If Sadiq Khan is serious about boosting the creative industries, he must work with the private sector

London’s creative industries are world-leading. The mayor talks a good game on supporting them, but his manifesto is light on detail, says Phoebe Gardiner

Despite launching at London’s Design District – a prominent creative hub in the capital – Sadiq Khan’s manifesto is rather sparse on his commitments to the creative industries.

He is happy, as many politicians are, to bask in the light of London being “a global leader in the creative industries” and quote its successes: One in five jobs in London is in the creative economy. Four out of five tourists visit London for its culture. The creative economy generates more than £50bn for the UK each year.

But when it comes to how he will continue this success, it’s more of the same. Sadiq Khan has promised a £3bn boost to London’s economy via his investment in the creative industries if he makes a third term. This is strong advocacy for the power of the culture sector. If he wants to make this a reality, it might need more than just a reheat of existing projects.

A lot of the culture sector currently relies on funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England (ACE). ACE is an ‘arms-length’ non-departmental public body of DCMS, and over the past decade of Tory government, ACE’s funding pot for London has been drastically reduced in line with central government levelling up the regions. The last national funding announcement from ACE properly cut London’s money in favour of the regions, leading to closures of organisations like South East Dance in Greenwich, and re-locations such as English National Opera to Manchester. ACE is also currently facing a full-scale governmental review. It will be hard for any Mayor to backfill the gap this leaves.

With a financial future as murky as the Arts Council’s and competition rising from global cities to be leaders in new creative artforms such as createch and screen arts, London’s status as world-leader for culture is far from certain. 

The property and real estate sectors can become a useful friend to City Hall here, and vice versa. Sadiq Khan recognised that to support the creative economy you can’t just pipe money to arts and artists – you have to strengthen the built environment around it. 

A lot of his initiatives have done this. Creative Enterprise Zones, launched in 2018, provide permanent affordable workspaces, sector skills and employment for creative businesses. He’s put £640m into East Bank at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – promising culture, education, innovation and growth. The London Borough of Culture not only spotlights talent from all over London but has the benefit of helping local authorities establish the infrastructure to support art and culture provision going forwards – something that is usually lacking. While the role of ‘Night Czar’ and its first incumbent Amy Lamé have received criticism, it has nonetheless highlighted issues facing London’s entertainment economy regarding venues, licensing and integration into urban planning.

But last week’s announcement included little new. To use the creative industries as the economic growth catalyst Khan (and Labour) say they are, there needs to be systemic integration with the private sector. If he’s still in office, on 7 May Khan could do worse than listen to leaders across the creative industries and property sector as they gather in London for the first Creative Industries Property Summit to discuss this exact point. And there is plenty in the London Plan that developers and landowners can use to bring this to life.

Whoever gets into City Hall, it seems inconceivable that they won’t continue the work Sadiq has done to champion London’s creative and cultural sector, given how many jobs rely on it and how central it is to the city’s global brand, to attracting talent, business, investment and tourism. Having said that, the only other likely winner, Susan Hall, has not said a lot in this area at all, and two weeks from polling does not inspire confidence in maintaining this vital life force of our city.

Phoebe Gardiner is associate director at LCA