The UK government should fund the development of creative clusters around the country to make the creative industries less London-centric, less white and less middle class, according to an independent review of the sector conducted by TV executive Peter Bazalgette.
Launched today, the Independent Review of the Creative Industries aims to give government proposals to ensure the sector continues to grow after Brexit.
"Forty five per cent of the creative industries are in London and the south east and I want that to go on growing strongly," Bazalgette said at the launch of the report.
"The problem in this country is not that London is too big but that other places are too small."
He added: "In France, Germany and Italy, the secondary cities are much bigger than ours. We have this challenge to grow our economy, in fact grow our society, outside London and the south east. We've got to grow the creative industries outside London." Bazalgette's key proposal is for the government to support regional growth through a £500 million Creative Clusters Fund. Regions outside London could bid for cash to fund development of their creative sectors.
This could help the sector become more diverse, Bazalgette said.
"There's been a lot of talk recently about the diversity of our industry," he said. "Our industry is too white very often and too middle class very often. We are missing out on the creativity of many communities and we are not at our bes...