Our response to The Sutton Trust’s research on the stark inequalities in access to creative industry careers.
Younger adults from working-class backgrounds are 4 times less likely to work in creative industries compared to their middle-class peers. Meanwhile, both top-selling musicians and BAFTA-nominated actors are far more likely than the public to have attended private school.
New research from The Sutton Trust reveals a social mobility crisis within the creative sectors that needs urgent addressing.
With the creative industries generating £126bn in gross value added to the economy and employing 2.4 million people in 2022 alone, it is crucial that we allow young people from all backgrounds to access and thrive in it. The great breadth and variety of creative career paths available means there’s something for all skillsets, from technical to creative or organisational. It is paramount that young people from all backgrounds are given the same insight and opportunities to understand how they could flourish.
We are deeply invested in ensuring the creative industries are accessible to all through our inspirational talks and work experience placements for state school students. Discover! Creative Careers Week (18 – 22 November) represents a key opportunity to cultivate and nurture talent in the sector, and we’ve partnered with Discover Creative Careers and ScreenSkills to offer work experience across various creative fields from 28 October – 22 November. These allow young people to gain real-world skills, build their portfolio, network with top creative minds and explore a variety of career pathways.
Our data from last year’s programme for the same creative careers week reveals that 93% of young people were interested in a job within the sector after their work experience placement (compared to just 50% beforehand). This demonstrates the impact such early interventions can have in forming a young person’s passion and ambition.
Since our inception in 2010, our talks have frequently focused on creative industries and many of those are available to watch for free on our website. One key example is our partnership with film education charity, Into Film, which has showcased the range of careers in the screen industries through virtual talks with industry experts. This includes everyone from actors, directors and producers to experts in post-production sound, picture editing and green filmmaking. We’d encourage teachers and young people to explore these resources to discover real-word insight and tangible advice for entering the creative industries.
The Government’s Autumn Budget allocated £3 million of funding to expand the Creative Careers Programme. Such initiatives are essential in providing insight into different career routes and tackling the urgent skills gap in industries that are essential to the UK economy. We look forward to hearing more about the Government’s other key proposed policies that help young people find the right career for them; from recruiting more careers advisors in secondary schools to delivering two weeks’ worth of quality work experience for every young person. Whether it be the creative sector or tech, we want to level the playing field for all young people and ensure everyone is able to enter the industry of their choosing.
Make sure to read the full research from The Sutton Trust, including their range of proposed measures to improve access to the arts.
Written by Matthew Kent, Press Officer
