accro | CCIs in Grand Est | economic overview | August 2026 edition | accro-grandest.fr
About us | Economic overview | August 2026 edition
Cultural and creative industries in Grand Est
The cultural and creative industries are the third largest sector of the French economy, behind food service and the food industry. They employ more people than the automotive, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries combined. This page brings together the available data on their economic weight, at national, regional and metropolitan level. Every figure carries its reference year and its source.
France
€102.7bnCCI turnover (2024)
France
586,000 FTEsDirect jobs (2024)
Eurometropolis
7,600CCI jobs in the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg (2017)
Eurometropolis
3.0%Share of total employment (2017)
France 2.6%
Three scales, one consistent picture
Reference years differ from one scale to another. These columns are not meant to be read side by side: they show orders of magnitude.
| Indicator | France | Grand Est | Eurometropolis of Strasbourg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobs | 586,000 direct FTEs | 34,820 | 7,600 |
| Share of total employment | 2.6% | 1.7% | 3.0% |
| Turnover | €102.7bn | not measured | not measured |
| Direct value added | €43.1bn, i.e. 2.9% of market-sector GDP | not measured | not measured |
| Employment trend | +13% (2019-2024) | +9% (2012-2017), compared with +2% for the rest of the economy | |
| Establishments | 3,210 |
Sources EY for we are Creative, 2024 data INSEE, 2017 data ADEUS, 2017 data
Reading note. Reference years differ from one scale to another. These columns should not be presented as directly comparable.
A leading economic sector
France
The Panorama of the cultural and creative industries, produced by EY for the association we are Creative with the support of the Ministry of Culture, is the national reference. Its fourth edition was published in December 2025, based on 2024 data.
Over 2019-2024.
| Indicator | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | €102.7bn | 2024 |
| Direct value added | €43.1bn | 2024 |
| Share of GDP | 2.9% of market-sector GDP, 1.5% of total GDP | 2024 |
| Direct jobs | 586,000 FTEs | 2024 |
| Direct, indirect and induced jobs | 1.138 million FTEs | 2024 |
| People involved | 928,000 | 2024 |
| Turnover growth | +16.7% | 2019-2024 |
| Value added growth | +21% | 2019-2024 |
| Direct employment growth | +13% | 2019-2024 |
| Share of turnover generated through exports | 17% | 2023 |
Source EY for we are Creative, 2024 data , reference year 2024
Points of comparison give a sense of scale. The 586,000 direct jobs in the CCIs exceed the combined total of the automotive industry (204,000), aerospace (135,000) and pharmaceuticals (93,000). Their €43.1 billion in value added exceeds that of pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry. The knock-on effect has been measured: every euro of direct value added in the CCIs generates €1.13 in the rest of the economy. The share of GDP must be stated in full, 2.9% of market-sector GDP, i.e. 1.5% of total GDP; the shortened version circulating in the press is wrong.
The Ministry of Culture publishes a complementary measure, on a scope that includes the non-market sector and architecture: €49.5 billion in value added for the cultural branches in 2023, i.e. 2.0% of the French economy, and €108.8 billion in output. A different scope, so the figures are not directly comparable.
Europe
| Indicator | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Cultural employment in the European Union | 8.9 million people, i.e. 4.3% of total employment | 2025 |
| Cultural enterprises | 2.1 million, i.e. 6.4% of European enterprises | 2023 |
| Value added | €202bn | 2023 |
| France's share of EU cultural enterprises | 18.0%, first in Europe | 2023 |
| Germany's share of EU cultural value added | 25.5%, first in Europe | 2023 |
| Higher education graduates in cultural employment | 62.3%, compared with 38.6% in the economy as a whole | 2024 |
| Self-employed workers in cultural employment | 31.7%, compared with 13.6% in the economy as a whole | 2024 |
France accounts for nearly one in five European cultural enterprises. Germany produces a quarter of the continent's value added. The French fabric is dense and fragmented, the German one more concentrated and better capitalised. This is a direct issue for a border region like ours.
The geography of value
Île-de-France accounts for 48% of salaried staff in the CCIs (2024), while it represents 26% of the French economy. Over the period 2019-2023, three regions captured 81% of the jobs created in audiovisual. Rebalancing is under way but slow: the share of audiovisual employment located outside Île-de-France rose from 20% in 2012 to 27% in 2023.
