Being Manchester natives, we’ve always had an inkling that our city is one of the most creative. Our galleries and museums are second to none, theatre, art and music remains as popular as ever, and there are plenty of opportunities to find new creative outlets all over the city. Now, Manchester has officially been named as the most creative city in the UK, according to research by Adobe Express.
With many Brits setting themselves a fresh set of goals in light of the New Year, Adobe Express recently ran a survey of 2,000 UK adults and learned that one in six (15%) Brits are planning to take up a hobby as part of their New Year’s resolution in 2024.
So, with more than two thirds (67%) of the nation declaring themselves as ‘very creative’, according to the same survey, just which UK towns and cities officially lead the way on the creativity scale? The research revealed that the most creative city in the UK is Manchester, boasting an overall creativity score of 8.7/10.
In our city, there are a whopping 111 notable creatives per 100,000 people, which includes musicians, painters and writers. For those looking to get in the creative arts job market, Manchester also boasts 31 relevant job roles per 100,000 residents (at the time the study was undertaken).
Lagging just behind Manchester in the study was Brighton and Hove, scoring 7.6/10 overall, highlighting Manchester’s achievement even more, given that Brighton and Hove is generally considered the home of creatives and the LGBTQ+ community in the UK. The least creative city in the UK according to Adobe Express is Northampton, with a fairly sad 2/10 overall.
The top 10 most creative towns and cities in the UK
1. Manchester
2. Brighton and Hove
3. Bristol
4. Leeds
5. = Edinburgh
5. = Liverpool
7. = Newcastle upon Tyne
7. = Glasgow
9. Norwich
10. Nottingham
In order to create their rankings, the experts at Adobe Express examined a variety of factors, such as the number of jobs available in the art sector, the number of museums and galleries, and the number of notable artists born in each of the 30 towns or cities compared within the study.
Each town/city was searched on TikTok for #citystreetart and #streetartcity to reveal each city’s/town’s artistic popularity on the platform. Subsequently, Indeed was scraped to determine the availability of creative art job openings in each of the towns/cities, amongst other things – all data was collected in December 2023 and is accurate as of then.