Birmingham event will showcase local creative talent.
Professional marketing body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, in partnership with Creative Skillset, is embarking on the second stage of its nationwide tour to champion, celebrate and grow the reputation of the UK’s creative industries which contribute £71.4 billion GVA to the UK economy and employ 1.68 million workers. Following the success of the first event in Bristol, the tour will continue on to Birmingham on Wednesday 23rd July.
The event will see 200 people celebrate the future of the Creative Industries in Birmingham which comprise of 3,450 creative businesses including design, advertising, video games, film, and publishing and contributes £1.25 billion to the local economy. Of the creative businesses in the Midlands area, 12 leading creative, digital and media agencies are in IPA membership. In addition, Birmingham-based Aspire4u, Bareface Media, Blue Moon Creative, McCann Birmingham, Orb, The Partnership and WAA are among the businesses taking an apprentice for this year’s IPA Creative Pioneers Challenge, which offers creative apprenticeships to local school leavers.
At the Creative Birmingham event, Anita Bhalla of the Creative City Partnership will present a vision for the future of Birmingham’s creative industries, followed by a panel discussion with representatives including Marc Reeves, Publishing Director Midlands, Trinity Mirror Group, Andy Wilson IPA City Head for Birmingham and Chief Executive, WAA, David Harte, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, Birmingham City University, Jaspal Sohal, Head of Games and Digital Media, Creative England, representatives from the BBC Academy and more. The event will also hear from Lewis Blackwell who is writing a series of features for The Drum to coincide with the nationwide tour to Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. The articles will provide an outsider’s view of the state of the creative industries within these cities.
Says Andy Wilson, IPA City Head for Birmingham and Chief Executive, WAA: “Birmingham’s creative industries are making huge progress, thriving across a range of sectors from advertising to film to tech. The Create Birmingham event is a great opportunity to build on that progression, unite Greater Birmingham behind a common purpose, identify further growth opportunities and accelerate business development together. We are really excited to be involved in this celebration of creativity.”
Creative Birmingham is also being held in local partnership with BPA, Creative Alliance and Creative England.