The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg
In September 2021, ADEUS produced the economic portrait of the CCIs in the Strasbourg metropolitan area, based on the 2017 census, the register of establishments at 31 December 2018 and Acoss data at 31 December 2019. It is the reference at this scale, and the figures below are drawn from it.
ADEUS is preparing an update of this portrait, in the form of an economic outlook note expected by the end of 2026. The orders of magnitude below are the latest available, and they will be revised at that point.
Weight
Eighth among French metropolitan areas. Average for provincial metropolitan areas: 2.7%.
They bring the number of people working in a creative occupation in the Eurometropolis to over 10,000.
The sector's 7,600 jobs and the 2,800 creative professionals employed by companies in other sectors bring to more than 10,000 the number of people working in a creative occupation in the Eurometropolis. They are mainly designers and technical assistants in the graphic arts, fashion and interior design (25%), art teachers (14%) and interpreters and translators (10%).
Ranking
The weight of CCIs in employment, by area
Source: ADEUS, 2017 data , year 2017
Show the data table
| Area | CCI jobs | Share of total employment (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Paris | 6.7% | |
| Montpellier, leading provincial metropolitan area | 3.6% | |
| Eurometropolis of Strasbourg | 7,600 | 3% |
| Metz | 2.8% | |
| Nancy | 2.7% | |
| Average of provincial metropolitan areas benchmark | 2.7% | |
| France as a whole benchmark | 675,000 | 2.6% |
| Bas-Rhin | 10,700 | 2.3% |
| Alsace | 15,100 | 2% |
| Grand Est | 34,800 | 1.7% |
Source ADEUS, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. The Eurometropolis is the intermunicipal authority with the most cultural jobs in Grand Est and ranks eighth among French metropolitan areas. Where the number of jobs is empty, the ADEUS note publishes only the share.
The Eurometropolis is the intermunicipal authority with the most cultural jobs in Grand Est and ranks eighth among French metropolitan areas, above the average for provincial metropolitan areas. It accounts for half of Alsace's cultural jobs and 22% of those in Grand Est, while it is home to only a third of jobs in other sectors across Alsace. Within the area, 76% of the sector's employees work in the city of Strasbourg, compared with 56% for other sectors.
Momentum
Between 2012 and 2017, CCI employment grew by 9% in the Eurometropolis, compared with 2% for the rest of the local economy and 5% on average in French metropolitan areas.
| Field | Change (jobs) | As a percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Visual arts | 270 | 42% |
| Heritage | 270 | 53% |
| Audiovisual and multimedia | 170 | 18% |
| Advertising | 160 | 19% |
| Cultural education | 130 | 75% |
| Books and press | −30 | −7% |
| Architecture | −80 | −7% |
| Live performance | −90 | −6% |
| Related activities | −170 | −21% |
| Cultural sector as a whole | 640 | 9% |
| Other sectors | 3,620 | 2% |
Source ADEUS, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. Each pair of change and percentage has been recalculated against the field's 2017 headcount. The data stop in 2017 and do not reflect the Covid-19 crisis.
Growth was driven by the visual arts, led by designers, visual artists and photographers, by heritage, by audiovisual and by arts education, with the opening of the Vill'A in Illkirch-Graffenstaden. The declines concern the trade in cultural goods, newspaper and periodical publishing, architecture and live performance.
Composition
Composition of the cultural sector in the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg
Source: ADEUS, 2017 data , year 2017
Show the data table
| Field | Jobs | Establishments |
|---|---|---|
| Live performance | 1,500 | 313 |
| Audiovisual and multimedia | 1,100 | 304 |
| Architecture | 1,000 | 514 |
| Advertising | 1,000 | 289 |
| Visual arts | 900 | 841 |
| Heritage | 800 | 22 |
| Related activities | 600 | 533 |
| Books and press | 400 | 165 |
| Cultural education | 300 | 229 |
| Total | 7,600 | 3,210 |
Source ADEUS, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. Both columns come from a two-series stacked chart in the ADEUS note. Any automated rereading of the PDF must be checked against the totals, 7,600 and 3,210, before reuse.
Two metropolitan specialisations
Compared with the 21 provincial metropolitan areas, the Eurometropolis has a distinctive profile. Audiovisual and heritage stand out.
