Arts and culture ‘contribute £7.7bn to the economy'

zainab quadri

July 14, 2015 1:02 PM

It has been revealed that arts and culture contribute £7.7 billion to the U.K economy.

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It has been revealed via a report published by the Arts Council England in conjunction with the Creative Industries Federation, that arts and culture contribute £7.7 billion to the U.K economy, an increase of 36% in three years.

Also in the report, the performing arts emerged as the second most productive sub-sector behind book publishing, accounting for more than a quarter of arts and culture turnover in 2013.

CIF chief executive John Kampfner said he hoped the report would put arts and culture “at the centre of the political, civic, economic and social debate”.

“There is nothing ‘nice to have’ about the arts and the creative industries, there is nothing tangential, there is nothing soft about any of them,” he explained. “They are absolutely central to our economy, our public life and our nation’s health.”

Other notable findings include the average salary of an arts and culture worker – £28,000 – which is 6% higher than the national average. However, the report also shed light on the pay gap between creative sector workers in London and the regions, with those in London averaging a salary of around £34,000 – nearly double those in Scotland, the south-west and the east.

The research, conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, is an update on a previous report a on the economic contribution of arts and culture released in 2013.

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zainab quadri