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Creative Cities

Bristol: Calling for a more connected creative community

October 19, 2015 | 4 min read

Three of Bristol's creative leaders offer their take on what has been achieved within the creative community in Bristol a year since the first Creative Bristol event.

Last year’s Creative Bristol event on 11th June saw the Mayor George Fergusan inspiring Bristol and Bath to offer a credible alternative to London for creative organisations, including overseas investors, by working together.

One year on, the community got together to discuss progress and what the creative industries in Bristol need to be celebrating or doing more of in the way of talent, marketing, infrastructure and export.

The second annual Creative Bristol event was an opportunity to bring everyone back together, one year on from the first insightful session with Lewis Blackwell, to discuss our diverse, creative community in Bristol.

It was great to see so many people with different specialisms, be that advertising, digital, media, film, gaming or tech, coming together to share experience from their different sectors. The evening also provided useful and thought provoking discussions about what we could, or would, like to be doing better in the future.

One thing there was a real desire for was greater collaborative working between creative businesses in the region. After last year’s event we have seen much more collaboration by local suppliers, with firms working together to win joint pitches, for both national and regional clients.

It would be great to build on this further, helping to put the creative Bristol brand on the map, but also to ensure we are practicing what we preach to clients and investing in the local community.

Also promising to see was the talent coming into the industry at this exciting time, through new routes such as apprenticeships. These people, with their can-do purposeful attitude, will be the key to the future success of our industry in generations to come.

Andy Reid, Managing Director of McCann Bristol and IPA City Head for Bristol and the South West

The mix of different people, ages and businesses at last night’s event clearly shows how much Bristol’s creative industries care about the direction and future of our city and region. It was great to see the Creative Pioneers apprentices recognised, but worrying to hear that the perception for many is that agencies like Bray Leino Yucca only hire graduates; this is absolutely not the case.

The panel debate was lively and provocative, with some really challenging questions; for instance, ‘how prepared are Bristol employers to cater to the conditions and environments that talented people now expect?’ The answer is simpley that we’re getting better all the time.

The Creative Industries make Bristol a great place to live, and our city, per capita and in absolute terms, clearly has the strongest creative economy outside of London. We have to take responsibility for communicating this, and at Bray Leino Yucca we look forward to working with the IPA and Bristol Media to achieve bigger and better things.

Ben Martin Managing Director Bray Leino Yucca

Gregg Latchams was proud to sponsor the Creative Bristol event on 14 October held at the Engine Shed in Bristol. The event demonstrated the passion within the creative sector in the Bristol and Bath region and the need for joined up thinking between the various different factions within the sector.

This was of particular importance in relation to the recruitment of talent and retaining talent in the area, and the challenges faced by creative businesses of remote working. Most interesting was the shared belief that Bristol and Bath is a hub of creative talent, a fact that my firm is well aware of through the variety of creative businesses we act for.

We look forward to sponsoring more events in the future and supporting the creative talent in Bristol and Bath at all levels.’

Richard Gore Director Head of Digital Media & Technology, Gregg Latchams Limited

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