Breakdown of cultural jobs by field, Eurometropolis and provincial metropolitan areas
Source: ADEUS, 2017 data , year 2017
Show the data table
| Field | Eurometropolis (%) | Provincial metropolitan areas (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Live performance | 19.6% | 22.2% |
| Audiovisual and multimedia | 14.7% | 10.7% |
| Architecture | 13.1% | 13% |
| Advertising | 12.9% | 12.6% |
| Visual arts | 12.1% | 11.8% |
| Heritage | 10.2% | 5.7% |
| Related activities | 8.1% | 11% |
| Books and press | 5.2% | 9% |
| Cultural education | 4% | 3.9% |
Source ADEUS, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. Comparison with 21 provincial metropolitan areas. The two highlighted rows are the area's specialisations. In heritage, the Eurometropolis is the best-endowed French metropolitan area, Paris included.
Audiovisual carries nearly a third more weight than elsewhere. The ARTE headquarters employs just over 600 people, France 3 Alsace around 200. This presence makes Strasbourg one of the few structured audiovisual hubs in France outside Île-de-France, with a European dimension that few areas can claim.
Heritage. With 10.2% of its cultural jobs in this field, the Eurometropolis is the French metropolitan area with the most heritage jobs, Paris included. The Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, the archives and some twenty museums account for this result. Two sites are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Grande-Île since 1988 and the Neustadt since 2017.
Major employers
Seven establishments in the sector employ more than 100 people in the Eurometropolis, five of them in Strasbourg itself.
| Establishment | Headcount | Municipality |
|---|---|---|
| ARTE | 500 to 999 employees | Strasbourg |
| Opéra national du Rhin | 200 to 249 | Strasbourg |
| Adrexo | 200 to 249 | Souffelweyersheim |
| France 3 Alsace | 200 to 249 | Strasbourg |
| Théâtre national de Strasbourg | 100 to 199 | Strasbourg |
| Plurimedia | 100 to 199 | Schiltigheim |
| Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire | 100 to 199 | Strasbourg |
Source ADEUS, 2019 data , reference year 2019
Reading note. Acoss data at 31 December 2019, employees covered by the general social security scheme. Five of these seven establishments are in Strasbourg. The Théâtre national de Strasbourg is the only theatre outside Paris to hold the legal status of national theatre.
An economy of entrepreneurs and very small organisations
This is the sector's most defining feature, and the one that determines how it should be supported. 80.5% of CCI establishments have no employees (2018), compared with 67.2% in the rest of the economy.
| Field | No employees (%) | 1 to 9 employees (%) | 10 or more employees (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual arts | 96% | ||
| Cultural education | 92.1% | ||
| Related activities | 87.4% | 11.8% | 0.8% |
| Books and press | 77% | 15.8% | 7.2% |
| Audiovisual and multimedia | 75.3% | 19.4% | 5.3% |
| Advertising | 74.4% | 21.1% | 4.5% |
| Architecture | 72.4% | 24.9% | 2.7% |
| Heritage | 59.1% | 27.3% | 13.6% |
| Live performance | 46% | 49.5% | 4.5% |
| Outside the cultural sector benchmark | 67.2% | 24.7% | 8.1% |
| Cultural sector as a whole | 80.5% | 16.9% | 2.6% |
Source ADEUS, 2018 data , reference year 2018
Reading note. Empty values could not be read from the source chart. They should not be replaced by a calculation. The row marked as a benchmark is not part of the cultural sector: it serves as a point of comparison.
Two fields are exceptions. Heritage, where 13.6% of establishments have ten or more employees. Live performance, where fewer than half of establishments have no employees and 46% of organisations are associations. In the visual arts, 96% of establishments have no employees and 36% are classed as crafts businesses.
An economic development policy for the CCIs is therefore not aimed primarily at established companies. It is aimed at freelancers, organisations of fewer than ten people and employing associations. Conventional economic development tools, designed for industrial SMEs, do not reach them.
Workforce profile
| Characteristic | Cultural sector (%) | Other sectors (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Employers or self-employed | 31.4% | 9% |
| Fixed-term contracts, employees only | 25.5% | 14.9% |
| Part-time jobs, employees only | 30.9% | 17% |
| Higher education graduates | 65.5% | 41.2% |
Source ADEUS, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. Département-level scope, the only one available for these characteristics.
