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Centre for the Creative Economy

Past 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 past satellite projects.

Clwstwr was an ambitious five-year programme to create new products, services and experiences for screen. Building on South Wales' success in making creative content, Clwstwr put research and development (R&D) at the core of production, creating a culture of innovation in the cluster to move the screen sector from a position of strength to one of leadership, internationally. Clwstwr created a platform for independent companies, SMEs, micro-businesses and freelancers to compete with global, highly integrated media companies. Clwstwr was led by Cardiff University in partnership with University of South Wales and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Clwstwr built a number of activities and interventions, investing in and supporting 118 innovation projects in the Welsh creative industries. In a report measuring the impact of the programme, it was found Clwstwr’s funded projects have directly contributed to more than £20m of additional turnover and more than 400 additional jobs in the creative industries. Between 2019 and 2022, Clwstwr directly contributed £1 in every £13 of annual turnover growth in the Welsh creative industries.

Since inception, the Creative Cardiff team has been mapping the growth of creative networks for within and beyond the UK, with a view to better understanding those networks’ inception - and their potential - within the creative ecosystem. Such networks are worthy of attention given that they present important opportunities for engagement, interaction, capacity building and exchange, as well as (often) playing a crucial lobbying function at all levels. At the Joining the Dots event on 30 September 2020, representatives from networks across the UK gathered online to share their experiences of supporting creatives in their localities, as well as some of the challenges. Hosted by Creative Cardiff, the one-day virtual event aimed to take a snapshot of the current state of play for creative city and town networks, to share case studies, and to inspire new ways of engaging with communities and stakeholders.

Central to the event was the sharing of findings from a recent research project exploring the functions and sustainability of creative networks which was carried out by Dr Marlen Komorowski and Sara Pepper.

Ymlaen! was a creative desk space programme which provided an opportunity for a recent graduate of Cardiff University to develop their creative practice in Rabble Studio’s eclectic, complementary community of friendly and creative people. The funded desk space and mentoring programme was open to graduates looking to start a creative business and is supported by Creative Cardiff and Cardiff University’s Enterprise and Start-Up team. With this programme, we endeavored to help graduates to take the first steps in their careers with confidence, creating an environment where new creative businesses are developed and encouraged in the best way possible.

This project, led by Dr Johann Gregory sought to add value to existing partnerships, and to create new ones, by networking creative hubs – coworking spaces for small companies and freelancers – from across the Cardiff Capital Region.

In June 2016, Creative Cardiff curated a pop-up creative coworking space, or 'hub', at Wales Millennium Centre. Creative businesses, organisations and freelancers from different creative industries and other parts of the creative economy worked together and co-located with academics and students for a week to test the creative hub concept. Over the week, the hub provided: free workspace with dedicated time to work, the opportunity to meet people from across the creative economy, a space to share knowledge, ideas and skills a diverse programme of morning talks and workshops. Over the week participants were consulted on their ideas, needs and challenges to inform the development of a more permanent hub space. Creative Cardiff employed an undergraduate student through the University's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP) to capture the community's views. The project's CUROP student has also chosen to focus her undergraduate dissertation on creative hubs.

Creative Cardiff worked with students in the Welsh School of Architecture to physically transform the university’s Viriamu Jones Gallery. This innovative Vertical Studio project provided an opportunity to explore the development of a dedicated creative hub in the city.  

Watch the video about Vertical Studio.

The Centre for the Creative Economy team's innovative work builds on the REACT (Research and Enterprise in Arts and Creative Technology) knowledge exchange project. Funded in 2011 by a £4m AHRC grant, REACT aimed to support collaborations between arts and humanities researchers and creative businesses. The project encouraged and supported work outside the conventional parameters of academia and learning with and from a vast array of cultural and creative professionals, developing innovative ideas in creative technology.

REACT funded more than 50 projects across five universities - UWE Bristol (the University of the West of England), the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter and the Watershed in Bristol. Examples of our REACT projects include Jekyll 2.0 and With New Eyes I See.

Building on the legacy of REACT we're continuing to develop knowledge exchange between Cardiff University and Cardiff's creative economy.