V1.1 May 2025
Creative Sector Survey Results
Survey Voices: Insights from Tunbridge Wells Creatives
This section delves into the direct feedback from the respondents to the Creative Tunbridge Wells survey (March 2025). It highlights their working arrangements, perceived barriers to growth, awareness of support networks, and what they desire from CTW.
Main Barriers to Business Growth
Finance and Time are the top barriers for most. Freelancers also highlighted access to mentoring, while business owners focused on staff recruitment and market access. Creative Tunbridge Wells is not a grant giving organisation, nor is it an investment partner. We will instead focus on signposting business to opportunities where they can access funding, coordinating training in new technologies, and continue to champion collaborative working within and between sub sectors to enable sustainable growth.
Working Space Arrangements & Challenges
68% of freelancer/sole trader respondents primarily work from home. Of these, 40% wish to work elsewhere, citing cost as the main barrier (69%). TWBC conducted previous reports into co-working and flexible office space and created The House Tunbridge Wells in response, other co-working spaces have since been established including the new spaces at the Town Hall. What our data shows is that a similar coordinated effort is required for making and studio space.
Affordable light industrial spaces for creating work are vital to a functioning creative economy and a clear need has been expressed for these spaces via the survey. CTW are actively working towards a Meanwhile Use policy for Tunbridge Wells, to encourage landlords, planners, and business to adopt meanwhile use more regularly. Opening up un or underused spaces for these types of use is a win win for landlords, artists, and surrounding businesses.
Desired Support From CTW
Networking is the most desired benefit by far, and is something we will be integrating into all of our projects going forward. Access to funding, space, and business growth advice are also key, whilst we cant give this directly we are working on strategic interventions which we can make to help business access the support they need. Freelancers expressed a clear need for both Networking and Mentoring, as well as access to high quality CPD.
Starting in the autumn of 2025 we will be hosting one off and regular networking events for freelancers in general as well as sub-sector specific events.
