Creative Industries Taskforce members announced

The government has announced the fourteen members of its new Creative Industries Taskforce, including leaders in the arts, politics, publishing and other sectors.

They join the taskforce’s co-chairs, SHRITI VADERA and PETER BAZALGETTE, who were announced last month. Vadera will take over from Bazalgette as co-chair of the Creative Industries Council (CIC) in the summer of next year.

The taskforce members include two leaders of prominent arts festivals: FRANCESCA HEGYI, chief executive of Edinburgh International Festival, and SYIMA ASLAM, the founder and chief executive of Bradford Literature Festival.

Also on the list are PHILIPPA CHILDS, deputy general secretary of the Bectu sector of Prospect, CAROLINE NORBURY, the chief executive of Creative UK, and STEPHEN PAGE, executive chair of the publisher Faber.

West Yorkshire mayor TRACY BRABIN, and professor HASAN BAKHSHI, the director of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, are among the other members.

The Creative Industries Minister CHRIS BRYANT said that the UK’s “world-leading creative industries”, worth £125bn to the economy, had been identified as a “key growth-driving sector”.

“The sector will have a critical role to play in helping us deliver the mission of this government to drive economic growth into all of our towns and cities,” he said.

“This taskforce will be central to achieving that goal, by helping to draw up a bold and ambitious sector plan which will enable further growth and innovation in the creative industries by unlocking private investment, boosting exports and developing our highly skilled creative workforce.

Full list of members of the Creative Industries Taskforce:

• Baroness Shriti Vadera (co-chair), chair, Royal Shakespeare Company, and future CIC co-chair
• Sir Peter Bazalgette (co-chair), current CIC co-chair
• Francesca Hegyi, chief executive, Edinburgh International Festival
• Prof Hasan Bakhshi, director, Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre
• Caroline Norbury OBE, chief executive, Creative UK
• Stephen Page, executive chair, Faber
• Caroline Rush, chief executive, British Fashion Council
• Prof Christopher Smith, CEO, AHRC
• Tom Adeyoola, co-founder, Extend Ventures, and non-executive board member, Channel 4
• Lynn Barlow, academic and TV producer
• Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
• Philippa Childs, deputy general secretary, Bectu Sector of Prospect
• Saul Klein, investor and member of the Council of Science and Tech
• Sir William Sargent, chair and co-founder, Framestore
• Professor Jonathan Haskel, professor of economics, Imperial Business School
• Syima Aslam, founder and Chief Executive, Bradford Literature Festival