Hartlepool Creative Sector Study
Hartlepool Borough Council commissioned Chimera, through the Local Government Association’s Economic Growth Advisor programme, to help understand the needs and potential of its local creative industries sector and advise on how the Council and other partners could best support the growth of the sector.
This assignment sought to understand the needs of creative sector, the appropriateness of business support available and identify gaps; to explore the career pathways from school, college and university through to the world of work. Also with a specific interest in The BIS centre to help maximise the opportunity of developing BIS further as a creative hub. The research worked involved a significant programme of consultations with 43 individuals across 33 different organisations, including creative businesses, public and community sector representatives, and several education institutions. It also gained insights from “good practice” elsewhere, to look at lessons learned at nurturing creative and cultural industries at both town/city level and individual project level.
At the heart of this was the Council’s flagship scheme for the sector, The BIS, a creative hub providing 28 business units and linking education providers to creative practitioners and enterprises. A former post office, The BIS was renovated with £4.5M investment including Tees Valley LEP resources, and a Council partnership project with The Northern School Of Art which opened in 2019.
Our work culminated in 15 recommendations grouped around: partnership development / stakeholder engagement; business support; options to maximise The BIS as a creative hub; and education-based recommendations on nurturing talent, highlighting career pathways and supporting workforce development.
We gave two presentations to the Council and wider array of stakeholders, and the study was very well received by the Council and has helped form the basis of a sector support plan and used as evidence to secure further £16.4M Levelling Up Funds investment for the Screen Industries Production Village.