Creative & Cultural Sector Insight

The creative and cultural sector encompasses areas like film, fashion, video games and music. It is important to community health and well-being as well as being significant to the local economy.  Culture Essex has outlined that there are over 30,000 people employed in the sector and 7,500+ companies, many of which are small and micro.

Essex has a flourishing creative sector, with some of the best creative talent, performers, and creative business in the world. Notable names in the performing arts include Dame Helen Mirren, the Prodigy and Olly Murs and artists like Grayson Perry.  Essex is also home to many companies in digital and games development. Essex has always been a home for technological innovation and being within an easy commute to London, the county is seeing growing hubs in the creative industries including XR/AR and games development in companies such as Dlala studios who were nominated for two BAFTA Games Awards in 2024 for their work on Disney Illusion Island. This illustrates links also to the digital sector. The sector is also important for generating visitors to the area, so has strong links to tourism and hospitality.

A report mapping Creative Hubs in Essex identified over sixty creative hubs across Essex and which illustrates the importance of the sector locally.  It outlines that ‘the concentration of hubs was highest in Colchester with 17, followed by Southend-On-Sea with 12 and Chelmsford with 7. Notably, all areas in Essex were home to at least one hub, demonstrating a widespread presence.’ The report also notes that ‘these hubs play a key role in talent development, fostering collaboration, skills growth, and business expansion within the creative sector’.

One of the most significant creative hubs is the Thames Estuary Production Corridor which spans the estuary from Kent through to Basildon and Tilbury. The website for the Corridor outlines that it ‘has the potential to create 50,000 jobs and generate £3.7bn for the UK economy, becoming the UK’s largest concentration of creative production.’  It is important for London and the South East’s economy, contributing to long-term growth through forward-thinking investment in culture and the creative Industries, helping create thousands of jobs, building world-class cultural infrastructure and developing local skills opportunities that will be crucial to deliver sustainable and equitable growth.

Essex now has its first ever dedicated Film Office for Essex, which has already helped to attract some significant TV and Film productions into Essex – including Mr Bates Vs the Post Office which was partly filmed in Chelmsford and productions starring big named Hollywood stars and hits for streaming channels, including the Essex Serpent which was shot almost all on location in Essex.

Film and TV activity can bring a wealth of benefits to an area, from tourism to employment opportunities for crew and suppliers. And with excellent training, higher and further education courses in film and TV production, to hair and make-up to and world class costume design courses with access to the Royal Opera house production workshop and costume centre in Thurrock (at High House Production Park), Essex is becoming a creative industries powerhouse.

Greater Essex boasts thirteen Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations, ranging from the Mercury Theatre and Firstsite in Colchester, Rhiannon Faith Theatre Company in Harlow and Coda Dance in Thurrock. Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture in England and these National Portfolio Organisations form the backbone of creative and cultural provision across the country.

In terms of education, Essex has two Music Hubs delivering music provision in the form of Essex Music Hub and Southend Music Hub and Royal Opera House Bridge who support teachers and schools deliver high quality arts education in Essex schools as well as supporting Local Cultural Education Partnerships.

The sector is also important and established as a global leader. The government has estimated that creative industries generated £126bn in gross value added to the economy and employed 2.4 million people in 2022. It is identified as one of the eight growth driving sectors in the government’s Industrial Strategy. The Creative Industries Sector Plan, sets out to ‘ensure that the UK is the number one destination worldwide for investment in creativity and innovation and aims to significantly increase investment by 2035’.  Included in the plan are supporting the creation of one million jobs, increasing the value of the sector by £50 billion and establishing creative careers promise to support existing workers and create a strong talent pipeline. Capitalising on developments such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and extended reality are also seen as important to stimulate innovation and new opportunities and the potential for the sector to have community impact is a priority, given the potential to enrich people’s lives.

Skills England have also produced a Sector Skills Needs Assessment for the creative industries, and this notes that the sector is growing at 1.6 times the national rate. The report also outlines ‘significant skills shortages.’ It is also noted that ‘during Skills England’s recent engagement employers emphasised that vacancy data may significantly underestimate sector wide skills demand. Not all roles are formally advertised, particularly where they are project-based and short-term so informal.’ They conclude that ‘this suggests that skills policy should address coordination and mismatch issues rather than focusing solely on addressing skills shortages.’ The report also notes a gender imbalance in the sector, with 62% of employers being male compared to 38% female. Social mobility is also low and the sector lacks traditional routes in.

Employers in the sector have also called for more flexible, modular learning approaches that combine practical experience with theoretical knowledge.

Given the focus on the creative sector as one of the government’s eight growth driving sectors, growth is likely to continue in Essex with the potential for attracting further funding and investment. The close proximity to London, creative hubs and aspects such as the Thames Estuary Production Corridor will further such growth.

Clearly, ensuring that the skills system is responding to sector needs will also be a key part of this and building on the links to other sectors locally such as IT and tourism.  Culture Essex has a range of work underway to showcase culture and creativity in Essex and with initiatives such as the Cultural Ambassadors and and support around skills and training.

A skilled workforce, able to adapt to changes is clearly critical for the sector, and it has faced challenges in recruiting skilled people to roles.  Work is already underway and there is a range of provision locally responding to the sector and its skills needs. As this section has outlined, there are clear links with aspects of provision in areas like digital and tourism also. Skills England noted in their Skills assessment report that employers would like the option for shorter, modular training.  The report sets out that employers have highlighted the need for technical training programs, mid-career professional development and upskilling in emerging areas like green technologies, digital skills, and AI. The current training system was felt to overemphasise entry-level positions, when the most acute skills gaps actually exist at mid-career and senior levels.

Locally, there are a range of courses on offer through further and higher education and training providers to support the sector in areas such as games and games design, film, theatre and multimedia. Many colleges have state of the art facilities and equipment, responding to industry need and developments. There are further and higher education options, including post-graduate. Further links are provided in the skills supply and providers section.

The Needs Assessment produced by Skills England notes that’ the creative industries are undergoing a transformative shift driven by technological convergence, leading to the rise of “fusion” or “createch” skills that blend technological competence with creative thinking. Workers across industries must now develop capabilities that integrate AI literacy, digital and data analytics, with skills like creativity and problem-solving.’  It also highlights that key areas experiencing shortages include production management, editing, creative crafts like hair and make-up artistry, and visual effects production. An emerging concern is the skills gap in specialised technical roles, particularly in virtual production.

Top ten specialist and essential skills advertised in Essex vacancies over the past year (to Summer 2025) helps to illustrate what employers in the creative sector locally are looking for. You can view further information and detail via this link.

Specialist Skills advertised                                               Essential Skills advertised

·  Marketing                                                                            ·  Communication

·  Social Media                                                                       ·  Detail orientated

·  Adobe Photoshop                                                             ·  Management

·  Digital Marketing                                                               ·  Sales

·  Search engine optimisation                                           ·  Customer Service

·  Content creation                                                               ·  Organisational skills

·  Project management                                                       ·  Planning

·  Adobe Creative Suite                                                        ·  Problem solving

·  Merchandising                                                                   ·  Writing

·  Adobe illustrator                                                                ·  Research