As director, I don’t get involved in the day-to-day production of most of our creative work at we are ghost; to be frank, my team are better at it than me. But, I do consider myself a creative person and I do passionately believe in the value of the creative industries, not just socially but economically too.

I’m originally from this sleepy town of Burton, more famously known for its beer and marmite than its creativity. But, for generations there’s been a creativity brewing, from its specialist art school, and more recently, the ever-expanding art courses of the local college.

The Burton and South Derbyshire College hosted its annual exhibition of student work; mostly level 2, or what was know in my day a “foundation course”. I studied this course in my youth (now only 35) and was keen to see what had changed, see what the next generation had to offer and see if I would recognise any old faces.

The show was held in the upper floor of a local shopping centre; which was a great idea to give art a more public exposure. The work on show was well presented, creative and it was lovely to feel that buzz of proud parents, excited students and general well wishers, all gleefully marking the end point of 2 years hard work.

With a few of my colleagues, we had a stroll around playing ‘pick your favourite’. Chatting about what talent we saw and taking some inspiration from the fact that we had all been here ourselves before and taking pride in the fact that we now work in an industry we admired.

Awards were presented and students spoke with pride about universities, both near and far, that they would be attending.

I sometimes feel that marketing is sometimes a dirty word and misunderstood and ‘arty-farty’ is a phrase that is far too wildly used. This college show was a great reminder that our industry is a great profession, full of hard working, creative people and when done right, a really profitable sector for our clients – we should all be shouting more about that.

I’ll leave you with this link to the economic facts of our industry, allowing us all to shout a little louder about why arts education is of value and that there is real business value to what we do.

“Industries including advertising and marketing, arts and film, TV and radio, and museums and galleries are all part of this thriving economic sector, which is now worth almost £92bn, according to the figures published by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, November 2017.”

References–

Creative industries’ record contribution to UK economy //
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and The Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP // Nov 2017