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As the UK government paves its way post-Brexit, it is leveraging the creative industries as part of a major exporting drive, despite cuts to arts funding back in July. 

To announce its intentions, the Department for International Trade gathered a host of the UK’s creative industries, as part of a wider “Made in Britain, sold to the world” campaign. 

Held yesterday (20 September), the event brought together business leaders from the UK’s creative industries, from TV and film, music, publishing, fashion, gaming, advertising and immersive technology. 

The event celebrated their export success to encourage more businesses in similar fields to sell their goods and services globally. 

The DIT’s “Made in Britain, sold to the world" is devised to provide practical export help and encourages the nation to take pride in its exporters. 

A growing industry, exports generated by creative industries’ services were worth £37.9bn in 2019, nearly 12% of total UK service exports. 

According to the Advertising Association back in March, international trade in UK advertising and market research services grew 7% year-on-year to reach a new record level of £11bn in 2019. 

The US remained the largest single-country importer – importing £1.1bn worth of UK advertising and market research services. 

Back in 2019, advertising overtook telecommunications and engineering services to become the second-largest services sector export, behind computer services. 

The announcement follows the UK government decision to cut higher-education funding for arts and design courses by 50%, which was widely criticised. 

At the time, Nils Leonard, founder of Uncommon, argued that the government plans would cause incalculable harm to the creative industries, one of the UK’s most important growth sectors. 

“It’s time to mobilise and fight back,” he argued.

The event was accompanied by exporting research for the museum sector, to help UK suppliers of museum-related products export to new markets. 

The export drive includes a £330,000 package of support for the music industry via the Music Export Growth Scheme, in joint partnership with the DCMS and the International Showcase Fund.