Britain’s creative economy has suffered since Brexit

“From loss of creative and business partnerships with European cultural organisations, to exclusion from European funding schemes and limiting touring opportunities, Charlotte Faucher shows the detrimental impact Brexit has had on Britain’s arts sector – and what the government should do about it. Britons, and the British government, pride themselves on their cultural exports. Artists, musicians and film stars exert enormous cultural influence and generate considerable economic returns. As the banner above makes clear, musicians and artists hoping to work abroad supported freedom of movement. It is little wonder then that a majority of artists and creative workers voted in 2016 to remain within the European Union, the country’s closest and largest trading partner. That vote, of course, went the other way. My research at the time predicted that British artists would be more isolated from Europe resulting in a loss of income and partnerships. I also showed that the uncertainty about visa and trade regulations, and the lack of guidance during the transition period (February to December 2021) would result in a hiatus. In 2020 many arts organisations suspended their plans with European partners owing to fear these would prove to be unaffordable under as-yet-undecided EU law. But a decade on from the vote, what has actually happened? Since Britain left the European Union, on 31 December 2020 working in the EU has become a lot more expensive and complicated. The music industry has been hit particularly hard, and the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales have been extremely vocal about the impact of Brexit on the transport of goods and people. The Welsh Assembly has advocated for amendments around the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) to include preferential treatment for artistic activities. The first is visa requirements. The terms of the new UK-EU relationship mean that British passport holders can only stay in the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day period. Those looking to work must also navigate complicated visa and work permit arrangements. Often these are different for each EU country. In France artists need to be employed by a registered venue, which creates considerable paperwork. French music festivals don’t have the capacity for this and so will often book European artists instead of British ones. With a review of the TCA by the UK and EU due to take place this year, several hurdles remain for British creatives. The second is transport of goods.Taking goods, such as film or music equipment, temporarily into the EU has also become more expensive. Artists are required to purchase an ATA Carnet, an international customs document that exempts owners from import duties and taxes at each border. These cost from £200 (€240), fluctuates with the value of goods and only last up to a year. The manifesto of Britain’s ruling Labour Party, and its current Creative Industries Sector Plan, published in 2025, promised to help touring artists eager to work in the EU. But the arts sector has yet to be fully integrated into the government’s reset with Europe strategy. That is a mistake. The economic impact of Brexit on the arts industry Britain’s economy is worse off than if Brexit had not happened. And the arts and creative industries have not escaped the trend. The sector reports huge loss of income owing to the new challenges of working in and with EU partners. Paying the Price , a study published in 2023 by the Independent Society of Musicians found that 47 per cent of respondents had less work in the EU after January 2021 than they did before Brexit. The impact is felt by large organisations too. In 2025 the Welsh National Opera highlighted a £5,000 increase in a European opera house hiring one of their productions. This has caused a significant blow to one of its central income streams. Where Britain exports its cultural services has changed Post‑Brexit trading arrangements have introduced additional friction for the sector, leading to a diversification of the British export market. In 2016 Britain just over 45 per cent of exported services in British creative industries went to EU member states . In 2023 this figure was down to just below 40 per cent . Total exports to the EU have increased in absolute terms but other markets have taken a larger share. Figure 1. Exports of services by businesses in DCMS sector, 2023 Figure 2. Exports of services by businesses in DCMS sector, 2016 Brexit has created a “cultural Iron Curtain” Brexit has led Britain’s creative industries to a relative shift away from trade with the EU. This has not only impacted the economic growth of the sector, but the cultural diversity of country itself because it is more difficult and costly to book European acts and because the UK has been kept out of Creative Europe , the leading EU-programme that contributes to cross-border cultural creativity and co-operation in the arts. Small World Theatre, a theatre company in west Wales, describes Brexit as having created a “ cultural Iron Curtain ” saying that the “desire to share and learn, to exchange and prosper, to make meaningful links and to bridge divides has been squashed and tempered.”. Maintaining partnerships with arts organisations and artists in the EU, and carving out work opportunities there, requires considerable resilience, time, and, indeed, creativity. Out There Arts , a street art and circus organisation based in Great Yarmouth, has a long history of working with EU partners, notably through the European Territorial Co-operation programmes. Since Brexit, Out There Arts has maintained some EU partnerships in part by relying on sporadic investments that came from European countries. It has worked with the Belgian government, through the EU’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve, which is aimed at mitigating some of the economic and social aspects of leaving, and with the Institut Ramon Llull , in the Catalan region of Spain. Both have had an appetite to maintain links with British artists, but it has not been possible for Out There Arts to reciprocate on the same scale when sending its artists to the continent. Nonetheless, it continues to support British artists by connecting them with European promoters. With funding from Arts Council England it organised the 2025 Fresh Street Festival , an international conference for the outdoor arts and circus sector which attracted 400 delegates, 250 of whom were international, and has generated over £600,000 in overseas gigs this year. The value of cultural relations for British soft power The strain on UK-EU cultural relations impacts upon Britain’s “soft power”. The British Council’s Global Perception survey shows that the proportion of young people across the G20 who say they intend to engage with Britain have been trending downwards since the referendum, although things are improving. The British Council itself, which is both a charity and an arm of the government and acts as the leading soft power agency in the country, is facing a European crisis of its own. It has cut 80 per cent of its staff in Italy and closures are expected in other countries. What could improve prospects for the sector in dealing with the EU? The British government and the EU should agree new arrangements for creative workers, who are at the heart of British soft power and the economy. Britain should consider rejoining the Creative Europe , which it ruled doing so in February 2020. These programmes allow for transnational partnerships to an extent that existing British Council and Arts Council schemes in Europe – which chiefly support bilateral partnerships such as Cultural Bridges, with Germany, or Magnetic, with France – cannot match. Non-EU countries such as Iceland, Norway and Albania already participate in the Creative Europe programme . With sufficient political will, Britain could do the same Collaborations are key to mobilising soft power to ensure that Britain remains attractive to, and trusted by, Europeans. The government should tap into the Soft Power Council launched in January 2025. The inaugural membership includes Tate, the Edinburgh International Festival and the British Council alongside members representing traditional hard power bodies such as General Sir Nick Carter, former chief of the defence staff. This which might signal that the government appreciates that soft power complements and supports foreign policy’s top priority on security. The government should support the British Council with its activities in Europe, which have been declining , in part because since the 2000s the British Council’s grant-in-aid largely comes from the Overseas Development Administration and therefore has had to be spent on development activities, making European countries ineligible. A genuine cultural reset with Europe, that supports British growth and soft power, will require more flexibility in the terms of the TCA, sustained funding and the active engagement of stakeholders with strong European links, including the Arts Council, the British Council and the Soft Power Council. Doing so would allow Britain to recapture the influence of one of its strongest and most exciting industries. This article gives the views of the author, not the position of LSE Business Review or the London School of Economics. You are agreeing with our comment policy when you leave a comment. Image credit: Andruis Kaziliunas provided by Shutterstock. 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