Features / Politics
Metro mayor candidate says she wants to develop more pathways into creative industries
Chris Bryant, government minister for science, innovation and technology as well as the minister for culture media and sport, enjoyed his time in Bedminster on Thursday.
His sister-in-law designs the interiors for all 250 Lounge cafe bars in the UK, including the original Lounge location on North Street.
He didn’t have much time to stop and enjoy her work though, as he was here at the invitation of Labour metro mayor candidate Helen Godwin, taking a tour of the Tobacco Factory to gain a better understanding of what regeneration looks like in south Bristol.
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Bryant said: “ I know how important arts (and) creative industries are to regenerating an area. And this is a classic instance of how a part of Bristol that for a long time, ignored and forgotten and really struggled, was completely transformed.
“You’ve only got to look at all the little restaurants and the cafeterias and all the different shops that there are along here. All of that came originally from this artistic idea.
“I love seeing where arts have been able to regenerate an area and I want her (Godwin) to be able to do that more for the rest of the area.”
Labour metro mayor candidate Helen Godwin took government minister Chris Bryant on a tour of the Tobacco Factory on Thursday – photo: Meg Davies
The Tobacco Factory tour was led by George Ferguson, the former mayor of Bristol who helped transform the Tobacco Factory from a derelict former WD & HO Wills tobacco factory to a multi-purpose creative hub.
Helen Godwin’s great aunts used to work at the former tobacco factory, packing cigarettes.
Godwin said: “The people that worked here used to get given cigarettes with their pensions.
“You’ve got these really significant health inequalities in south Bristol, that we all talk about, especially amongst women, and you can derive it straight back to huge numbers working for Wills and smoking being a big part of their daily lives.”
The pair’s visit to the Tobacco Factory coincided with World Theatre Day – photo: Seun Matiluko
Bryant said a priority for his government is making sure there’s a “proper arts education in every single school”.
The day of his visit coincided with World Theatre Day.
In 2024, data from the Cultural Learning Alliance revealed that 42 per cent of state schools enter no pupils for Music GCSE, 41 per cent enter no pupils for Drama GCSE and 84 per cent enter no pupils for Dance GCSE.
Bryant added: “I worry that lots of kids don’t even think of a job in the creative industry…a kid in an ordinary school, maybe Ashton Gate Primary School, do they go, ‘I’m know, I’m gonna work in screen?'”
The West of England is one of the government’s eleven recently announced ‘priority areas’ for the creative industries. It is also one the six Combined Authorities which will be given additional funding to invest in their local creative industries.
Godwin said that, if elected metro mayor, she would be “really interested in making sure we (in the West of England) use that hub status really, really well”.
She added: “That’s about bringing together all of our thinkers and doers in the creative space and giving them the support of the Combined Authority to really develop those ideas.
“I’m also really interested in pathways into work for our young people. So, I want to define out, if creative industries is one of our key sectors, how do you get into that?
“How do you answer Chris’ question, which is, when you are 13, 14 and you’re starting to think about who you are and what you want do, how can we make that path really clear?
“And that’s about placements, work experience, role models, mentors, all of those things.
“I know we’ve got the people here that really care, but we’ve got to join up the schools (and) the colleges, with the employers and then give our kids that onward path, wherever they come from in the region.”
Main photo: Seun Matiluko
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