WHEN Harry Ferguson's first little grey tractor appeared in our broad acres around the time of the First World War, the Yorkshire countryside was full of farm workers and thousands of horses.

Few would have suspected then that a cultural revolution would bring the shift in emphasis, which we see in today's countryside employment market.

Back then, agriculture was by far the single biggest employer and the modern farm tractor soon became a must-have item.

Nearly a century on and mechanisation has wrought a considerable impact on farm jobs. While bringing about amazing technological advances, it helped to destroy old patterns, in which each generation expected to work on farms, in the area where they grew up. Today, farm working isn't the only job in the countryside, by any means.

A new economic study in North Yorkshire has revealed that arts-based creative industries – often seen by others as part-time efforts or hobbies – now employ
30 per cent more people than agriculture.

It is an expanding market, and one that a relatively new organisation intends to capitalise on further for
those involved.

Gillian Howells coordinates the York and North Yorkshire Creative Industries Network (CIN), which started life three years ago and was responsible for commissioning the study.

"I think everyone uninvolved in the sector will be surprised at the results because 'the arts' is generally seen as a 'nice' thing to do, yet people don't reckon that many are actually making their living from it, even though many have been doing so for years," she says.

"What the report shows is that there are now nearly 12,000 people employed in the creative industries in York and North Yorkshire. If you think of that as one big business, instead of being made up of a lot of smaller businesses, you would think that was a lot of people.

"North Yorkshire is quite rightly seen as predominantly farming-based because we have this fantastic rural environment. But the fact that the creative industries employ 30 per cent more than agriculture is something that means we can go to funding bodies such as Yorkshire Forward, local authorities and the
EU, with evidence to show that this is an important business sector that is
worth supporting."

Gillian is based in Richmond, and what she describes is an interesting mix of creative businesses, with everything from the performing arts through to more traditional craftspeople.

"We probably have more artists and makers; people who use their natural talents to launch their own business, than we do performing arts people. Gillies Jones, for instance, in Rosedale Abbey.

"Going there is like visiting a place out of time. You just drop down into it and
there, in this small village in the middle of the North York Moors, is an internationally-recognised glass-manufacturing studio.

"And yet it is so well-recognised all over the world
that they now have pieces that have been bought to
be placed in national collections."

There are many more examples along similar lines, and new companies are appearing all the time.

Recently, Debbie Loane turned her 19th century cattle sheds into what is now one of the best places to find contemporary ceramics in the UK.

She turned redundant farm buildings into the Lund Gallery, which has brought tourists and art collectors to Easingwold.

Gillies Jones and the Lund Gallery have built their reputations largely for themselves.

But what Gillian is keen to promote, especially on the back of the CIN's new research findings, is a greater collaboration to make more of this burgeoning sector and to create even greater employment possibilities.

"What we're saying is 'hang on'. We could actually sell York and North Yorkshire
as a place to come to in order to find good artists, craftsmen and women, performing arts people and to buy their works."

Gillian is on the board of North Country Theatre, a repertory company based at the town's wonderful Georgian Theatre Royal. Their success has brought international renown – their production of The 39 Steps, adapted by creative director Nobby Dimon, transferred to the West End and is about to open on Broadway. They have also hit the headlines with their outdoor community productions which draw on local stories, myths and legends.

"North Country Theatre has earned a fantastic reputation and brings marvellous business to the town," says Gillian. "Its latest production, The Electrical Wizard of
the North was a complete sell-out.

"That kind of thing brings not just good news to the creative industries, but
also has a positive effect
on the economy in and around Richmond, too, with bed and breakfast establishments, hotels and pubs all benefiting."

Elsewhere, another rural performance venue, The Mart Theatre at Skipton, looks set to become perhaps the clearest indicator of the change in employment in
the countryside.

The cattle market ring is regularly transformed into a 300-seater venue, and now puts on an impressive array of national and
international acts.

It is also one of the many businesses in the sector
that looks set to benefit from both the latest research, and what Gillian is
coordinating through
CIN.

"This organisation came about because arts-based creatives in North Yorkshire wanted to do something to raise their profile.

"Chrysalis Arts, based in Skipton, originally set up a group called Arts Connections to help
bring people together from website designers, potters to iron-work welders, to help each other.

"They found that what they had developed was working and were keen to roll it out for others.

"What we're doing at CIN is aimed at helping everyone generate a greater income and feel the benefit of coming together more. Joint marketing exercises, websites and training opportunities will all help.

"We're hoping to employ someone through the CIN who will market and sell the creative industries in North Yorkshire, so that those businesses can concentrate on their core activity, whether it's producing theatre, art, or music, but don't have time to do the marketing the way they would like."

Paul Owens, of the Burns Owens Partnership, who conducted the research, believes the results will add greater credibility to the creative world in North Yorkshire.

"This evidence has not been available before, and so for many arts-based businesses their value to the economy has not been fully recognised," he said.

"The challenge now will be how to ensure continued growth, particularly where value is added to other sectors of the economy through tourism and regeneration."

North Yorkshire is home to over 300 events every year, due to be coordinated into a website for launch in April.

GALLERY OWNERS EXHIBIT A FLAIR FOR THE ARTS

LUND GALLERY: When her father stopped rearing calves in the cowshed and dairy at their smallholding near Easingwold, landscape artist Debbie Loane jumped at converting it into a gallery, to house
some of the best contemporary British art, craft and sculpture. The Lund Gallery, near Easingwold, opened in September 2005.
Debbie's father, David, used to be
chairman of Grainco Ltd, one of the
UK's largest farmer-owned, grain
marketing co-operatives. The farm
buildings were old and impractical for modern farm machinery. Debbie's transformation resulted in a relaxing art environment, with a gallery and sculpture garden. The Rural Development Service helped to pay for the project with Defra funding.

GILLIES JONES: Bold use of colour and striking designs are trademarks of the stunning glass that Kate Jones produces with her partner, the artist, Stephen Gillies. They started making glass together more than a decade ago and their work – blown by Stephen
and decorated by Kate – graces public and private collections worldwide.
Last year, the British Council invited Kate to join a mentoring programme to support young Indian designers, while promoting the UK's role as an international creative hub. As part of this, she lectured designers across the subcontinent during a whistlestop tour before choosing to work with a female textile artist from Delhi. The artist later travelled to the UK, to spend a fortnight with Stephen and Kate at their Rosedale Abbey workshop, near Pickering.