More than a "nice to have": 2023 CAN Conference

Creativity and Culture are more than 'nice to haves' they are powerful tools in a city's wheelhouse for benefiting its residents and visitors.

A report providing a snapshot of the Greater Cambridgeshire Creative Industries highlighted that… "The cultural and creative industries are predicted to be a major growth sector. For young people graduating from secondary education in 2024, the growth of creative jobs is more than double the average growth of all occupations across the UK at 5.3%, and 2.5% respectively. Nesta predicts that 87% of creative workers are at low or no risk of automation, compared with 40% as an average of all occupations. A distinctive feature of the creative industries is their increased collaboration and outsourcing, leading to the development of creative business clusters in specific areas of the country. This supports a key finding provided by Nesta that 75% of approximately 900,000 new jobs created within the creative industries between 2013 and 2030 will be in 10 national locations, of which Cambridgeshire is positioned ninth."

How can we maximise this potential within the creative and cultural industries on our doorstep?

The next CAN conference seeks to highlight how and where the creative and cultural industries can positively impact our city demonstrating the value of our creative economy.

Creative businesses generate spillover effects, which are additional benefits to “places, society or the economy through the overflow of concepts, ideas, skills, knowledge and different types of capital” (European Centre for Creative Economy).

Join in our annual gathering of creative organisations and practitioners to discuss good practice, question the challenges and needs, and discover ideas that might make our creative and cultural delivery more impactful and sustainable.

The day's workshops and presentations will:

• Acknowledge and champion what's special about creativity in Cambridge?
• Examine ideas and potential opportunities for developing our sector
• Provoke opinions about the future and where we might focus our attention to influence and create change
• Acknowledge and champion the contribution that cultural activity brings to the economy

Click here for programme details.

CAN is pleased to be partnering once more with Anglia Ruskin University and Cambridge University in creating the conference programme.

The day will shine a spotlight on Cambridge's creative and cultural sector and advocate for its contributions not only to economic recovery but also, place-making, wellbeing, community cohesion, skills development and so much more.

Contact the organiser on Eventbrite.