Two out of three cultural workers are higher education graduates, compared with four in ten in the rest of the economy. This is a highly qualified workforce, and an asset for companies recruiting creative skills. The differences are even sharper by field: the visual arts have 80% self-employed workers in the Bas-Rhin, live performance 46% on fixed-term contracts, while heritage employs 99% salaried staff.
European positioning
Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament and one of the three French relay cities of the Creative Europe programme. Interpreters and translators account for 17% of the "related activities" of the local cultural sector.
Strasbourg, UNESCO World Book Capital in 2024
The designation mobilised the area on an unprecedented scale.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Total budget over four financial years | €6.1M, of which €4.5M for programming |
| Public and private revenue raised | €2.324M |
| Main sponsor, Crédit Mutuel | €800,000 |
| Events held | over 1,500 |
| Partners involved | over 450 |
| Library visits in 2024 | 1,162,000, up 17.5% |
| Library members | 56,086 |
| Visitors to the six labelled exhibitions | 173,500 |
| School projects | 190, reaching 14,186 pupils |
| Literary creation grants, made permanent | 16 |
| Audiovisual screenwriting grants | 20, totalling €100,000 |
Source City of Strasbourg, 2024 data , reference year 2024
The designation left lasting schemes behind: literary creation grants, the Azimut typeface released under an open licence, and a multi-year plan to renovate school libraries.
The cross-border labour market. 202,000 Grand Est residents work abroad, compared with 2,130 German residents and 170 Swiss residents commuting the other way. These flows are not broken down by sector. The area therefore has no measure of the mobility of creative professionals towards Germany and Switzerland, even though it trains several hundred graduates in these professions every year.
Grand Est
Employment
34,820 jobs are in the cultural sectors in Grand Est, i.e. 1.7% of regional employment. INSEE data at 1 January 2017.
Cultural sector jobs in Grand Est, by field
Source: INSEE, 2017 data , year 2017
Show the data table
| Field | Jobs | Share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Print publishing, books and press | 7,040 | 20% |
| Live performance | 7,020 | 20% |
| Advertising | 4,920 | 14% |
| Visual arts | 4,260 | 12% |
| Architecture | 3,860 | 11% |
| Audiovisual and multimedia | 3,190 | 9% |
| Heritage | 2,860 | 8% |
| Amateur arts education | 1,670 | 5% |
| Total | 34,820 | 100% |
Source INSEE, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. Advertising accounts for 14% in Grand Est compared with 12% nationally.
Two features set the region apart. Advertising accounts for 14% of cultural jobs, compared with 12% nationally. Print publishing comes first, the legacy of a graphic and industrial tradition that few regions share.
Regional geography
| Employment area | Cultural jobs | Share of local employment (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Strasbourg | 8,810 | 2.7% |
| Nancy | 4,350 | 2% |
| Metz | 3,650 | 2.1% |
| Mulhouse | 2,770 | 1.8% |
| Reims | 2,690 | 2% |
Source INSEE, 2017 data , reference year 2017
Reading note. These five areas account for 64% of regional cultural employment. Strasbourg alone accounts for a quarter.
These five areas account for 64% of regional cultural employment. Strasbourg alone accounts for a quarter of it, and has the highest share of local employment.
Employment status
28% of regional cultural jobs are held by self-employed workers (2017), compared with 11% across the Grand Est economy as a whole. This is the lowest share among the provincial regions, where the average is 34%. 55% are permanent contracts or civil service posts, compared with 75% in the rest of the economy.
Interregional position
Share of cultural sector jobs in total employment, by region
Source: INSEE, 2021 data , year 2021
Show the data table
| Region | Share (%) | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Île-de-France | 4.3% | |
| Metropolitan France benchmark | 2.3% | yes |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 2% | |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 1.9% | |
| Occitanie | 1.8% | |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 1.8% | |
| Corsica | 1.7% | |
| Brittany | 1.7% | |
| Metropolitan France excluding Île-de-France benchmark | 1.7% | yes |
| Pays de la Loire | 1.6% | |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 1.5% | |
| Grand Est | 1.5% | |
| Centre-Val de Loire | 1.4% | |
| Hauts-de-France | 1.4% | |
| Normandy | 1.3% |
Source INSEE, 2021 data , reference year 2021
Reading note. Sources: Flores 2021 for employees and 2020 self-employment database. Grand Est ranks tenth of the thirteen metropolitan regions, tied with Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The two rows marked as benchmarks are reference points, not regions: they should not be counted in the ranking.
