Museums: The creative industries’ untapped resource

Publish date: 4 Jun, 2025

Museums should be recognised as collaborators in innovation, skills development, and industrial strategy says new research.

The Government has made economic growth a central focus of the upcoming Spending Review and Industrial Strategy, identifying the creative industries as one of eight critical sectors for driving progress.

However, whilst undeniably important to the creative industries, inspiring and enabling groundbreaking work in film, TV, design, and beyond, museums and galleries continue to be absent from creative industry strategies.

In response, AIM, The National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) and Art Fund commissioned a report by City Global Futures on the role of museums in the creative industries.

The research highlights five cross-cutting themes illustrating museums’ contributions:

  • Innovation, R&D, and Digital Production
  • Skills and Talent Development
  • Placemaking and Reimagining
  • Creative and Regenerative Ecosystems
  • Tourism and Soft Power

And outlines three key advocacy messages:

  1. Museums play a major role in the creative industries through innovation, skills, placemaking, creative ecosystems, and global pull, with clear contributions and impact. Quantifying the related economic impact of museums across the Creative Industries remains an opportunity.
  2. Museums should be represented and included in national economic and creative policy discussions and form part of long-term national and local partnerships around the creative industries.
  3. Museums have significant potential in the innovation economy but require investment in digital infrastructure and capacity.
Read a one-page summary of the first phase of the report (opens in a new tab)

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