Dr Tarek Virani, Associate Professor, Creative Industries
I study the creative and cultural industries. I started here at UWE Bristol in 2020. My first day here was also day one of the first lockdown: 23 March 2020. Some day.
Right off the bat, and with my academic/research head on, I noticed that the creative and cultural sector was being decimated by the pandemic. Pre pandemic, many of these businesses were already often dancing between autonomy and precarity. Then the pandemic hits.
Testing our resilience
So, we decided to do a project to look at how the COVID pandemic was affecting creative and cultural organisations of all sizes here in the south west of England.
It was initially a small study, about a year long. Through it, we saw that around 70% of creative and cultural businesses in the region suffered terribly in the pandemic. But some 18-22% of these businesses did really well. But why? How?
We secured some more funding to carry out a study for the entire country. Through this project, we started to develop the idea of resilience. How these creative and cultural businesses can resist external shocks like the pandemic; how they can continue to thrive and grow and play the important part they have to play.
Fitter for the future
For example, we looked at the practical, financial assistance available to these businesses. Things like VAT referral, business rates and tax relief. Now, if you know about them, they can really help. But if you don’t, you can’t access them. So, we co-designed and developed a resilience toolkit for micro businesses. It’s a toolkit where you can go online and register your business. It asks you a bunch of questions and then gives you a score of how resilient your business is – and what you can do to beef up your resilience.
We’re now looking to scale this, to create a suite of business improvement tools for strengthening our creative and cultural businesses. I guess that’s what really drives me: I care about securing the health – the future – of these vital businesses.
The Blue Planet Effect
I want to help create a healthy, vibrant ecosystem for these businesses that will keep them alive, buoyant and thriving. Simply because they are so valuable. For example, we know that one in five new university applicants wants to work in media and communication. We also know that the creative industry in this country is huge. I think it outperforms most sectors of the economy. Also, if you look at the impact of TV and film, music and performing arts, this country punches way above its weight. There’s soft power in our creative and cultural industries too. They have influence.
So yes, there are lots of reasons why the creative industries are vitally important. Cultural currency. Messaging is another reason. The idea of cultural messaging outside of propaganda. A perfect example is what we call the Blue Planet Effect. When Blue Planet first came out, the climate crisis suddenly became a lot more central in people’s minds.
We must protect our creative economy. We have to love it and nurture it. And that’s my passion. That’s why I do the research work I do.
Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals
UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:
