Sustain
Delivering access to finance, support for businesses, smarter ways of working, and empowering entrepreneurship.
Kent is ideally placed to further develop its thriving creative economy and become a place where creativity is at the heart of everyday life, and every person in Kent has access to cultural activity.
We know that a substantial proportion of the creative sector in Kent is freelance. We will review established business models and explore ways of working together to shape the sector to become more resilient. It will be a journey that realises potential, encourages collaboration, supports development, enables growth and works towards financial stability to support a mixed economy of skilled freelancers, micro-businesses and larger companies.
Building the profile of Kent and its unique role as a centre of creativity is key. Culture led regeneration has already made a tangible difference to many areas and through effective partnership working, profile building and collaboration, we will enable Kent to be seen as an exciting and innovative creative place.
We will...
- Develop an approach to sector specific business support that champions resilience and sustainability.
- Prioritise the development of the creative industries workforce with a focus on supporting the needs of freelance practitioners.
- Explore new investment opportunities and access to finance, including engaging with public sector commissioning and supporting the creative sector to be investment ready.
- Embedded culture and the creative economy firmly within Kent planning frameworks, ensuring that cultural provision and inspiring design is at the heart of all new developments and integral to the growth of strong, resilient and successful communities.
- Encourage the development of new technologies and resilient cultural business models, and capitalise on intellectual property rights.
- Collaborate with other sectors such as education and health, to embed the arts and creativity within their work, create models of good practice, and develop the knowledge and skills within the creative sector to deliver new programmes.
- Maximise the role of digital distribution to showcase and promote work extensively and reach new audiences.
- Expand Kent’s cultural tourism offer, to grow the visitor economy further through enhanced connectivity and innovation.