A new group of experts from Scotland's creative industries are to advise the government on boosting growth in the nearly £4bn industry.
The culture secretary, Fiona Hyslop, will chair the advisory group, which will meet twice a year.
The government said the Creative Industries Advisory Group will advise ministers on the support the sector needs to ensure it "continues to thrive in Scotland."
The group as yet has no members, but the government says it will send invitations to "industry leaders from across the country in areas such as architecture, visual art, craft-making, music, fashion and textiles, performing arts and film production."
The first meeting of the group, whose membership will be announced shortly, will take place in the early months of 2017.
The creation of the advisory group has been welcomed by Creative Scotland, the body which decides funding for the arts and also has a creative industries remit.
A spokesman said: "Creative Scotland welcome this development as another means, alongside existing support, for people working in the creative industries in Scotland to come together to ensure the sector continues to thrive."
The Scottish Government's recent budget included a small cut in the funds for Creative Scotland, with standstill grants for major national collections and national performing arts companies.
Ms Hyslop said: "Scotland is renowned for its world leading expertise in creativity and innovative design.
"The Scottish Government is committed to developing this ingenuity and nurturing the creative industries for generations to come."
She added: "This advisory group will support more collaborative working by enabling the diverse range of business and entrepreneurs across the creative industries to engage with each other and with Government to discuss and advise on high-level issues of relevance to the whole sector.
"I want to hear directly about the successes, issues and priorities the sector is experiencing so we can collectively take a strategic view on how the Scottish Government and its public agencies can further support the creative industries sector as a whole."
The term Creative Industries is defined by the Scottish Annual Business Statistic, a definition quoted by the government, as covering advertising, architecture, arts, crafts and antiques, computer games, design, fashion and textiles, film, music, performing arts, writing, publishing, photography, TV and radio, software, museums and galleries and cultural education.
In 2015, the creative industries employed 73,600 people and new figures this year show the creative industries comprised 15,420 registered enterprises.
The gross value of the creative industries was £3.7 billion in 2014.
This is a significant increase since 2010 when it stood stood at £2.7bn.
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