to the creation of a new, state-of-the-art national film centre on London's bustling South Bank, home of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Hayward Gallery and Purcell Room. The new £166million centre - a location for the study, enjoyment and celebration of film and television - will be "an international destination for film which is digitally connected, wired to the world.”

Amanda Neville, Director of the BFI, says: "This is hugely exciting news for film culture in Britain, for the whole of the British film industry and a positive turning point in the history of the BFI. Film is one of the greatest art forms of today and universally popular. It is also a British success story - London and the UK are at the centre of the global film industry... We are a step closer in our ambition to inspire and excite audiences everywhere in a new digital Britain.”

Major investment

Other major creative industries investments include a new £10million visitor centre at the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge; £50million towards the extension of Tate Modern; £22.5million towards the creation of the British Museum's World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, and £33million to secure the future of the British Library's newspaper archive in new premises in Yorkshire. Then there is the NorthernNet project, a new £15million high-speed network aimed at revolutionising collaboration, innovation and interaction between the digital and creative industries in the North of England.

Then there is the NorthernNet project, a new £15million high-speed network aimed at revolutionising collaboration, innovation and interaction between the digital and creative industries in the North of England.

Into this mix or original art, culture and creative thinking comes interest and investment from major international names. For example, leading US film studios - including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros - are consistently attracted to make movies in the UK, thanks to an attractive tax environment and world-renowned talent both behind and in front of the camera. Films which began production in the third quarter of 2009 include Inception (Warner Bros) directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio; The Special Relationship (HBO in association with the BBC) and Your Highness (Universal), starring Natalie Portman. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and Clash of the Titans (both Warner Bros), plus Gulliver's Travels (20th Century Fox) were shot in the first half of 2009.

Many computer games companies have made the UK their home. Crystal Digital Technology, one of the largest computer graphics firms in China, is now operating a base in London; and, in March, was named as the 16th sponsor for London 2012, and will provide digital imaging services for the Games. Japanese computer games giant Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), meanwhile, has development studios in Leamington Spa, Cambridge and London, the latter distinguished as the company's largest internal development studio in Europe. Sony Computer Entertainment also has two studios in the UK's Northwest (in Liverpool, and Runcorn, Cheshire), a region which has become the second largest creative and digital sector in Europe.

The Northwest is also home to TT Games, which was acquired by Warner Bros in 2007 and is behind the successful LEGO Star Wars: The Videogame and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures; Prinovis, a German-owned printing company with a £130million gravure printing plant on a 50-acre site in Speke on the outskirts of Liverpool; and MediaCity UK, the UK's first purpose-built home for creative and digital businesses (including a new outpost for the BBC), currently being built in Salford. Phase one is due to open in 2011, and businesses expected to take up residence include broadcasters, film-makers, publishers, media companies and ICT firms, and game and software producers. Jane Deane is Programme Director for MediaCityUK. She says: "It needed the setting of the Quays and it needed a site as big as this. We have 36-acres being developed for Phase One, but that's part of a 200-acre planning site. The potential is colossal.”