Setting the scene
Hammersmith and Fulham has a wealth of talented people, businesses and organisations, media giants and top end educational providers representing an enviable base for working to release creative potential for the benefit of all. They are already playing their part in making the borough a great place to live, work and play. They want to achieve more by working together and with the right support and collaboration, can do that.
The future of work is changing. Hammersmith & Fulham is well placed to use its creative capacity to position itself as a centre of innovation through the development of the White City Innovation District and our Creative Enterprise Zone.
But the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not just about tech. It is about the power of converging technologies to create an inclusive, human-centred future. Creativity is the most sought-after skill in this environment.
A thriving cultural sector, cultural and creative education and space to develop and test new ideas can all contribute to securing the high value jobs of the future in Hammersmith & Fulham.
Our young people have huge potential. Harnessing that potential is crucial for their health, happiness and economic success. They should all have opportunities to develop their creativity and live full and rewarding cultural lives.
Young people, and organisations working with them, said we should do more to join-up and publicise the pathways from school to training and employment opportunities. There are many opportunities to work in the creative industries and we can make sure all our young people know what is available to them and the borough’s burgeoning education sector is there to support them to be the best they can be from an early age in school through to employment.
The creative sector offers routes to economic security for more than just the young though. With the right conditions and support, it can offer new opportunities for people of all ages including those with disabilities. Our libraries provide programmes to tackle digital exclusion and could do more by offering maker-space and equipment otherwise out of the reach of people on low incomes.
We can create a continuum of support for people who want to start or grow their own creative businesses in the borough and connect them to our thriving public and private sector innovation partners to create a functional supply chain and stimulate growth.
Our opportunities
- Build on successful programmes including Sounds Like Hammersmith & Fulham to deepen the engagement of arts and cultural institutions with schools in the borough (including through the Learning Partnership)
- Our active Youth Voice Strategy and Youth Council provide a platform for inclusion of young people in in decisions about culture, ensuring those with the biggest stake in the future are involved
- The White City Innovation District and our wider Industrial Strategy are fundamentally supported by the creativity behind new inventions. Our creative ecosystem has a role in generating not only the ideas feeding traditional ‘creative sector’ roles but also the wider creative leaps we need to make to reach a sustainable path to the future
- Work with schools, colleges, universities, libraries and the informal learning sector to develop our STEMMM approach to create a creative skills accelerator programme capable of supporting people of all ages and backgrounds to capture their creative talent and translate it into cultural production, creative start-ups or innovative new ideas and products
- Support cultural and creative sole traders, micro and small businesses to locate, stay and flourish in Hammersmith & Fulham through provision of business advice to optimise their growth, monetise their ideas and encourage creative spill-over into other sectors and networking opportunities, in order to pollinate collaboration and build a functional creative cluster
- Our five libraries offer a unique opportunity as accessible, trusted, public spaces that can enable local communities to overcome digital exclusion and engage in a creative way with STEMMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Media and Medicine) activities. This can include introducing new resources such as makerspaces and digital skills programmes
How we'll get there
Cultural and creative sole traders, micro and small businesses locate, stay and flourish in Hammersmith & Fulham creating a functional creative cluster
Actions
- Engage with local artists and creatives to understand their workspace needs
- Use our planning levers to incorporate the establishment of affordable creative workspaces in new developments in the borough
- Work with our existing studio providers to support them to grow their memberships
- Engage with local artists and creatives to understand their workspace needs
- Use our planning levers to incorporate the establishment of affordable creative workspaces in new developments in the borough
- Work with our existing studio providers to support them to grow their memberships
- Work to retain existing and support creation of new affordable creative workspace, especially within our Creative Enterprise Zone and at the Civic Campus
- Identify further external funding for the protection of at-risk creative space
- Identify and signpost opportunities for premises for small organisations and start-ups
- Provide networking opportunities, in order to pollinate collaboration and encourage creative spill-over into other sectors, stimulating growth
- Explore creation of a one stop shop for support, advice and training for arts, culture and heritage organisations and small business start-ups in the creative and cultural sector including through our libraries' universal offer
An embedded collaboration between schools and cultural institutions, actively connecting young people from an early age with the arts, culture and creative industries
Actions
- Deepen the engagement of arts and cultural institutions with schools in the borough, including through the Learning Partnership – including those working with young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) - to highlight the breadth of career opportunities in the sector, and routes into those
- Highlight the breadth of career opportunities in the local sector and promote and facilitate routes into work with partners, ensuring the needs of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are fully incorporated into initiatives
- Work with partners to draw on the successful ‘creative challenge’ approach of Imperial College’s Makers Challenge format, linking this to investments in our public libraries – strengthening this creative ecosystem behind our major global innovations
More of our residents – including young people – are working in creative industries
Actions
- Work with schools, community groups and other partners to explore how approaches such as providing '19 cultural experiences for all young people by the time they are 19 years old' could work
- Improve signposting and support for young people to access education, training, skills, mentoring and employment in the creative industries
- Scope partnerships with local creative businesses to offer and apprenticeships work experience to the borough’s young people
- Explore creation of a wider ‘creative skills accelerator’ programme for all ages, to support residents to translate creative ideas into cultural production, employment or starting a business
New programmes for identified population groups requiring more support
Actions
- Establish links with HMP Wormwood Scrubs education team and Ministry of Justice to explore ways in which creativity can form a route into productive work on release from prison
Use the unique position of libraries as local, free and trusted institutions to develop programmes for tackling digital exclusion and providing access to creative technology
Actions
- Seek investment for maker space provision, tablet loan schemes and digital literacy activities
- Provide a trusted source of advice and promote information about climate change in our libraries
The borough’s cultural leaders are acknowledged and celebrated
Actions
- Seek support for an annual Create in Hammersmith & Fulham award
A Civic Innovation Unit is established in the Civic Campus
Actions
- Initiate a programme for resident artists to work alongside council teams to use their collective imaginations and diverse perspectives to stimulate new ways of working in the public sector