A seminar to discuss the creative and digital rural economy is due to take place in London next month.

The Creative and Digital Rural Economy (CaDRE) initiative proposes to align the creative rural sector more effectively with the urban creative industries.

The aim is to increase the rural sector's contributions to the national creative economy to £1bn by 2024.

It will seek to achieve this mainly through the establishment of a national creative and digital rural economy R&D initiative.

The goal is to establish a national consultation framework and support network leading to the implementation of a three year strategic creative rural economy investment programme (2019 - 2024).

The proposed R&D investment programme will also include the formulation and deployment of up to five one year pilot research projects, three regional consultation seminars and a national Rural Cultural Summit in October 2018).

This will be followed by the publication of a strategic CaDRE – national creative rural economy policy action report document.

The CaDRE R&D initiative Arts Lottery bid is being coordinated by an interim coalition and advisory panel consisting of seven leading rural NGOs, academic, rural media and arts organisations, led by Cybermoor Alston.

The CaDRE advisory panel members include: WIRE (Women in Rural Enterprise), ACRE (Action with Rural Community Councils in England), the Rural Media Company, the University of Cumbria, the University of Leeds and the Littoral Arts Trust.

A CaDRE research seminar London will take place on Thursday, 12 April at the St Matthews Conference Centre, 20 Great Peter Street, London, SW1 2BU.

Called Innovation and rural creative skills: the secret sauce, it will provide an update about recent USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and NEA (US National Endowment for the Arts) research on the creative rural economy.

Guest speakers will include Tim Wojan (USDA) and Professor Alison Marshall. It will be chaired by cultural policy consultant David Powell.

Seating at the event is limited. If you would like to attend and book a place in advance please contact Ian Hunter at the Littoral Arts Trust by calling 015394 37309 emailing littoral@btopenworld.com.