THE Commonwealth Games gave the north west's arts a vital platform via the arts umbrella Cultureshock, but now a new arts conference - art04 - is aiming to recognise the force of the cultural industries by providing a marketplace, a talking shop and a £10,000 prize.

Art04, which takes place on February 12, next year, will feature stands for arts organisations and individuals at Manchester's Contact Theatre, and a debate with the BBC featuring a panel of leading figures from the arts including Alan Yentob, the BBC's head of drama and entertainment and presenter of BBC1 arts programme, Imagine.

This will be followed by a party at Manchester Art Gallery to announce the art04 £10,000 award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

It is an ambitious event - detsined to become annual - which recognises the part that the arts play in the region's economy. The creative industries as a whole make up 7.9 per cent of the gross domestic product and have been growing faster than the economy as a whole.

Creative businesses account for 6.5 per cent of all businesses in the north west and employ 146,000 people in the region.

Greater Manchester is in the middle of a huge cultural renaissance, with the re-opening of the Manchester Art Gallery after a four-year closure for major renovation, new conductors at the top giving new life to the BBC Philharmonic, Hall' and Manchester Camerata, a sprouting of new galleries in the Northern Quarter, new artists coming up through the Manchester Metropolitan University with The Lowry and the Imperial War Museum North adding a new dimension.

Creative scene

But there is also a whole burgeoning creative scene of artists and musicians working on their own, who are less visible.

Art04, which is being hosted by Arts Council North West partnership with the North West Development Agency, aims to give some support to the smaller players by giving them the opportunity to network and display their wares at the market at Contact early in the day.

Director of Arts Council North West Michael Eakin says: "The message of art04 is that there is a need for a core infrastructure and a financially sustainable network to sustain the individual."

A single prize giving an organisation £10,000 to commission new work is going to be contentious. How does one compare the work of a community-based puppet theatre against that of a painter, or against that of a jazz group?

Eakin agrees that a single prize will be controversial but feels that it will focus the attention of the discussion. The entry list has now closed, but he is sure that the publication of the shortlist of six in January will represent a good overview of the region's activities as well as provoking debate.

To register to have a stand at art04 visit here. Tweet