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Centre for the Creative Economy

Current projects

The Centre for the Creative Economy works closely across the creative economy to share knowledge, consolidate good practice and showcase success. Find out more about our current satellite projects.

Creative Industries Cluster Hubs (July 2023 – March 2024) was a £200K pilot project led by Cardiff University’s Centre for the Creative Economy via the Creative Cardiff network. The work was funded through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of a £2.6M investment in ‘Demonstrator’ projects. These were a UK-wide portfolio of eight projects designed to explore the potential of existing creative industries clusters to grow, attract investment and deliver impact.

This latest project built on the legacy of Cardiff University’s Clwstwr project. Clwstwr was a research and development programme to embed innovation in the media sector in South Wales. From 2018-23, Clwstwr funded 118 R&D projects with industry creating new products, services and experiences for the screen and news sectors.

Read more about this project and the impact report  'Un, dau, tri: Steps towards developing a framework to support regional creative clusters'.

At this space, we’re launching Creative R&D at Tramshed Tech to support and showcase research, development and innovation (RD&I) in the creative cluster and promote the region’s innovations. 

Creative R&D at Tramshed Tech can be made available to businesses and individuals who have received funding for a Clwstwr or Media Cymru R&D project (2019 – 2023).

The Centre for the Creative Economy is a delivery partner on the Convergent Content Programme. The programme connects tech and creative industries in order to explore new ways of creating content, connecting with new audiences and expanding content distribution.

Through a range of workshops and events, this programme is committed to diversity and inclusion, making the new technology accessible to more people and fostering collaboration.

Creative Cardiff partnered with Art School Plus to create a two fully funded Creative Cardiff Art School Plus Scholarships. Two local, early-career artists had the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Art School Plus training course this year on a fee-free basis, including travel and accommodation costs. Find out more about the selected artists.

Founded in 2021, Art School Plus is breaking new ground in empowering early career artists to use their skills and vision to reignite communities through impactful and intelligent public realm work. It achieves this by delivering an intense week-long, in-person training course with a small cohort of carefully selected artists and practitioners designed to equip participants with the practical experience and mindset to respond to public commissioning opportunities and deliver considered, impactful work.

In partnership with theatre producer Tom Bevan, Creative Cardiff is hosting a space for neurodivergent creatives, producers and artists working in the cultural sector in South Wales to come together to work and connect. The events are structured to include some networking, a lunch break that includes a micro-talk and Q+A from a fellow neurodivergent creative and time for peer mentoring and ideas-development.

Over summer 2024, Creative Cardiff and Hypha Studios announced an opportunity for collectives of artists to have access to two empty retail units on Cardiff’s Queen Street. After receiving a number of high-quality applications, Future Arts Collective Cymru and PWSH and Neurospicy Play Date were selected and have since taken up residence in the units, activating them for production, exhibition and public engagement.

Find out more about the project and the artists.