Creative Blueprint Wales - A Design for Life

Wales' creative and cultural industries employ 19,000 workers

Judith Isherwood: "When I think that the population base is relatively small in Wales in comparison to the rest of the UK, the breadth of activity that's happening here from North Wales to West Wales to South Wales is remarkable."

Sian Thomas: "Here in Wales we have a very rich history in the arts and creative industries. We are successful across the world."

There are 1,695 creative and cultural businesses in Wales

Elen Ap Robert: "The creative industries here in North Wales are numerous and extremely varied. They are small...we only have to look round here in Galeri. There are 15 companies here, but they are all very small."

16% of Wales' creative and cultural businesses have found difficulty with recruitment

Martin Hunt: "When we first came here we had a very hard time. We took people off the streets, we took anyone we liked. There isn't really enough theatres or a big enough theatre culture in Cardiff yet to cater for the numbers of crew that we need."

Emma Clark: "I find that the graduates we take on do not have the vocational skills I require for my business."

87% of Wales' creative and cultural industries have no training budget

Polly Hamilton: "Because most of the sector within the creative and cultural industries is made up of freelancers or very small businesses, micro-businesses, it can be very difficult for people to access the training, or even resource the training that they need in order to develop their business."

Emma Clark: "We're currently talking to CCSkills to put in place a continuing professional development training providing which will hopefully in turn help our business and the creative industries."

23% of Wales' creative and cultural industries have skills gaps

Judith Isherwood: "I was very much struck by the gap in the skills market between what we needed and what skills were available. And so part of my motivation for getting so involved in Creative & Cultural Skills has been seeing that's not just an issue that I faced with this organisation."

Rhys Mwyn: "We need specialism in our field, in the music sector. Then we need experienced people to feed that experience back in to people who come in to the industry."

Sian Thomas: "And it's very important that we work in partnership to make sure that there are opportunities for young people to learn from these experienced people."

Jan Michaelis: "Apprenticeships will really make a huge amount of sense for the industry because what you should start to see coming through are people with a really good skillset. What we want them to do in the apprenticeship is to train up very basic skills, basic stagecraft, basic electric skills, the ability to understand how things come together on stage."

Martin Hunt: "But in the future, we'll be looking to expand that out into other areas of the theatre. So some people will learn setbuilding, wardrobe-making, front of house and doing front of house management, and then possibly marketing and into lots of other areas of the theatre.

"When we do get the apprenticeships going, it will be something that's recognized throughout the whole of Britain."

Wales' creative and cultural industries contribute £454m GVA to the UK economy

Polly Hamilton: "It seems to me it's no accident that the strategic plan for Creative & Cultural Skills is called Creative Blueprint, because in the words of the Manic Street Preachers, it is effectively a design for life."

Judith Isherwood: "Whilst there certainly is a general blueprint a view of what needs happening across the UK, Wales is special, and we have our own special needs here in Wales."

Emma Evans: "Wales is a uniquely diverse place. It has a fantastic dual language, it has fantastic geography, distribution of population and the pull between the rural and the metropolis that we have here. These are all fantastic assets that we can really build on in Wales. And Creative & Cultural Skills is uniquely placed to facilitate relationships and partnerships and collaborations within Wales that will be specific to our culture and to our country that will really drive us forward to create a successful creative and cultural industries for the future."

Polly Hamilton: "In today's financial climate, the creative and cultural industries are almost never more important."

Sian Thomas: "...with new technology and digitisation, it's possible for someone to live on top of a mountain in the Welsh countryside, but still to work internationally. And that opens up a lot of possibilities for the Welsh economy."

Judith Isherwood: "So I'm really proud that we've done that with the Blueprint, we've launched it, and now people will start to see those things on the ground in the coming months and years."