Creative industries

There are 1,843 creative businesses in the City of Aarhus, which corresponds to 11.2% of the total number of companies in the municipality. The creative industries include a wide variety of industries which showcase and promote creative skills and products: for example, music and sound, architecture, design, video games, film and TV, radio, content and apps for media platforms, animation, fashion and apparel, furniture, interior design, theater, communication, advertising and publishing.

In Aarhus, the creative industries are strongly represented. The national cluster organizations for a variety of creative industries are located here, soon to be joined by new creative ‘power hubs’ in the Sydhavn waterfront district. Aarhus is also home to a variety of interdisciplinary creative ecosystems, incubators, co-working spaces and cultural spaces that make Aarhus a deeply creative and inventive city.

The creative industries – and creativity in general – have become even more important in recent years. As more and more jobs are automated, human creativity is becoming even more essential – both in the creative industry and in the economy in general. 

The digital visual cluster

The digital visual industry is a national driver of growth, generating DKK 7.5 billion in 2017 alone. Increasingly, this cluster is exporting its products to international markets, which is one of the many reasons the Danish Board of Business Development has included animation, video games and film as one of Denmark’s fourteen “economic strongholds”. The national cluster initiative is headed by Vision Denmark, which is located in Aarhus. There are numerous specialised growth ecosystems in Central Denmark Region that strengthen the digital visual industry in Aarhus.

In Aarhus, the cluster is characterised by high levels of entrepreneurship, and in recent years has seen rapid growth, both in terms of the number of companies and jobs. One driving force in this development is Filmby Aarhus, which is Denmark’s largest business park for the film and video game industry. This business park is home to over 100 companies, two professional film studios and a handful of media degree programmes and projects. Despite opening 4400 m2 of new facilities in 2020, Filmby Aarhus is already encountering a need for more space in order to meet demand.

Since 2018, Filmby Aarhus has brought the digital visual industry in Denmark together each year for the THIS festival, while the Aarhus Series Festival, which is open to the general public, has put Aarhus on the European cultural map when it comes to digital visual innovation. The ambition is for the festival to become a cultural highlight in Aarhus on par with SPOT Festival, which showcases the music industry.

Music and sound

The music scene in Aarhus generates DKK 1.8 billion in turnover annually, with about 2,500 musicians and over 1,000 full-time employees and a huge network of more loosely affiliated musical talents. Aarhus has a reputation as one of Denmark’s leading cities for music, both because of its history, talent pool and professional production facilities. Promus, the production center for rhythmic music, is an organisation that is working to strengthen the music scene in Aarhus, and among other initiatives, is responsible for organizing the Music City Aarhus festival in 2022. This ‘year of music’ highlights collaboration between the professional music scene’s collaboration with business and industry, promoting Aarhus as a great city for music and branding it both nationally and internationally – and not least kickstarting the music scene after the lockdowns of the pandemic. Based on the European Capital of Culture model, the project will provide a framework in which the city’s musicians and businesses work together to make 2022 a memorable year for live music.

The Lydhavnen collab is an example of how a number of the city’s professional producers have joined forces, which strengthens the industry by providing a bigger network and better opportunities for knowledge-sharing. From 2025, ‘Lydbyen’ in the new Sydhavns waterfront development will be a power hub for music and sound, with a venue, SMEs and studio facilities.

Lifestyle and design

Businesses within lifestyle and design account for about one-third of jobs in Aarhus’ creative industries, while most of the turnover generated by the Danish fashion industry comes form Central Denmark Region. There are about 600 established lifestyle and design businesses in Aarhus. So the presence of the incubator Headstart Fashion, which is run by the national Lifestyle & Design Cluster, has great value for Aarhus. From 2025, the synergies between Headstart Fashion and VIA University College's fashion and design degree programmes will become even more productive when they join forces in the Sydhavn waterfront district, where Headstart Fashion will relocate to a new and larger power hub.

In addition to the development plans for Sydhavn, the Godsbanen cultural center is an important hub for Aarhus’ creative businesses and cultural life. In 2021, the Aarhus School of Architecture moved into a new complex at Godbanen, which gives the architecture industry an attractive platform for developing new collaborations.