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By 2025 the UK will become the global ‘creative services hub’, the Creative Industries Council have predicted , as it was also revealed £8 million an hour for the UK economy is generated by the sector. To promoting the UK creative industries on a global stage, a new website has also been launched: thecreativeindustries.co.uk. 

The website is part of a wider strategy being developed by industry and Government which will seek to co-ordinate a unified approach towards finance, education and skills, exports and inward investment, intellectual property and digital infrastructure. 

Along with the British Council, Arts Council England is supporting the arts and cultural developments of the website, which features information on the following sectors, the sum of which make the creative industries in the UK: advertising, architecture, arts and culture, craft, design, fashion, games, music, publishing, TV and film. 

UK Creative Industries: facts 

• the UK’s arts and culture are a very strong draw for international visitors, attracting at least £856m of direct tourist spending per year
• education, culture and the English language are the top three factors affecting the UK’s reputation overseas
• the UK is the second largest exporter worldwide of music and independent television programmes, and home to the biggest games developer market in Europe
• one out of eight albums sold worldwide in 2012 was by a British artist. In four out of five years between 2008 and 2012, a UK artist produced the world’s biggest selling album
• creative industries combine across sectors to make British success stories such as Burberry. British design came together with British advertising and turned the company's fortunes around

The year of creativity

The launch of the Creative Industries website and release of new statistics on the contribution to the UK economy mark the start of what is hoped to be a ‘year of creativity’, where the UK’s creative industries come of age and demonstrate their importance on the world stage.  

Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chair, Arts Council England said: 
‘The Arts Council sees arts and culture as an integral part of the creative industries - investing in talent and new ideas as well as sitting at the heart of every community. We welcome the Year of Creativity as a real recognition of this country’s creative industries and a great reinforcement of the value that this sector brings into England and the rest of the UK’.

Links and more information

The new site is managed by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) on behalf of the Creative Industries Council.

Follow us and the new site on Twitter, and join the conversation with #CreativeUK.

- See more at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/staggering-growth-creative-industries-sector-revea/#sthash.SiGItl2s.dpuf