Art has become a multi-million pound business sector in the region. John Dean examines the commercail opportunities.

TWO centuries ago, entrepreneurs turned the region into one of the most innovative places in the world.

Their vision led to major developments in sectors including shipbuilding, coal mining, locomotive manufacture and heavy engineering. Those industries have either gone or are in decline. Today, a new breed of entrepreneur is creating a multi-million pound industry using just as much innovative thinking.

But their tools are not those of the industrial past - rather the ideas that have led to a massive boom in sectors including film-making, art and computer games. They are known collectively as the creatives.

The concentrated emphasis on creatives can be traced back to when the Government started to recognise the commercial application of art and ideas, a process driven by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and implemented in the North-East by organisations such as regional development agency One NorthEast, Northern Film and Media and the Arts Council.

They have helped entrepreneurs to access support to expand their businesses.

The region's film and television sector alone has an estimated turnover of £120m a year.

It has required a major shift in thinking, from regarding the arts as something desirable, but not particularly important commercially, to the basis for a huge industry.

Films and television programmes illustrate the point, with the region now home to a growing number of companies with international reputations.

Tom Harvey, chief executive of Northern Film and Media, which has helped many of the ideas become a reality, and Ailsa Anderson, One NorthEast's culture manager, make a distinction between artists happy to make a modest living, and those with ambitions to grow their businesses.

While artists happy to make a modest living qualify for some support, the main focus for the regional development agency and Northern Film and Media has been more ambitious, business-orientated projects.

Projects such as School for Seduction.

Made and premiered in Newcastle by North-East film-maker Ipso Facto, and supported by Northern Film and Media, it opened at the end of last year, an event attended by its glamorous star Kelly Brook.

And then there was the North-East-made TV programme The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off, a Patrick Collerton documentary featuring the final days of Jonny Kennedy, 36, of Alnwick, Northumberland. The documentary was voted one of the top ten TV treats of last year.

Although able to provide access to financial support, Mr Harvey and Ms Anderson see their main role as putting artists in touch with each other to create collectives of excellence. Again, Mr Harvey uses film-making as an example, where a scriptwriter with an idea may be put in contact with a producer who can transfer it to the screen and the technical staff required to make it happen.

Mr Harvey said: "There has been a shift in thinking and more is being done to encourage people to develop their ideas.

"It is about people doing what they do well. Some may specialise in intellectual property, some may be good with venture capitalists. It is about working together. And although they may be working in a global market, as is certainly the case with films and television, we are encouraging them to have their base in the North-East."

According to Ms Anderson, that has wider benefits: "There is always a knock-on effect for the general spend in terms of tourism, for instance. Nissan will not draw people to the region, but the arts will.

"People will come if they realise this is the place Harry Potter was filmed or where Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was shot, and that means income for places like hotels.

"It is important that the region is recognised as having this kind of sector, that we have a reputation for innovation.

"There is still a lot we need to do to make sure that support mechanisms are in place. We are looking to encourage entrepreneurs and also looking to encourage young people to see the creative industry as something they want to be involved in. We want to see more people starting up businesses."

Mr Harvey acknowledges that much has been achieved, but argues that more needs to be done to make sure that all business support agencies understand the needs of creatives.

He said: "We may look back on this as the start, the time when crucial things were happening. We are certainly seeing a change. We have the skills aspect and if we can make sure all the agencies are working together - which is starting to happen - there is great potential."

From brain drain to brain gain

One of the organisations helping creative businesses is the Arts Council North East. Advisor Mark Adamson believes there has been a growing awareness of the economic importance of the sector.

He points to the last comprehensive survey in the region which showed 30,000 people were employed by, or running, 3,000 businesses and it is believed to have gone up significantly since then.

Mr Adamson, who administers a scheme providing grants to businesses hoping to develop creative projects, said: "Culture has become an important part of the economic strategy of the region."

The scheme has helped hundreds of business access funding since it was set up in 1999 and receives support from the Arts Council North East, the Prince's Trust and the European Regional Development Fund.

Mr Adamson said a key objective was helping artists adopt a business approach, and said the vibrancy of the sector had brought investment and prevented talented people leaving the region.

He said: "The regional development agencies have helped creative industries develop as an important sector. Culture is a magnet in terms of tourism and the benefits which it can bring for the region. And we were seeing a brain drain, now we are seeing a brain gain."

Bright lights of London are no longer a draw for Niel

NIEL Bushnell, 34, is a creative who left the bright lights behind and returned to his native North-East to bring his animation ideas to life.

The co-founder of Qurios Entertainment Limited, in Church Street, Hartlepool, he started the business in 2002, having worked at the Uli Meyer Studios for clients that included Disney and Dreamworks.

He runs the company with wife Diane, employing two full-time staff and several freelances, developing art-based animation concepts for clients including film-makers, computer games companies and advertising agencies. His workers have skills ranging from sculpture to 3-D model making, all of which can be applied to computer designs.

Mr Bushnell said: "I was always interested in art and drawing at school and always wanted to work in the field, so when I came out of school I found work as an illustrator.

"However, there was not really much support and I was only really scraping a living - I took part-time jobs as well - so I went to London.

"Diane and I felt the time had come to return to the North-East and initially I worked for a computer games company on Teesside, then we started our company.

"We are growing year-on-year. When we set up we thought most of our work would come from London, but about half comes from the North-East, from companies in places like Newcastle, Middlesbrough and down to York.

"There are a lot of creative industries in the region - a lot more is happening and there is more support for them now."