There’s a real alchemy here; there’s a lot of new talent coming into the town and a lot of talent which is very advanced. We’re providing a great place to work but also a great place to live, and Leamington offers that. We’ve got one of the largest creative clusters outside of Greater London. Creative industries across Warwickshire contribute over a billion pounds in GVA to the local economy. The video game industry has been a catalyst for other creative businesses wanting to join the local ecosystem. We have a concentration of different sectors, from the video games cluster to film and TV, creative technology, advertising, marketing agencies. And what makes the ecosystem here so unique is the amount of partners that come together to support the industry. We collaborate together to work on key issues that are facing the industry, things like mental well-being, the environment, and the skills shortages.
We were aware that Warwick University wanted to create an incubator for startup companies, one that was off-campus. We thought we were a perfect fit for that. The standout elements between this partnership have been the level of collaboration that’s taken place. We’ve built a creative industries network and also an incubator for new businesses. The University of Warwick has worked with them all through the Creative Futures program.
Setting up a business can be quite a challenge, and Creative Futures really helps bring Warwick University into the community and support businesses like us. It has really helped me to distill that directorial mindset and has helped me gain much more confidence in order to grow. They’ve given us support, and they’ve offered us a community to work within. We’ve expanded our network and collaborated with a vast range of partners. Creative Futures has broken some invaluable relationships for Lab 42, and it’s helped Lab 42 become a more accessible and inclusive studio.
They have come to us with idea after idea, and it’s been a really great relationship for us to be involved in. We’ve had tours of spaces, residencies, placements, guest speakers coming in, and the networking opportunities for students are just fantastic. Access to M Street has given us an opportunity to bring in and work with students from the University. So we’ve had media and creative industries students working with us on research and development. We’ve had a fantastic intern who was great, and we’re not having to tell them much; they know the technical ability, which comes from the University. We’re more coaching them on how to bring that into the workplace.
It was like a completely different experience from other work experiences that I’ve done in the past. They were really good at involving me on live projects. I could work collaboratively, and I think I have much more confidence when I am producing work. We’re really excited to build on the work that we’ve done and raise the profile of this creative cluster in Leamington Spa and the wider area.
