Heritage Creates: Heritage and the Creative Industries

In 2019, The Heritage Alliance published an insight report exploring the relationship between the heritage sector and the creative industries in England. Inspiring Creativity, Heritage and the Creative Industries summarised available evidence and featured case studies showcasing partnerships from the breadth of the heritage sector and creative industries to highlight the mutual benefits of cross-sector working.

Since the publication of Inspiring Creativity, the creative industries have continued to flourish, capturing the attention of the public and policymakers alike. The evidence base for heritage’s integral contribution to these industries has similarly grown and evolved. The continued political and economic relevance of the creative industries under a new government, alongside the emergence of new technologies and bolder commitments to inclusion, makes 2025 a timely opportunity to update our original compendium of case studies, six years on. 

Heritage Creates is organised into five thematic chapters, each of which focuses on a particular dimension of the relationship between the heritage sector and the creative industries. The themes are accompanied by case studies demonstrating how heritage delivers on each of these fronts:

• Heritage as a Host
  
• Heritage as a Muse
  
• Heritage as a Creative Practice
  
• Innovative Partnerships
  
• Inclusive Partnerships

Britain possesses a long and proud history of creativity, the evidence of which is etched into the fabric of our communities – sometimes quite literally. Our heritage includes our creative past. Today’s creators are helping build the heritage of the future. That is understood. But, as the case studies in this report show, heritage also underpins the success of the creative industries in the present day: whether providing the setting for cultural activity of all kinds, from poetry recitals to pottery studios and everything in between, or by directly inspiring new expressions of creativity from fashion to film.

It’s more important now than ever that we demonstrate the potential of heritage and the creative industries to bring communities together, improve our wellbeing and shape a shared cultural legacy to be proud of. The case studies in this report illustrate what can be done when our sectors work together. I hope they will help inspire further initiatives that provide opportunities for employment, community engagement and enjoyment of all that heritage and culture have to offer.

– Carole Souter CBE, Chair of the Heritage Alliance

Image Credit: Luxmuralis