Grand Est ranks tenth of the thirteen metropolitan regions. There is real room for growth, and it lies in the metropolitan areas: the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg already exceeds the average for provincial metropolitan areas, while the regional average remains below the national average.
The sectors
Audiovisual, film, animation
The leading field of metropolitan specialisation, with 1,100 jobs in the Eurometropolis and 3,190 in Grand Est. One of the few with continuous growth over the period measured, at +18% between 2012 and 2017. Grand Est was the first French region to sign a framework agreement with the CNC, in 2017. The Bureau des images Grand Est, created in July 2023, brings together support for authors, assistance for film shoots and the structuring of companies. The region has nearly 120 cinemas, 71 of them classified as art-house.
Books, printing and graphic arts
The leading regional field in terms of jobs, with 7,040 people. It is also the sector whose production base has changed the most. The latest economic study available is from INSEE, with data from the end of 2014:
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Employees | 4,040 |
| of which printing | 3,000, i.e. 74% |
| of which bookshops | 590 |
| of which bookbinding | 320 |
| of which publishing | 120 |
| Value added | €202M, of which around 80% generated by printing |
| Establishments | 1,029, of which 425 employers |
| Change in employment 2009-2014 | -35%, compared with -22% in provincial France |
Source INSEE, 2014 data , reference year 2014
Reading note. The latest economic study available on this sector. No regional publication since. The 1,029 establishments of 2014 should not be compared with the OREF data on wood, paper and printing, which have a different scope.
In April 2025, INSEE still noted that regional employment in "wood, paper and printing" remains twice as concentrated as the national average. On the publishing and distribution side, the 2022 figures from the Fédération interrégionale du livre et de la lecture: 84 publishing houses, 130 independent bookshops, 1,335 literary events. Children's books are a marked speciality, with illustrators making up 27% of the region's authors.
Live performance and music
The leading CCI employer in the Eurometropolis with 1,500 jobs, and joint leading regional field with 7,020 jobs. Regional employment, 2023 data, from the joint body CPNEF-SV and Audiens:
| Indicator | Grand Est |
|---|---|
| Live performance employers | 1,291, i.e. 4.9% of the national total |
| Employees | 16,842 |
| of which sector-specific fixed-term contracts (CDDU) | 13,294, i.e. 79% |
| of which other fixed-term contracts | 2,281 |
| of which permanent contracts | 2,093 |
| Performing artists | 5,083 |
| Change in the number of employers | +5.2% between 2022 and 2023 |
Source CPNEF-SV and Audiens, 2023 data , reference year 2023
Reading note. Seventh French region for the number of employees, eighth for the number of employers. The national share of employees is not published on this page, as the national denominator gave divergent readings.
The region has 8 contemporary music venues, 6 national or labelled theatres, 2 national opera houses, 2 permanent national orchestras and 517 live entertainment licences. Performance activity is declining, while the national market is recovering.
| Indicator | Grand Est | France |
|---|---|---|
| Ticketed performances | 2,762, -4% | 69,663, stable |
| Attendance | 2 million, -6% | 37 million, +2% |
| Ticket sales excluding tax | €72M, -0.4% | €1.6bn, +13% |
| Average ticket price | €37, +6% | €45, +10% |
Source Centre national de la musique, 2024 data , reference year 2024
Reading note. Changes compared with 2023.
Heritage
A field of specialisation for the Eurometropolis, ranked first nationally. At 1 January 2025, Grand Est had 4,527 buildings protected as historic monuments, 121 Musées de France, 8 UNESCO World Heritage properties and 16 Towns and Regions of Art and History. Heritage is the largest budget line of DRAC Grand Est, with €50.6 million in commitment authorisations in 2024. Attendance at Strasbourg's municipal museums stood at 652,763 visitors in 2024.
Design, architecture, advertising
Advertising accounts for 1,000 jobs in the Eurometropolis and 4,920 in Grand Est within the cultural scope. Architecture accounts for 1,000 jobs in the Eurometropolis and 3,860 in Grand Est, with 72.4% of establishments having no employees; the region has two national schools of architecture, in Strasbourg and Nancy. The visual arts, which cover graphic design, photography and fine arts, account for 900 jobs in the Eurometropolis and 4,260 in Grand Est. It is the field that grew the most over the period 2012-2017, at +42%.
