The Minister for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries has announced that Skipton and Ripon will benefit from the Government’s recently expanded £28.4 million Create Growth Programme (CGP).
From 2010 to 2019, the creative industries grew more than one and a half times faster than the wider economy, and in 2022 they generated £126 billion in economic value, while employing 2.4 million people. The Government has therefore identified the creative industries as one of five priority sectors to deliver future growth.
To that end, the Government published the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which sets out ambitious plans to grow the sector by £50 billion by 2030, support one million extra jobs, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity.
The Create Growth Programme is a key part of this, with around 1,800 creative businesses benefitting from business support, investor networking activities and the opportunity to apply for loans, grants and co-investment partnerships.
From now until the end of the 2024/25 financial year, regions will receive £520,000 in grant funding to deliver a package of targeted business support. They will also benefit from an investor capacity building programme and creative businesses will have access to a capital fund of up to £6 million to provide finance and leverage further private investment.
Julian Smith said, “This is great news for creative industry businesses across Skipton and Ripon.
“I’m grateful to my ministerial colleagues for their work in this area and for recognising the incredible and unique contribution that the creative industries offer.”
