The world needs creativity… and this is why UAL is fighting for it.
UAL President and Vice-Chancellor, James Purnell
Last night (13 September 2023) we held the University of the Arts London (UAL) President’s reception, where I delivered a speech which was a creative call to arms if you will. An acknowledgement that while so many of us know the personal and societal value of creativity and the ability it has to offer solutions to some of the world’s biggest issues, it is still continually questioned, undermined, and relegated when it comes to conversations around policy, spend and impact.
In 2022, I launched the UAL ten-year strategy ‘The World Needs Creativity,’ a commitment to UAL doing more and being more, outside of the incredible colleges and institutions we call home. Now, as we head into another academic year, I am more resolute than ever about our strategy and the role UAL needs to play in safeguarding, supporting, and elevating our creative industries and education.
The reality is our economy is stronger because of creativity. Generating over £100 billion every year, employing more than 2 million people, and growing at 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, the creative industries are not only the lifeblood of national culture, but they make an immense contribution to our financial security and future prosperity.
That’s why UAL will do everything in its power to fight for our creative industries and education, and to shape the reality we are sending our graduates into. It’s why we have launched a commission with Eliza Easton to consider how to secure the future of Britain’s creative leadership in the world, and it’s why we’ll continually research and demonstrate the value of UAL’s work, the impact of our students — both domestic and international.
The creative industries and education must be continually championed and fought for, and I truly believe this is a fight UAL can and should take a pivotal role in.
Vice-Chancellor and President James Purnell
President’s Reception Speech
Good evening, everyone. It’s my great pleasure to be with you today. Chatting to people in this room…Seeing the extraordinary creativity of our university…
Listening to Sharmadean* speak so eloquently. I am filled with hope and optimism.
You could almost believe this was a perfect, golden age for creativity and our creative industries.
I wish it were that simple.
Yes — there are remarkable people and incredible opportunities. But this is also a moment of jeopardy. A moment when what ought to be a universally acknowledged truth… that the world needs creativity… is being questioned, neglected, and undermined.
The people in this room understand what’s at stake. The creative industries generate over £100 billion a year for the UK economy. They employ more than 2 million people. In every part of the country. And, over the past decade, they’ve grown 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy. These industries are not only economically valuable. They are the lifeblood of our national culture. They fill our lives with meaning. And they are how Britain is known by billions around the world. In the twenty years since our colleges came together as a university, UAL has played no small part in those industries.
Alongside the RCA, we top the world rankings for art and design education.
As our economic impact report shows, we contribute £1 billion a year in GVA.
Since 2000, our graduates have founded more companies than any other university.
And the international students who flock to UAL bring economic investment and cultural richness to our institution — to London — and to the whole of the UK.
Data we’re publishing today shows that art and design students make a larger economic contribution than other international students…£19,000 more on average.
But educating our brilliant students isn’t enough. We also need to think about the jobs they are going into and the industries they are going into.
And here the picture is more worrying. Our creative skills gap is growing increasingly acute. Nine out of ten employers in creative firms find it hard to recruit highly skilled individuals. Now, you might think that’s just a general challenge across the whole economy, but actually the figure for the rest of the economy is 4%. And it’s also not just about skills today, it’s about the talent pipeline.
Poor access into the sector is exacerbated by a collapse in arts teaching in schools. The number of students taking GCSE art has fallen by 40%. Humanities, languages, music: the pattern is the same.
Creative education is denigrated as an expensive indulgence — a target in a culture war, a victim of an obsession with a transactional model of the university where people are getting qualifications in return for cash rather than all the wider things which people get from a university education. with narrow economics not the value and meaning of human lives.
That is why last year we launched a ten-year strategy that committed UAL to doing more and being more. While others scale back their art and humanities provision — we are expanding. Online and in person — UAL will reach more students than ever before. While others say that only science holds the future — we reject that false choice between the arts and STEM subjects. We think that both matter.
And while others seek to narrow the scope of a university to a transactional model of cash for qualifications, we are widening our ambitions for impact. Committed, as a community of staff, students, and alumni, to change the world for the better…
Through what we teach. Through our research. The knowledge we create and share… and the way we behave as an institution.
That is why the fight for creativity is UAL’s fight. If UAL is to serve its true social purpose — we need to shape the reality we are sending our graduates into.
If our creative industries are at risk — it’s not just our right but our responsibility to stand up and do something about it. So today we’re launching a new project — a Commission looking at how to secure the future of Britain’s creative leadership in the world. The growth of emerging economies has thrust Britain into a global race.
The starting-gun has long since sounded and — I fear — we have been caught napping. You can see that on trade and migration. Whatever your position on Brexit, it’s clear it has made it harder for the creative sector to sell its services abroad.
This needs to change.
For this Commission, we’re working with Eliza Easton, a remarkable thinker who’s dedicated her whole career to understanding and advocating for the creative industries. And we’re delighted to have persuaded a brilliant group of advisors to join us. Many are in the room today. Thank you for your commitment and support.
The Commission will look at the role the creative sector plays in the economy and in Britain’s place in the world. It will examine the impact of Brexit and geopolitical changes. And, by the spring of 2024, it will provide concrete policy proposals. For how our trade, migration and regulatory rules should change to enable our industries to thrive. This is the most urgent need — with the creative industries crying out for support with talent and exports. But this project is only the beginning.
With our brilliant academics and new social purpose lab, we are developing a programme of work at UAL to shape the creative industries and get them fit for the future. Making the case for policy change that will help them to thrive…
And making the case for business change that will help them transform.
I’m incredibly grateful to all of you for coming tonight. You have helped us by acting as our advocates, and generously supporting us through your philanthropy.
Thank you — we need your support, now more than ever. Not just to make this Commission a success. But to help us make a case for a university that makes a difference in the world. We are pushing at the boundaries of what a university can be. Our ambition is to help turn Britain into a Creative Nation. A nation where creativity is seen as vital to prosperity. A nation where culture is regarded as essential infrastructure. Indispensable to our security, our wellbeing, and our national life. A nation where creativity is for all.
*James spoke alongside Central Saint Martins (CSM) alumni Sharmadean Reid, founder of The Stack World and WAH Nails, who spoke about the transformative power of creative education.
