It’s a wrap for BEYOND 2024

Salfordians and MediaCity-ites should be blushing with pride after the compliments lauded on the Quays main stage on day one of Beyond Conference 2024.

Delegates from across GM, the UK and the globe descended on MediaCity to hear from a raft of speakers sharing insight on the three Cs;  culture, creativity and cities from Manchester to Montreal.

Kicked off by Laia Gasch, Director, World Cities Forum, who powerfully set the scene for the rest of the day: “Culture is not just something nice to have. It’s essential. In order to be a successful global city you can’t do without culture.” Her point was unequivocal – culture should be a key component of a city’s priorities. She explained culture as ‘the golden thread’  running through the fabric of the city scape, ultimately – boosting jobs, regenerating neighbourhoods, bolstering tourism, health and wellbeing, creating community and cementing identity.

Andy Burnham, GMCA Mayor, echoed Laia’s sentiments reinforcing how “culture is critically important to life in Greater Manchester and core to our city’s economic vision.” On an international level, he reflected how the UK’s creative industries have put Britain on the map and is one of its biggest exports – connecting people across the world positively to the UK and bringing us together in “dark times.”

However, to protect this legacy, change is needed. Burnham urged for creativity to be put back into the heart of the curriculum and called on industry to collaborate with the education sector to “build strong pathways for young people into the creativity economy,” ensuring long-term career opportunities for young people to give Britian “the edge” in its cultural export.

Day one, was peppered with key players from within MediaCity’s community including Lowry CEO – Julia Fawcett. Fawcett explained the key to the Lowry’s long term success: “Community and place has be baked into what we do.” Reflecting on the recent announcement that the English National Opera is to make Manchester its new home, she said: “We know our value (across Salford and Manchester) and we have a lot to offer. There’s strength in the power of the collective and it’s a successful model for working together in the future.”

The theme of ‘power’ in the collective and education continued throughout the day with Andy Miah, Chair of Science Communication and Future Media, The University of Salford reinforcing the message:

“The power of bringing people together, finding new ideas and innovating. Outreach to schools and colleges such as MediaCity’s specialist University Technical College (UTC)  is imperative to ensure the pipeline of creative minds from the locality.

“Integrating with the InnovateUK funded MediaCity Immersive Technological Innovation Hub (MITIH), its Dreamlab and cultural beacons such as Factory International really creates value and opportunity for all.”

Where there’s a will, there’s a way and to make these meaningful connections happen we need places to converge and feather the nest  for collaboration to happen.

Martyn Evans, Creative Director, from LandsecU+I – MediaCity’s new owners, explained that fundamental to MediaCity’s success, is a responsibility to be agile and swift in responding to gaps within the eco system while working with partners to plug them.

He said: “We have to create a place where people want to learn, connect and thrive which is why the relationship with our colleges and onsite University campus is so important. It’s about creating the best conditions here – where there’s nowhere else for an individual or  business to do better.”

MediaCity’s most precious commodities are talent, technology and tenacity. It’s a place where innovation and immersive technologies collide – it’s the home of future media – where every sector from fashion to finance need to be and create their content.

As Paul Dennett, Mayor of Salford concluded: “I’m excited to see more collaboration across these industries and we have a lot to learn from each other. We can collectively create something remarkable with education and skills being the key to this success.”

As the event closed, what was clear, is what lies beyond, BEYOND is an immense opportunity for the creative industries to further grow and flourish. It will bring a wealth of career opportunity – 65% of young people will eventually work in roles that haven’t  yet been invented.

There is still a way to go to ensure the industry is diverse and inclusive but through working in partnership, as a collective we can generate boundless opportunity within the creative sectors.