UK Government Offers £60 Million Funding Injection for Creative Industries

Funding will be allocated to start-up video game studios, British music and film exports, and creative businesses outside of London

The UK Government has recently announced that hundreds of creative businesses and projects will receive government funding, with the aim of supporting them to contribute to the country's economic growth. A package totaling £60 million will support UK music and film, as well as a range of other creative pursuits.

The package will focus on creative activity taking place outside of London, and particularly in regions such as the North of England, South Wales, Glasgow, the Edinburgh-Dundee corridor, and Belfast.

The government is positioning this funding as part of a wider aim of leveraging the UK's cultural soft power. To this end, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has formed a new Soft Power Council, which will focus on leveraging the "enormous love and respect which [the UK's] music, sport and educational institutions generate on every continent."

The specific details of how the funding will be allocated have not yet been announced.

"From film and fashion to music and advertising, our creative industries are truly world-class and play a critical role in helping us deliver on this Government’s mission to drive economic growth in all parts of the UK," said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

"Our £60 million funding boost will support creative and cultural organizations across the UK to turbocharge growth by transforming local venues, creating jobs, supporting businesses and spreading opportunity across the country."

"But this is by no means the limit of our ambitions, which is why the creative industries are at the heart of the forthcoming Industrial Strategy and will continue to play a key part in this Government’s Plan for Change."