CREATIVE METROPOLES

Public Strategies – help or hindrance?

Birminghamfrom heavy metal to creative hub

Jill RobinsonMA (Oxon) FRSA

From heavy metal to creative hub

This presentation will:• Set Birmingham’s approach to the creative

industries in context of the changing economy of the city in the last decades of the 20th C.

• Highlight key strategic developments in the 1990s and 2000s in the city.

• Consider some of the issues relating to the development of the Creative Industries in Birmingham.

• Offer some thoughts on where we are and what the future might hold

Heavy metal city19th C Birmingham

At the heart of the industrial revolutionRenowned for its engineering & metal working

skills

20th C BirminghamManufacturing centre of UK

Motor city

Recession cityBirmingham in 1980’s

Collapse of heavy industriesCollapse of automotive sector

Major job losses

Little or no alternative employment opportunities-particularly for low skilled, blue collar workers

Recovering cityBirmingham approach

Overarching strategic vision (Highbury 1987/8)• Specific initiatives

– Geographical areas – Quarters Plan

– Economic sectors including cultural and creative industries

Vision remained essentially unchanged until modified in 2007

• The Big City Plan

Recovering cityStrategy for restructuring of economy in

late 1980s and 1990s

Highbury Initiative (Complete rethink of city centre & surrounding quarters)

(New possibilities for wealth creation & employment)

Quarters Plan&

Investment in physical infrastructure

Recovering cityQuarters Plan

Renaissance cityPriorities for local policies in 1990’s

• Enhancing the attractiveness of the urban environment

• Hard infrastructure: public spaces e.g. city centre squares, public buildings e.g. ICC including Symphony Hall, controlled development of key quarters e.g. Jewellery Quarter;

• Soft infrastructure: support for high quality cultural activity in city centre e.g. CBSO, BRB + niche companies, development of events to animate the spaces e.g. ArtsFest

• Contributing to economic growth & wealth creation• Using cultural and creative sector to help change external

perceptions of the city & so encourage inward investment & visitors

• Public & private initiatives for low cost space for creatives, business start ups e.g. The Custard Factory, The Jewellery Business Centre

Renaissance cityFocus of local policies in 2000’s

• Regeneration of Eastside/Digbeth Quarter– First proposed in 1996, this has become one of the

biggest regeneration projects ever undertaken in the UK – The area has been home to creative practitioners since

early 1990’s, notably at and around The Custard Factory – Has been promoted as a Learning and Cultural Quarter,

Digital District, a Creative Hub

• Focused support for Creative Industries– Creative Cities Strategy 2002 & Action Plans to 2008

• Moving to narrower focus on subsectors e.g. digital

Renaissance City

Renaissance cityNational and regional context in 2000s

• National focus on Creative industries – DCMS Creative Britain Report– Arts Council of England grant schemes for artists & craft

practitioners– Design Council– NESTA

• Regional interest – Regional Development Agency (AWM) – Agenda for Action 2001 ‘Building a new and creative

culture’Cluster Plans included creative industries but under Tourism and Leisure or High Value consumer products

– 3 year Cluster Action Plans becoming more subsector specific & now focus is exclusively digital & screen media

Renaissance City • Examples of local strategies relevant to

the Creative industries agenda– Arts Strategy first developed in early 1990s &

modified in late 90s – Conservation Strategy 1999– Creative City Strategy 2002– Cultural Strategy 2006 – Heritage Strategy 2006– Economic Strategy 2005– The Big City Plan 2007

Creative City Strategy - 2002• 1. Consolidating Birmingham’s

international and UK role in creative industries

• 2. Taking new directions in business capability

• 3. Building talent and expertise by becoming a learning city

Creative City Strategy - 2002

• Three international and national prestige cultural quarters

• Supporting four leading edge clusters:-– software/ visual arts & design/ publishing– screen based media/ music– tourism & heritage/ leisure/ performing arts– higher value added consumer production

(crafts)• Creating a world-class physical environment and

showcasing the city

Creative City Strategy - 2002

• Focused development of product innovation and technical skills

• Birmingham as a learning city with an intensive stream of learning directed into creative industries, particularly in ICT and business skills

• Bridging - engagement with communities who are disadvantaged

• Creation of five City Wide Task Groups

AWMCluster Opportunity

GroupsMedia/Music

High value added

AWMZone Funding

Pillar 1 Bus.Linkeg business relocation

Pillar 2 LSC, etceg learning centres

LSC COFINANCING -Partnerships

Workforce development

BUSINESS LINK CITY COUNCIL AND PARTNERS

Creative City Initiative Projects-Business SupportNational EQUAL

Creative Knowledge Creative Companies

Knowledge Support for Business

Regeneration AreasSRB6

Aston Pride

THE PARTNERSHIP MAPTHE PARTNERSHIP MAP

RegionalVenture Capital Funds

Arts Council Investment -

Artists/Organizations

Development -Eastside TeamJQ Partnership

City Council Leisure and Culture -

InfrastructureEvents

MARKETING STRATEGY

DEVELOPMENT

£1,874,197

FEASIBILITY

£301,002

INCUBATION

£995,000

BUSINESS SUPPORT FORCREATIVE INDUSTRIES

£4,942,294including overheads of £526,000

BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES 2001-2005 BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES 2001-2005

PROGRAMMES

£1,246,095

(ERDF and MAIN BCC PROGRAMME)(ERDF and MAIN BCC PROGRAMME)

PROJECT PART FINANCED BY THEEUROPEAN UNION

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

£1m

OVERHEADSINCLUDING MARKETING

£1.3 M

BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES 2006-2008 BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES 2006-2008

BUSINESSPROGRAMMES

£1.7m

CREATIVESPACE

£1m

BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

£2m

MARKETDEVELOPMENT

£500k

BUSINESS SUPPORTFOR THE

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

£10m

FEASIBILITY£500K

PRE-STARTUP

CREATIVELOAN£2m

Creative City Barriers to delivery of the overarching strategy• Competing or parallel initiatives and policies of Birmingham

and the regional agencies• Lack of joined up thinking between the many different

agencies and Birmingham’s own depts.• Mismatch between public sector criteria and the needs of

clients• Complexity of support structures (red tape!!)• Shifting priorities of stakeholders for their funds• Failure/inability to commit financial support beyond the short

term (largely because of funding mechanisms & their time frames)

Creative Hub?Birmingham at the crossroads –

which way forward? Learning City?

Digital City? Creative Hub?

Science City?