In 2004 there were more than 120,000 individual businesses in the UK involved in the creative industries (radio/TV, publishing, arts and antiques, etc.)  (source: DCMS - Dept. for culture, media and sport)

There are an estimated 200 dance companies in the UK, with about 30,000 people employed by the dance economy. (source: www.danceuk.org)

In 2003/04 the Arts Councils of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland received a combined total of approximately £518.3 million (about $906 million) from their respective governments. The National Endowment for the Arts, a comparable government organization in the US, has an allocated budget of just $122.5 million this year (about £68 million). (source: Arts Council’s websites, NEA website)

Public spending on the arts is generally higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK as a whole. (source: Public Spending on the Arts Within the UK, report April 2004, The Centre for Cultural Policy Research, The University of Glasgow)

A report has found that every job in the arts community in Scotland supports nearly another whole job elsewhere in the economy, for a total of £72.5 million worth of added income.  (source: “Funding in the Arts gives £72m boost to Scottish economy,”  The Herald, 9/15/04)

Nearly 1.2 million tickets were sold for the 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe for over 20,000 individual performances, 10,000 artists, and 200 venues.  (source: EFF website)

Wales is a strong supporter of youth arts, with the first youth orchestra in Europe, the Urdd Eisteddfod (largest youth arts festival in Europe), and the most comprehensive young people’s theatre in education provision.  79% of young people aged 11-16 take part in arts activity at least once a year. (source: Arts and Young People in Wales; The Arts Work: Facts and Figures on the Arts in Wales, Arts Council of Wales)

Every year there are about 550 festivals in the UK, many of which are devoted to drama. (source: www.i-uk.com)

The size of the creative industries is comparable to the financial services sector. They now make up 7.3 per cent of the economy, and are growing at 5 per cent per year (almost twice the rate of the rest of the economy). Including those working in related creative occupations, the creative economy employs 1.8 million people.(source: DCMS - Dept. for culture, media and sport)

The UK has the largest creative sector in the EU, and relative to GDP probably the largest in the world. It is a national asset in multiple ways. The creation of ideas, images, symbols, design and cultural expression on this scale would alone be enough for the sector to warrant attention; such vitality needs to be honoured and nurtured. Yet the creative and cultural industries play an largest creative increasingly important role in economic life. They account for sector in the EU, 7.3 per cent of the economy comparable in size to the financial and relative to services industry. They employ 1 million people themselves, while GDP probably another 800,000 work in creative occupations. The livelihood of the largest in a growing proportion of British citizens will depend upon the the world sector maintaining its trajectory of growth. (source: DCMS - Dept. for culture, media and sport)