With Brexit looming over us, many fear for the creative industries. The government and the majority of the nation seem to be unaware of the importance of this growing sector, as well as the benefits it brings to the UK.
I ask you in the uncertain times ahead to remember and support the driving force that is behind these 10 things:
- A growing economy
In 2015 the creative industries generated £87.4bn for the country and the amount it generates is continually growing. It is seeing a 7% rise in the creative industries CVA compared to the average rise of 17.4 % across the economy. These figures highlight how the creative industries are a reliable endorser of the British economy.
- Money super-market advertisements
It may be the most complained about ad of 2016, receiving over 1,063 complaints, but Dave the worker who likes to strut his stuff down the high street in his high heels and Gary the dancing body guard have become household names. Helping to increase Money Super-Market’s profits by 12% in 2016, this advertisement highlights the positive impacts that the creative industries can have to businesses.
- The Shard
The tallest building in Western Europe made up of 11,000 glass panels and the 59th tallest building in the world. All created by the architect Renzo Piana, who once said ‘I hate tall buildings’, the shard is a symbol of the creative architecture and art that is available in the UK.
- Stormzy
The man responsible for the ‘rise of UK grime’, turning it into something that could be defined as our biggest cultural export. With the likes of Kanye West showing to be a big fan, Stormzy has helped the UK’s music industry to be recongised for its innovation around the world.
- Bridget Jones’s Baby
One of 2016’s top three grossing films at UK box office, and opening at number 1 in 24 different countries, Bridget Jones’s Baby was filmed in the UK’s Working Title Studio, making Bridget a national treasure.
- Glastonbury Festival
Started in 1970 on Worthy Farm in Glastonbury, Somerset, by local farmer Michael Eavis, Glastonbury Festival is now the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world.
- Victoria Beckham
If this woman hasn’t spiced up the British creative industries, I don’t know who has. Starting as a member of one of the most famous girl bands of all time, the Spice Girls introduced the true meaning of ‘Girl Power’. Victoria then created her own fashion label that won her Glamour’s ‘entrepreneur of the year award’, Victoria Beckham is definitely a queen of the British creative industries and a face of British culture.
8. 50 Shades of Grey
Everywhere you turned in 2015 someone was always reading this book. Selling over 5.3 million copies, and being turned into a Hollywood film, the book by British writer E. L. James is one of UK’s and the world’s greatest literature success stories.
- Banksy
Listed in Time’s world’s 100 most influential people in 2010, Banksy has helped put British art on the map. Keeping his identity hidden, he started sharing his art on the walls of Bristol during the 1990s and now sees it sold for hundred of thousands of dollars in auction houses around Britain and the world.
- 8 Million Jobs
The amount of creative industry jobs increased by 5.5% in 2014, which is more than double the 2.1% national average rise in UK employment. Therefore, in simpler terms, without the creative industries in the UK many of us would be unemployed.
All images free to use under Creative Commons legislation.
Cover Image Source: Flickr.com/photos/unionjack
“Union Jack” (CC BY-NC 2.0) by csaga
CREATIVE CONVERSATION 
