Norwich has a strong creative and media industries cluster, which includes businesses from a wide range of disciplines such as advertising, television and radio, design, film and video production, the performing arts, literature and publishing.

Creative industries make a significant contribution to the Norwich economy. Companies based in the city include ITV Anglia, BBC East, Radio Norfolk and Archant (the UK’s largest independently-owned regional media business).

Why Norwich?

• Employment in the media industry is higher than the national average.
• Norwich has a significant cluster of creative industries - a growing business sector with a high proportion of knowledge-rich jobs and many transferable skills.
• Home to the East of England Production Innovation Centre (EPIC) - the largest independent production facility in the East of England and one of the largest dedicated TV production facilities outside of London. EPIC provides world-class production equipment and studios for professional production companies and facilities for educational and training organisations.
• Screen East, based in Norwich, is the screen agency for the East of England. It is dedicated to developing and supporting film/ media industries and culture in the East of England.
• The highly regarded Norwich University College of the Arts (formerly Norwich School of Art and Design) offers a wide range of speciality courses, including fine art, graphic design, animation, photography and textiles.
• The University of East Anglia has a long-established international reputation for literary studies, particularly for its pioneering MA in creative writing.
• The Writers’ Centre Norwich is a literature development agency which works with writers, readers and communities on a wide range of ongoing and one-off projects and events. The Centre works locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, and has developed productive partnerships with many organisations.
• The city of Norwich (led by the Writers’ Centre Norwich) is currently bidding to become England’s first city of Literature.
• Norwich is a city of festivals. Regular festivals include the Norfolk and Norwich Festival (the oldest city arts festival in Britain), an International Literature Festival and AURORA – an international film arts festival. In 2009 the annual Norfolk and Norwich Festival sold 29,000 tickets.
• Norwich has a strong cultural infrastructure including theatres, museums, music venues and art centres.
• Norwich is a founder member of the UK’s Cultural Cities Network – 18 major cities who have put arts and culture high on their list of priorities and work together on joint projects.
• Norwich has been shortlisted for the first UK City of Culture title. The winning city will be announced in Summer 2010.
• Norwich Action for Marketing and Exhibitions is an initiative that offers advice and help to Norwich based businesses who work in the health and life sciences, creative, IT and engineering sectors to market their products and services at events across the UK and Europe. For further information visit www.namenorwich.org