London ripe to become “cultural entrepreneurship” hub

A perfect storm of thriving creative and technological scenes, combined with a challenging economic climate mean London is on the brink of becoming a world hub for cultural innovation and entrepreneurship, but “properly directed policy and funding” is needed if this growing movement of cultural entrepreneurship is to be supported. London’s technology, media and telecommunications industries contribute £123bn to the UK economy annually, while visitor numbers to London attractions have never been so high, and a special interest paper, commissioned by the City of London and authored by Culture Label Agency, warns that policy makers and funders must “continue to support big and bold ideas” or inaction could lead to a loss in market share and consumer base.

Written to start a debate and inspire the cultural sector, 'Cultural innovation and entrepreneurship in London' outlines how London’s world-leading technology and cultural industries are “already beginning to intersect”, leading to innovation in the field. It makes a number of recommendations to organisations on to how to foster entrepreneurship, including decentralised decision-making to encourage employees to think like entrepreneurs, and collaborating with new partners in new ways, drawing on formats such as accelerators, hackathons and lab spaces. It gives examples of organisations that are making the most of this growing trend, such as the Royal Festival Hall and Tate, which offer spaces where entrepreneurs can meet with clients and co-workers: “There is a huge potential for cultural organisations to think about this customer segment in a new way and create tiered offerings for them such as memberships that offer tools such as superfast Wi-Fi, unlimited coffee, private meeting rooms with video conferencing.”

The paper concludes by saying there are opportunities “to bring the cost of cultural production and distribution within reach of a growing number of people” and outlines plans for a cultural accelerator: “a permanent physical space run by an independent management team and likely funded by a combination of sponsorship, public funding and angel investment,” that would “help creative and cultural entrepreneurs grow scalable, investable businesses through a programme of intensive development and access to finance”.

The paper’s publication coincides with the announcement that the Barbican and The Trampery have opened a new arts and technology centre in Hackney Wick that will support up to 50 emerging practitioners with access to studio space, mentoring and workshops.