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Creative Britannia ... costume college and 5,000 arts apprentices
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent22.02.08
Thousands of "cultural" apprenticeships will be created as part of plans to bring Britain's creative industries into the mainstream.
An academy for costume and set design will be established and London is to host the world's first creative business conference - billed as a cultural Davos.
The announcement came in a new blueprint aiming to transform the country's native talent into jobs. It has been developed from two years of talks - by three successive holders of the Culture Secretary post - with leaders in film, fashion, software, music and other cultural businesses. About £70 million has been earmarked to implement the strategy.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham told the Standard: "It represents a major shift in government thinking. There has been a sense that the creative industries were on the fringe, but we are now going from the margins to the mainstream-We want to create the same formal structures of support as we have for other industries. And it will not be fanciful or wishful thinking for any young person to think they might have a career in the creative industries."
Plans include 5,000 apprenticeships a year in organisations from the National Trust to Universal Music Group.
The University Of The Arts is developing a programme that will introduce London teenagers to the possibilities of a creative career from the age of 14. The Government is also backing a permanent home for London Fashion Week and moves to protect live music venues after the closure of halls such as the Hammersmith Palais.
A national academy for backstage skills from costume-making to set design is planned for Thurrock, Essex, in partnership with the Royal Opera House.
London will signal its creative strength by hosting the inaugural World Creative Business Conference - a kind of cultural Davos - this autumn. The strategy comes a decade after Labour first acknowledged the importance of the creative industries in the heady days of Cool Britannia when Tony Blair welcomed the likes of Noel Gallagher to Downing Street.
While politicians today distance themselves from the Cool Britannia tag, Mr Burnham said Whitehall recognised the importance of this branch of business. The new strategy was the Government's response to calls for support. The creative industries have developed at twice the rate of the rest of the economy since 1997, now accounting for more than seven per cent of GDP.
Details were due to be announced as Mr Burnham visited Pinewood Studios for a tour of Europe's first permanent underwater filming stage.
• Plans to build a film centre on the South Bank are not yet viable, Mr Burnham said today. He described the British Film Institute's proposal for a new home to replace its base under Waterloo Bridge as "at an early stage". He wants reassurances that the project can attract the funding - in the region of £200 million - from private as well as public sources.
