Latest news with #CreativeIndustriesCouncil
BBC News
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Has London's cultural scene recovered from Covid lockdown?
London's cultural scene was among the sectors hardest hit when the first Covid lockdown began in March 2020, and five years on some in the industry say it is still finding its working on theatre productions were among the workers facing the most uncertainty with many on freelance contracts and not knowing when the curtains would go up again."It was just absolutely horrendous because we didn't know how long it was going to last," theatre producer Eleanor Lloyd said."The income went from a very healthy business that we'd been running here already for a year and a half, to zero income - I mean absolutely nothing." Ms Lloyd said theatres faced many false starts over the course of the pandemic which added to the uncertainty for her and her 45 employees. Some in the sector went on to find other forms of income, including actor Serene Sabah who decided to open an ice cream parlour."I remember having a conversation on a Zoom [call] with other theatre makers where we were being told that it might be that we never go to their theatre again," she said. "Will it ever come back?"Despite being among the hardest hit, theatre-goers did come back and relatively quickly, with numbers surpassing pre-pandemic as soon as 2022, according to the Creative Industries Council. With the creative industries generating £50bn a year for London's economy, the lockdowns had much wider knock-on effects across the Simons, City Hall's deputy mayor for culture, told BBC London that "culture had long-Covid"."A lot of the industry had to take on debt," she said. "There were a lot of job losses. This is an industry that's a very freelance industry, lots of small businesses and they were the types of businesses and jobs that got hit really hard." She said City Hall is investing £10m to help boost the sector to "help it to continue to recover".Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NITA), said: "I don't think we've been given a chance to recover."He said the nightlife industry has moved from the challenges of lockdowns into a "cost of operating crisis" because of the rising costs, such as energy, and the rises in employer's national insurance contributions and the national living wage, which takes affect from 1 April."Many of them have just never had a chance to really get sight or of a recovery," Mr Kill added. While the nightclub industry has been in overall decline in recent years, the owner of a soon-to-be-opened venue in Kensington, west London, is more Rougier said: "We are witnessing a real positive culture shift where people are really begging for more spaces, more spaces to communicate with others and socialise."The headlines have been negative over the past few years. "Places are shutting down, venues are shooting all around the UK and I think it's time we all took responsibility and come together and shine a light on the culture and socialising spaces."
BBC News
27-01-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Gaming start-ups in the East call for more government money
More government help is needed to fund start-up companies in the computer games industry, the head of a leading gaming firm has told BBC Politics Burrows, chief executive of SKC Games Studio, external in Suffolk, said there was "a lack of appetite to invest in the games industry" with private investments or government grants. He said it was "impossible" to get the money in advance of a finished product, resorting instead to raising £1.5m through friends and family. Sir Peter Bazalgette, co-chair of the Creative Industries Council, welcomed the government's investment of £40m set aside for start-up video games studios, film makers and creative industries outside of London. Sir Peter, who also brought Big Brother to a global audience, added: "We need the private and public sector to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into our brilliant creative industries." In 2023, the gaming industry in the UK was valued at £7.82bn and according to trade body uKie,, external employed 1,200 people in the East of England. The majority of those are in Cambridge. Babita Devi, commercial director at SKC Games Studio, said finding funding for the product was very difficult."It was very challenging trying to get the investment in the games studio," she said. The firm, which is based in Haverhill and can take advantage of the centre of learning that is Cambridge University, has recently developed a new product using sophisticated human-like gaming are designed in art studios and paired with artificial intelligence programming to create realistic avatars who can answer "any questions". Bafta-winning gamer and founder of Sketchbook Games, external, Mark Backler, from Ipswich, Suffolk, said finding funding was difficult in the games industry."There are a lot of hoops to jump through and so many are applying for funding," he Backler, who also helped set up GameAnglia, external - which supports young people getting into the games industry in the region - said: "One of the great things about the gaming industry is it combines creativity with business - there's a range of opportunities: doing music, animation, game design, programming, accountancy and marketing." Sir Peter, who created popular shows such as Ready Steady Cook, Changing Rooms and Ground Force, told BBC Politics East: "When I go into sixth forms, I ask: 'What's your favourite fashion? Movie? Game?'"Then I say: 'What are the jobs in this industry?' and they haven't a clue. That's where we need to look in the mirror and say: 'We have not defined career path properly into the creative industries'." The growth of the industry is particularly important to Samara and Freddie, who are both Level 3 students at Suffolk New College in Ipswich. They are studying games art and animation. Samara, 19, from Colchester, said: "You're learning so much and it is not just about creating games, it is the art that we are also doing, so art comes into it and we can use different mediums, like any other artists." Freddie, 17, from Sudbury, said he hoped there would be jobs out there when the course ended. "You learn so many different things you can put anything into a game," Freddie said."So you are testing it all and when you go into the industry you can hone your craft." A Department of Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "The creative industries, including video games, play an essential role in driving economic growth and spreading opportunity. "We want to support talented new game developers to reach their full potential and create the next generation of hit games."That is why we are investing a further £5.5m into the UK Games Fund over the next year to support early-stage developers, and are backing the sector through our upcoming Creative Industries Sector Plan." BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 26 January at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external.
