New £25m Creative Places Growth Fund for West of England’s creative sector: Share your views on how it should be spent
The West of England is one of six priority regions to benefit from the government’s £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund. The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority will receive £25m of the funding to support the region’s creative industries.
For three years from April 2026, the funding will focus on four themes. The three priority sectors are screen, createch and music but other areas of the creative industries will be supported too.
Plans being discussed at the moment are as follows:
For full details watch this video:
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West of England Mayoral Combined Authority is running several events so people from the creative industries across the region can share their views on the plan for the fund and other ideas. The events kicked off with UWE Bristol‘s Bristol and Bath Screen Summit.
Helen Godwin, mayor of the West of England, opened the event and said:
“The Creative Places Growth Fund is a real vote of confidence, and the West of England Combined Authority is putting on a series of sessions with different parts of the sector over the coming weeks and months to help shape how we invest.
“The team are really keen that it is an inclusive exercise, and that we hear from the people who are doing all the amazing work, so we know what we need to do and how we best spend the money.
“We do of course have some ideas. The fund will invest to drive growth, innovation and global competitiveness across our creative industries. We think that the funding should include targeted business growth programmes such as international trade and investment initiatives to expand our global reach.
“The fund can also provide creative businesses and freelancers with access to diverse types of finance and support for businesses to adopt new technologies and to innovate even further.
“Sector specific development could include the establishment of a new screen development body, a regional production fund and a music development programme.
“Alongside these initiatives, the fund can address skills gaps and deliver large scale events to boost regional profile and the visitor economy.
“The money should also upskill workers, and it also should be used to attract more private investment to boost production here.
“We believe that if we work together, we can strengthen the west’s position as a world leading creative hub, but it can only happen with you at the heart of it. We are here to support, to help, to steer where necessary, but it must come from within the sector. I’m so excited to work with you all.”
Events have taken place in Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare.
There’s an upcoming online event for South Gloucestershire businesses on Tuesday 2 December at 3pm. You can register here.
You can also submit feedback about the fund here.
To stay updated on the Creative Places Growth Fund, sign up to the mailing list.
Bristol Creative Industries is the membership network that supports the region's creative sector to learn, grow and connect, driven by the common belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone.
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