£150m creative industries fund hands four Northern regions a share of the action

The North’s creative economy is set for a meaningful cash injection. As part of its Industrial Strategy, the government has confirmed plans to invest £150m in the creative industries of six regions outside London — and four of the six are Northern: Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, the North East and West Yorkshire. The remaining two are the West of England and the West Midlands.

The fund is to be split equally across the regions, which works out at roughly £25m each, aimed at driving growth, innovation and investment in sectors from film and television to music, gaming, design and digital media.

Recognition of a real Northern strength

This is not charity; it is a bet on existing assets. MediaCityUK in Salford anchors one of the largest broadcast and production clusters outside the capital. Leeds and the wider West Yorkshire region have a fast-growing screen and games sector. The North East has built a distinctive base in film production and digital. Liverpool’s music and cultural economy needs little introduction. The £150m is a recognition that the creative industries are no longer a London monopoly — and that the North has clusters worth scaling.

The case for concentration

That four of six regions are Northern is a notable tilt, and a welcome one for a part of the country that has often watched creative investment gravitate south. The risk, as ever with equal splits, is that £25m spread across a whole region’s creative sector dilutes into worthiness rather than impact. The regions that target the money — backing scaleups, studio infrastructure and skills pipelines rather than sprinkling grants — will be the ones that turn this into lasting capacity.

For the North’s founders in film, games, design and media, the signal is clear: the public money is coming to where the talent already is. The opportunity is to be ready to absorb it.

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