Crafts
Sources differ depending on the scope used: around 8,200 craft businesses in Grand Est according to the Institut supérieur des métiers, 16,400 businesses and workshops according to the DRAC. Grand Est ranks first nationally for business creation in this sector. The documented challenge is succession: 69% of craftspeople who wish to sell their business report a lack of buyers. In Alsace, Frémaa brings together 165 member professionals.
Video games and digital arts
This is the least developed sector in the region, and the one where the gap with the leading regions is widest.
| Indicator | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of French companies in the sector | 2.3%, compared with 43.4% in Île-de-France | 2021 | snjv-2021 |
| Companies listed | 18, of which 15 development studios, ninth nationally | 2025 | afjv-2026 |
| Responding regional organisations with fewer than 11 employees | 12 of 13 | 2022 | hjvdiag-2023 |
| Share of self-employed workers in the regional workforce | 43%, compared with 17% nationally | 2022 | hjvdiag-2023 |
| Members of East Games, the regional trade association | 31, with one half-time staff member | 2023 | hjvdiag-2023 |
Sources HJVDiag consortium, 8 regional associations and SNJV, 2022 data AFJV, 2025 data Syndicat national du jeu vidéo, 2021 data
Reading note. The 2021 SNJV percentage should not be combined with a national total from another year to derive a number of studios. The years and scopes differ.
Of the 13 regional organisations that responded to the Ambition Jeu Vidéo diagnosis survey, 12 have fewer than 11 employees. 43% of the video game workforce in Grand Est are freelancers, compared with 17% nationally. The regional trade association, East Games, had 31 members and one half-time staff member in 2023, while its counterpart in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes had 108 members and seven full-time equivalents. The regional digital base is part of the explanation: INSEE measures IT services at 0.36 times the national rate.
The talent pool
Grand Est trains talent. It is one of its best-documented strengths.
Nine higher education institutions under the Ministry of Culture, spread across eight cities, welcome around 2,800 students a year: ENSA Nancy and Strasbourg for architecture, ESAD Reims, ENSAD Nancy, ESAL Metz and Épinal, HEAR Strasbourg and Mulhouse for art and design, CNAC in Châlons-en-Champagne, ENSAM in Charleville-Mézières and the École du TNS for live performance. These institutions formed a network on 29 January 2026.
In Strasbourg, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Strasbourg has around 1,815 students, 1,725 of them spread across five departments:
| Department | Students |
|---|---|
| Film | 475 |
| Music | 375 |
| Design | 305 |
| Fine arts | 295 |
| Performing arts | 275 |
| Total of the five departments | 1,725 |
Source University of Strasbourg, 2024 data , reference year 2024
Reading note. The faculty reports around 1,815 students in total, of whom 1,460 at bachelor's level, 265 at master's level and 90 on university diplomas. The five departments add up to 1,725. The difference of 90 most likely corresponds to the university diplomas, which are not attached to a department. Both figures are shown with this explanation rather than choosing one. HEAR, for its part, has around 750 students and 190 teaching staff across three sites.
The Haute école des arts du Rhin has around 750 students, 190 teaching staff and 20 degrees from bachelor's to doctorate across three sites. Nearly one student in four is from abroad. The University of Strasbourg has 56,000 students, 13,000 of them international, within a regional total of 219,318 higher education students.
Support for graduates entering working life is the link to strengthen. Fluxus is the only incubator in the region explicitly dedicated to the CCIs. SEMIA and the Quest for Change network, which provide most of the region's entrepreneurial support, do not list the CCIs among their target sectors. As for workspace, the City of Strasbourg provides 24 studios at Bastion 14 and 7 at the Ateliers Bois, for a fabric of 3,210 establishments.
The conditions for growth
Public funding
The State. The Ministry of Culture's budget in Grand Est stood at €149.83M in 2025. The DRAC went from €109.66M in commitment authorisations in 2024 to €97.88M in 2025.
The Heritage programme accounts for 40.4% of 2025 payment appropriations, the Creation programme 41.2%. The "Books and cultural industries" programme accounts for 0.8% of payment appropriations, i.e. €705,494 in 2024 out of a budget of nearly 110 million. The devolved State funds culture heavily as a public service and as heritage. It hardly funds the cultural industries as an economic sector at all.
