Manchester to be Creative England base
MANCHESTER looks set to be the Northern home of Creative England, the new body for creative industries that will replace England’s nine screen agencies.
Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced last week the formation of Creative England as part of wide-ranging changes to the way the government supports the UK film industry, following the abolition of the UK Film Council, much of whose work will now be carried out by the British Film Council.
The current structure could no longer be afforded, he said, and the new body would work out of three regional hubs – North, Central and South. In the North this means the merger of Manchester-based Vision+Media, Screen Yorkshire in Leeds and Newcastle-based Northern Film & Media. But he refused to specify exactly where the regional hubs would be based.
However papers filed at Companies House showed the bosses of the screen agencies based in Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, were named as directors of the newly formed private company behind Creative England.
A statement from Alice Morrision, Vision+Media’s chief executive who is to step down in January, also underlined the role Manchester will play in the new organisation.
“There is a rationale around exploiting the growth and creative activity in the economic centres of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol that allows these centres to operate as crucial and cost effective hubs for industry support across England,” she said.
“The Creative England model will engage fully with a wide range of business support and finance across the country, it would not be cost effective to have centres in every city but the regional screen agencies have proved that they can provide efficient and effective delivery of local support and services. These functions will be crucial to maintain in some form.”
A spokesman for Vision+Media insisted the changes did not mean the end for Screen Yorkshire, which employs around 20 staff, and Northern Film & Media. “They are their own private companies and we hope their expertise will be involved in the creative North.”
Sally Joynson, chief executive of Screen Yorkshire, insisted no firm decision had been made on the location of the northern hub and said the organisation will seek to play a “major role” in the new creative England structure.
