Arts Council chair Sir Peter Bazalgette calls on design and advertising sectors to look beyond themselves to power ‘proper industry strategy’
Chair of Arts Council England Sir Peter Bazalgette has called on the numerous sectors which form the creative industry in Britain to look beyond themselves and come together to inform a “proper strategy” for the industry.
Speaking at the Advertising Assocation's Lead conference yesterday (29 January), Bazalgette cited recent figures from Deloitte. The creative industry as a whole is growing 10 per cent year on year (three times the rate of the British economy) and has created employment at six times the rate of the British economy.
“But beyond economic value, it defines our culture, conversation, national identity and brand abroad. It is incredibly important,” he said.
He stated that moving forward it should have a “proper industrial strategy” which all of the sectors – including design, advertising, marketing, TV and publishing – should feed in to.
“We need to give a unified voice to the government and develop those policies,” he said. “We’ve not had that yet. We’re not working together. We’re not sharing best practice or the best ideas."
Education is one such area which could benefit from stronger alliances, Bazalgette explained, and in turn that will empower the creative industry as well as the individual sectors that form it.
“It’s a really important issue at the moment. Arts have taken a back seat in our state schools which have become dominated by the STEM agenda as headmasters and mistresses tick boxes, and things that are not judged by Ofsted have been put to one side,” he said.
“Not only is it the right of every child to realise their own creative potential but the best that come through are critical to the design, marketing and advertising industries – the creative industry.”
Bazalgette ended his plea by urging those in the room to “be responsible people” and think harder about how their own sector fits into the industry as a whole.