What the Creative Industries Sector Plan means for the UK’s visual artists

Today, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced the Creative Industries Sector Plan, as part of the wider Industrial Strategy, which sets out the government’s economic plans for the next 10 years. The plan recognises the visual arts as a high-growth subsector of the creative industries, alongside video games, music and performing arts. 

You can read the full Creative Industries Sector Plan here. 

To help visual artists understand the key areas of the Plan which may affect them, we have produced a summary of key policy announcements relating to the visual arts sector. 

A Creative Freelance Champion

In a boost to freelancers across the creative industries, DCMS will appoint a Creative Freelance Champion to advocate for the sector’s creative freelancers within government.

DACS has been calling for a new government appointment to champion the vital role freelance, self-employed and atypical workers play across the creative and cultural sectors, while identifying and finding solutions to unintentional systemic challenges that they face. This was one of the recommendations we made to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee session on Creator Remuneration in September 2023. 

DACS welcomes this appointment, as the vast majority of our members are freelancers. Despite their value to the sector and their contributions – both economic and cultural – to the UK, freelance workers have been poorly served by many parts of the policy infrastructure. The precarity of freelance labour within the visual arts reinforces inequality in the sector, positioning creative careers as only for those with the means to take on precarious and short-term projects for low pay. 

DCMS has announced that the appointment will be made in 2025, and will sit on the Creative Industries Council. 

Intellectual property and artificial intelligence

The plan states that the UK government will “ensure a copyright regime that values and protects human creativity, can be trusted, and unlocks new opportunities for innovation across the creative sector and wider economy.” 

Making specific reference to AI, the plan states that the government will publish a report on the use of copyright material for AI training, transparency and technical standards and convene a series of working groups to bring together people from both the AI and creative sectors on the issues of transparency, licensing and other technical standards. 

More broadly, the plan commits to greater protection for UK IP from infringements taking place abroad. 

Supporting the art market

The Creative Industries Sector Plan highlights the UK’s position as the second largest art market in the world, with an 18% share of global trade, and that art is one of the top 30 exports.  The government commits to tackling growth barriers – including those experienced post-Brexit and encouraging global partnerships which help cement this position.

Looking ahead

The appointment of a Creative Freelance Champion is welcome news for visual artists, and shows the role that advocacy by organisations across the creative industries can play in driving policy change. It is also encouraging to see the government recognise the economic, cultural and social power of the UKs visual arts and artists both nationally and on the global stage.

In the coming months it is vital that government continues to invest in and protect the visual arts, in particular by ensuring that the IP of UK artists is protected from gen AI training without consent or remuneration. DACS will continue to work with government to ensure a fair solution, which ensures the future of growth of the visual arts sector and protects artists’ rights and livelihoods. 

We will continue to build political support for innovative funding solutions for creatives, including the Smart Fund, to put the UK's IP framework in line with best practice across the world.

You can read more about our work campaigning for policy changes that support visual artists on our Advocacy pages.