Beside its role in heavy industrial production, the city has always been a centre of creative work. It’s expertise in metal working goes beyond steel – the region has been a national centre of design jewellery for more than 200 years. The Jewellery quarter is home to some of the most highly skilled goldsmiths and jewellery makers in the world.
The long standing expertise and creativity in the city provides a base for the emerging sectors in the creative industries today: software, music, games and social media applications as well as architecture, arts & antiques. The creative industries sector employs more than 28,000 people in approximately 3,500 creative companies.
Over the last two decades, the economy has been restructured from manufacturing towards services. A ‘Big City Plan’ has been designed to reinforce urban development in the city centre and the creative quarters. Great progress has been made and Birmingham is a very different city from what it was two decades ago. In many ways, it is a more ‘liveable’ city.
The industrial heritage in the central parts of the city provides space for emerging creative businesses and artist lead galleries. The lively social media scene thrives creativity bottom-up and makes Birmingham a vibrant place for social media innovations.
Birmingham is the centre of the West Midlands conurbation and encompasses several neighbouring towns and cities, such as Wolverhampton another former industrial centre of the UK. Wolverhampton today is developing as a sub-regional centre for the creative sector with major regeneration projects and a wide variety of modern industries.
The creative industries are one of the key drivers in the West Midlands’ economic cluster approach and supported throughout major regional, national and international platforms.