Grand Est Region. A culture budget of €76.2 million in 2024, €89 million in 2025 and €85M announced for 2026, a 4% decrease. The jump from 2024 to 2025 reflects a change of scope. Three decisions have a direct impact on the sector: the end of the activities of the live performance unit of the Agence culturelle Grand Est on 19 May 2026, the €1.2 million cut in the Region's grant to the Agence culturelle, and the withdrawal of regional support for companies performing at the Avignon Off festival.
Local authorities. The City of Strasbourg devotes 18% of its budget to culture, i.e. around €90 million in operating expenditure in the 2025 initial budget, including some €40 million in direct support to more than 300 organisations.
National context. The culture budgets of the French regions have fallen by 14.7% in two years. Eight regions out of thirteen are cutting in 2026.
The place of the CCIs in the regional economic strategy
Grand Est's Smart Specialisation Strategy 2021-2027, which guides the allocation of European funds, combines three themes (industry, health and the bioeconomy) with three cross-cutting transitions. Eight sectoral priorities follow from it. The cultural and creative industries are not among them. Grand Est's ERDF-ESF+ 2021-2027 operational programme amounts to €899 million. Explicitly earmarking funds for the CCIs within these envelopes would be the quickest lever to activate.
The structure of creative employment
The sector relies on a highly qualified workforce and on specific employment statuses. Nationally, the number of self-employed workers in the cultural sectors increased 2.8-fold in fifteen years, reaching 258,600 people in 2022, 73% of them micro-entrepreneurs.
| Category | Average monthly income (€) |
|---|---|
| Micro-entrepreneurs | €650 |
| Conventional self-employed | €2,630 |
| All self-employed cultural workers | €1,360 |
| All self-employed workers, all sectors benchmark | €2,570 |
Source INSEE, 2022 data , reference year 2022
These data describe a project-based, high-turnover economy in which the investment capacity of those involved is limited. They point to the kind of support to build: access to seed funding, shared equipment and skills, commercial structuring, and connections with the area's commissioning clients.
Measuring to decide
Grand Est has no economic assessment of its cultural and creative industries. No turnover, no value added, no contribution to regional GDP.
These indicators exist at national level. They do not exist at any subnational level. The employment data themselves are dated: the regional baseline relies on the 2017 census, INSEE Grand Est's last publication on culture dates back to October 2020, and the last economic study of the graphic arts sector covers 2014.
The metropolitan scale is the exception, and that is good news. The economic outlook note that ADEUS is finalising for publication by the end of 2026 will give the Strasbourg area an updated snapshot of its cultural and creative industries, the first since the Covid-19 crisis. No other urban area in Grand Est will have an equivalent tool. What remains is to obtain the same at regional level, and to add what no source produces today: a measure of the wealth created.
A sector without up-to-date indicators cannot be defended in budget decisions, built into economic development strategies, or compared with other regional sectors.
What accro proposes
We gather and keep up to date the available data on the region's CCIs, and make them available to professionals, local authorities and partners. The next step is to produce what is missing: an economic measure of the CCIs for the Eurometropolis and Grand Est, built with INSEE, ADEUS, sector bodies and local authorities. Organisations that hold data on their activity, employment or turnover are welcome to share them with us.
Scope, method and sources
The differences between the figures quoted stem from the statistical scope used, not from divergent measurements. Three ways of counting coexist.
Cultural sector
Everyone employed by an establishment whose main activity is cultural.
Includes support functions within cultural organisations.
Cultural occupation
Everyone working in a creative occupation, whoever their employer.
Includes creatives employed by companies in other sectors.
Cultural and creative industries
The creative sectors taken as a field of economic activity, including advertising, video games and design.
The scope of the national economic panoramas.
On this page, regional and metropolitan data fall within the "cultural sector" scope used by INSEE and the Ministry of Culture, based on the 2012 European ESSnet-Culture framework. National and European data are flagged with their own scope. The revision of the European classification of economic activities in 2025 will create breaks in the statistical series.
The full list of the 33 sources, grouped by scale, with publisher, title, publication date, years covered and link, together with the data downloadable in JSON and CSV, is on the dedicated page.
August 2026 edition. Next update when the ADEUS economic outlook note comes out, expected by the end of 2026. The data carry the reference years of their sources. To report a correction or share more recent data, write to us.
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