North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has launched a 10-year plan to create 10,000 jobs in culture, creative industries, heritage and sport by 2036, supported by more than £104m of investment announced earlier this year.

The strategy, branded North East Creates, sets out how the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority intends to support businesses, develop creative talent and increase participation across its seven council areas.

Alongside the employment target, the authority aims to help more than 8,000 businesses and freelancers expand, support over 900 events, including 10 major events, and attract more than 10 million visits to regional events and cultural venues by 2036.

The jobs figure is a target for the next decade. The investment is already moving through existing programmes, with some projects under way and others still subject to further funding and delivery decisions.

The investment package was first announced in March, seven months before the strategy's launch.

It broadly comprises £38.5m for the first phase of Crown Works Studios in Sunderland, up to £24m for Gateshead Quays and £42m for creative industries, events and participation programmes.

The Crown Works package includes £25m from the government's trailblazer devolution deal, an additional £11m in repayable funding and up to £2.5m of operational support over five years. Sunderland City Council has since granted planning approval for the first phase of the film and television production complex.

At Gateshead Quays, the authority has allocated up to £24m to prepare the site for future development, including infrastructure for a proposed arena, a performance square and a linear park. The public-space plans submitted in September form part of that work. The arena itself remains a future development.

The remaining £42m was approved at the authority's March cabinet meeting through two investment plans covering April 2026 to March 2029.

A £29m Creative Industries Investment Plan combines £25m from the authority's Integrated Settlement with £4m for Create Talent, a skills programme approved in November 2025 and launched in February 2026.

It supports measures including a £2.2m Small Venues Fund for grassroots music, arts and cultural spaces. Create Talent provides training, work experience and mentoring in music, screen, writing and publishing.

A separate £13m Events and Participation Investment Plan includes an £11m programme to attract and support major, regional and grassroots events over three years. The remaining £2m is intended to increase participation in cultural and sporting activities.

These are programme allocations rather than a record of completed expenditure. Individual projects can still require business cases and funding agreements before money is released.

The strategy also brings together longer-running initiatives, including the North East Screen Industries Partnership and North East Production Fund, which supports film and television productions that use regional crews and suppliers.

Writing and publishing is another priority. The planned Centre for Writing and Publishing in Newcastle brings together New Writing North, Northumbria University and other partners. By March the project had £10.5m of investment commitments, including £2m from the mayoral authority that was due for approval that month. It is planned to open in 2029.

Other programmes cover creative business finance, support for freelancers, music exports, design and the use of technology in creative industries.

McGuinness said the plan was intended to provide more opportunities for people to develop creative careers without leaving the region.

“We’re already backing our creative sector, from funding new training opportunities and supporting venues to building film studios in Sunderland,” she said.

The authority estimates that approximately 55,000 people work in the North East's creative industries.

That figure is consistent with Department for Culture, Media and Sport employment estimates for July 2023 to June 2024. However, the government figure covers the wider North East statistical region, including Tees Valley, whereas the mayor's strategy applies to the seven council areas of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.

It also measures the creative industries specifically, while the new employment ambition covers culture, creative industries, heritage and sport. The two figures therefore cannot be used directly to calculate the percentage increase in employment needed to meet the target.

The authority points to earlier government estimates showing that the North East recorded the fastest proportional growth in creative industries output of any English region between 2019 and 2022. Its wider cultural and visitor economy also provides an established base for further growth.

Figures from Experience North East England put the value of the region's visitor economy at £7.13bn in 2025, up 3.7 per cent on the previous year.

The new strategy sets a longer-term direction for investment and employment, but the launch material does not specify how the 10,000 additional jobs will be measured or attributed to the plan.

The authority is commissioning further work with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre to strengthen its evidence base and inform future investment decisions.