Dates for the 2019 Creative Cities Convention announced

The second annual Creative Cities Convention (CCC) will take place on April 1-2, 2019 at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

The Welsh capital won a competitive bid to host the two-day convention, which provides a meeting place for people working in creative media across the UK and travels to a different city each year.

The event will once again be hosted by journalist and broadcaster, Kirsty Wark.

Jointly funded by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and independent producer’s trade association, Pact. Creative Cities Convention Director, Ruth Pitt, said they were very much looking forward to building on the success of the first event and bringing a stellar programme of speakers to the Cardiff venue.

“Cardiff has a global production sector and we’re excited to be bringing CCC 2019 to this vibrant, creative city,” she said

Next year’s convention will have a celebratory Let’s Be Friends theme, focusing on the importance of working together. Coming just two days after Britain officially leaves the EU and only a few months after Channel 4 announces the location for its new HQ, the theme will be a timely reminder of the need for people and cities to collaborate with each other rather than compete.

Leader of Cardiff Council, Huw Thomas, said he was delighted the city’s bid to host the event had been successful.

“We were delighted to win the bid to host the Creative Cities Convention. Working with Ruth Pitt and her team, we’ll bring together a spectacular and memorable event in 2019, highlighting the best and the brightest in a sector in which the UK already excels.

“Cardiff is at the heart of this story. Many of the world’s leading drama productions come out of our city, epitomising the role that Britain plays in screen production and the creative industries. We have some of the most talented, innovative and exciting people working in the sector, and we need to start shouting louder about how good our UK cities are in contributing towards the world’s creative economy.

“The Creative Cities Convention is our opportunity to get together and build on this success, and to reach out to our friends across the globe to make sure we cement our position in the world’s creative business environment.”

A full list of leading and diverse industry speakers will be announced in the coming months, with a programme that provides a platform for debating big issues affecting the industry across content production and distribution as well as gender inequality and social mobility.

John McVay, CEO of Pact, said they were delighted to be supporting the Creative Cities Convention and felt it provided a great meeting place for people in the industry.

“Pact is very excited to be supporting this year’s Creative Cities Convention in Cardiff. After a hugely successful launch in Leeds the convention will do even more to highlight the amazing talent and producers in the nations and regions. The only question anyone has to ask themselves is ‘why am I not there?’”