Unlocking growth and opportunity in the UK’s £170 billion culture, media and sport sectors was a central part of the vision laid out by Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy MP at an event in Manchester yesterday (31 July 2024), attended by 150 industry leaders including WGGB General Secretary Ellie Peers.

The summit, at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum, brought together organisations spanning the creative industries, sport, media, youth services, tourism and the arts.

Addressing the assembled guests, Nandy called on all those sectors to help contribute to the Government’s national growth mission, bringing people together and improving living standards in more villages, towns and cities.

General Secretary Ellie Peers said: “Today was a great opportunity to talk to policy makers and the leaders of other organisations about the change we need to see across the sector. Following the recent King’s Speech, WGGB called for the new Government to ensure that our world-leading creative industries are included in their national growth strategy, so to hear the new Culture Secretary echo this was very welcome.

“It is also vital that upcoming new legislation to protect workers does not exclude freelancers, who underpin arts and culture in the UK. Writers and other creators provide the creative fuel that fires film, TV, theatre, audio, videogames, publishing and more and without them those sectors would not exist.

“The manifesto we released prior to the General Election calls on the new Government to protect, support and nurture UK writers through fair pay, fair treatment, a sustainable sector, and protections on copyright and AI. We look forward to further meetings with the Culture Secretary and working with her and her department in coming weeks and months.”

Photo: Shutterstock.com/Fred Duval