Everybody’s Talking about the South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Summit

To coincide with the red-carpet premiere of ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Showroom Workstation and Sheffield Theatres will premiere the Cultural and Creative Industries Summit and South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Network on Friday 17^th September at Showroom Cinema.

The two-part summit will explore how the cultural and creative industries in South Yorkshire can build on Jamie’s success, contributing to the region’s economy, with a reputation for fostering creative skills, attracting skilled talent, and building communities.

Mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis, will open the summit. A champion of the role that arts, culture and heritage will play in driving South Yorkshire’s economic renewal post COVID, he will discuss how the South Yorkshire MCA will support these sectors and the opportunities that the release of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie can bring to the region.

Host and creative coach and consultant, Auriel Majumdar, will introduce CEO of Creative England and the Creative Industries Federation, Caroline Norbury MBE as the Keynote speaker. As an industry that generated £115.9bn in GVA and 3.5 million UK jobs prior to the pandemic, Caroline will outline the importance of making creative and cultural industries a strategic priority for the UK to bounce back better after Covid. Caroline will then be joined by Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Dr Darren Henley OBE, to discuss the levelling up opportunities for South Yorkshire’s cultural and creative industries.

The two-part event will feature two panel discussions. The first panel, facilitated by the BFI’s Head of UK Audiences, Ben Luxford, is a case study of the global success of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie with Dan Bates of Sheffield Theatres, Mark Herbert of Warp Films, Caroline Cooper Charles, Head of Creative at Screen Yorkshire and CEO of Arts Council England, Dr Darren Henley OBE taking part. They will discuss the journey of ‘Jamie’ from its creative roots in South Yorkshire, to becoming a global, commercial success.

The second panel, titled Stepping into the Spotlight: Unlocking South Yorkshire’s Potential will represent the wider cultural and creative landscape. Participants include Emma Holling of Pure Records, Emma Cooper of Cooperative Innovations and Olivia Jones of Doncopolitan. Also joining are Deborah Bullivant of Grimm & Co, Nathan Geering of Theatre Deli and Sue Thiedeman, Head of Culture and Visitor Economy, Barnsley Council.  The panel will discuss the broader opportunities of the cultural and creative industries, including building creative skills and engagement and expanding on South Yorkshire’s visitor economy.

The summit will be closed by Project Director of South Yorkshire’s Arts, Culture and Heritage Sector, Kate Brindley. Appointed by Mayor Dan Jarvis, Kate works with South Yorkshire’s cultural sectors to attract investment, grow participation, and increase tourism opportunities for the region. Kate will be joined by Showroom Workstation CEO, Ian Wild, to discuss the future of South Yorkshire’s Cultural and Creative Industries Network and how creative practitioners can be involved in further events.

The invite-only guest list includes creative practitioners, ambassadors, funders, freelance artists, musicians, and producers who work in South Yorkshire’s creative industries. Following the summit, guests will have the opportunity to view the first screening of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, which will be showing at Showroom Cinema.

Speaking about the hotly anticipated release of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, South Yorkshire Mayor, Dan Jarvis said: “South Yorkshire is proud to be home to a whole range of Creative Industries and a wealth of creative talent. In our Strategic Economic Plan, we highlighted the enormous potential within the arts, culture and heritage sectors in our region. They are a vital part of our recovery and renewal, contributing to healthy and sustainable communities, strong local identities, and vibrant places, as well as to our economic recovery.

“There is a real opportunity now to level up the North. If supported and nurtured, the Creative Industries can help drive growth and realise untapped potential that deserves to be unleashed.”

It’s a view shared by Creative England & Creative Industries Federation CEO, Caroline Norbury, who said: “We’re calling on Government ahead of its Comprehensive Spending Review for investment in creative industries to regenerate our places, drive job creation, economic growth, opportunity, and community cohesion.

“It is important that we get it right and for government and industry to take action now.  Investment in creative businesses, people and places will unleash innovation, level up all parts of the country, create opportunities and unlock entrepreneurialism, creativity, and sustainability throughout the economy. It will future-proof UK industries and jobs and strengthen our global competitive edge.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “As we emerge from the pandemic the creative and cultural sector will play a vital role in our country’s recovery. Culture is essential to our economic growth, as it revives our high streets, creates local jobs and most importantly builds a sense of belonging and pride in our communities. South Yorkshire is a hub of creativity and I very much welcome the opportunity to join the discussion about how we continue to nurture and grow the creative talent of the people living and working across the Sheffield City Region.

“Over the past four years West End and international audiences have enjoyed a slice of Sheffield by watching the smash hit Everybody’s Talking about Jamie, a musical that, thanks to public funding, started out as a Sheffield Theatres’ commission and production. The film premiere will allow a global audience to see for themselves the creative talent that is radiating out of South Yorkshire.”