upfront Creative Industries In Wales - What’s Next?


Buzz talks to Dawn Bowden, Wales’ Deputy Minister For The Arts & Sport, regarding the work done by Creative Wales to support homegrown culture since its launch last year.


What is Creative Wales and what is their mission? Creative Wales was set up as a Welsh Government agency in January 2020 to support the development of the fast-growing creative industry in Wales. We of course want to position Wales as one of the best places in the world for creative businesses to thrive.


The focus is on developing and promoting growth across the Screen, Digital, Music and Publishing sectors. Creative Wales continually invests in developing infrastructure and creative businesses and building on continued success, identifying opportunities and actively promoting diversity and equality across the industry.


The team are passionate about supporting homegrown talent and attracting international creative projects to Wales. In doing so, we are strengthening the industry in the long term and creating exciting opportunities for future generations.


Can you talk a bit about Creative Wales’ successes and impacts so far? The creative industries have suffered a challenging year. When Creative Wales was launched early in 2020, no one could have predicted the global coronavirus pandemic, nor its devastating impact on our lives and livelihoods. But Creative Wales, in its infancy, has been instrumental in supporting the sector to respond rapidly to the crisis. Even in the face of unprecedented challenges, key areas of our work have progressed – with some very exciting developments.


The summer was the busiest period of film and TV production activity Wales has ever seen, with approximately 24 productions shooting across Wales between May to October. These productions include Havoc on Netflix, starring Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker; His Dark Materials series 3 for BBC One; and a brand new Lucasfilm production – a reimagined TV series of the original movie classic Willow that will air on Disney Plus.


With a screen sector that sits behind just London and Manchester for popularity, we are also looking to boost the industry workforce in Wales. Creative Wales has invested around £8 million into supporting screen projects in production over the next few months alone.


These successes also extend to our wider sectors. Creative Wales has supported Wallace & Gromit’s


Info: wales.com/creative-wales 14


latest adventure into augmented reality, through the provision of advice and guidance to Fictioneers in securing Innovate UK funding for The Big Fix Up, An Augmented Reality Story, the much-loved Aardman characters’ mission to ‘fix up’ cities through a new interactive phone app.


Creative Wales music team has also financially supported projects including the Welsh Music Prize, Forte, PYST and the AM digital platform Horizons for an Independent Venue Week mini-tour of Wales and PPL Momentum Music Fund, which has supported a further seven Welsh artists in the past 18 months. In June 2020 a Creative Wales Spotify channel was launched, hosting monthly playlists showcasing new releases from Welsh artists covering all genres.


Before the pandemic, a Grassroots Music Venue Fund was launched, which initially supported four small music venues based in Newport, Bethesda, Cardiff and Llandudno. Our support for venues, recording studios and suppliers has continued with Covid 19 relief funds such as the Cultural Recovery Fund.


Why are the creative and cultural industries important to Wales? They create jobs, forge partnerships, and Wales’ creative work reaches far and wide. The sector also helps us to tell the story of Wales. The sector doesn’t just create jobs and wealth – it contributes to a strong national brand and helps to promote Wales and its culture and talent to the world. The sector brings benefits from two directions – economic and cultural. The creative industries will also be key to our recovery from the pandemic and the sector has shown resilience and an openness to find innovative ways to move forward.


We want to ensure that creative ideas can be turned into economic success. Creative Wales not only ensures business support for the growing number of production companies based in Wales, but also plays a key role in attracting productions to shoot in Wales, maximising the impact of inward investments on the local economy and the wider supply chain.


Can you explain how you are supporting access to Creative and Cultural skills development?


At the launch of Creative Wales, skills and talent support was identified as a key priority for our creative sectors. Since January 2020, Creative Wales’ skills


and talent team has worked hard to make connections between stakeholders, industry, education and training providers to deliver benefits to the screen sector and maximise limited resources.


Productions which receive funding from Creative Wales must commit to providing trainee opportunities in the form of paid placements. These are tracked and monitored to help ensure future careers pathways for all trainees. More than 120 trainees have benefitted from paid placements on Creative Wales-supported productions in the past two years. These placements are tracked and monitored to help ensure future careers pathways for all trainees.


Creative Wales has worked in partnership with unions, training providers, further education and higher education, broadcasters, government, industry and with UK-wide body ScreenSkills to support skills projects and encourage a joined-up approach and avoid duplication. A total of 12 projects have been supported, including the new national film and television school hub in Wales, NFTS Cymru.


What are the plans for the future? 2021 will see a continued focus on skills and talent development, diversity and inclusivity. We want a diverse sector that provides opportunities and equality of outcome for all. We are also keen to explore all opportunities to further expand the availability of quality studio space across Wales. As demand for space increases in the UK, we want Wales to be at the top of the list of great locations to produce new content.


Our focus will also be on developing an action plan for increased support for the video games sector, alongside other technology based creative businesses. Creative Wales will continue to offer a streamlined, dynamic and innovative service to the creative industries sector, aligned to the needs of the industry.


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