The creative industries are today urged to get behind a careers week designed to lift the lid on jobs and pathways to encourage more young people to join the sector – and help fix a growing skills shortage.
Discover! Creative Careers and Creative UK are calling on employers in the creative industries to support more young people into the sector in the run-up to the 2024 careers week in November. It will see thousands of students paired with businesses across the creative industries, so they get a taste of possible careers through encounters with workplaces and employees. Its aim is to support the sector to attract more young people from all backgrounds into the creative industries, especially those from disadvantaged families, developing in turn a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
Government figures show that the sector is growing at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade, with the sector’s Gross Value Added standing at an estimated £125 billion in 2023. However, because of some misperceptions of the sector, general inequality of access and limited opportunities in some schools, the creative industries are often overlooked as a viable option for young people when considering their future careers.
Despite the clear economic value of the creative industries to the UK, the sector is also facing significant skills gaps and shortages, with almost half of creative employers reporting skills issues. Research by TIGA in 2023 revealed that 68% of games development studios found it difficult to fill vacancies in the workforce due to skills shortages, impacting on sector growth and delaying new releases.
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The Southwark Playhouse have announced the FORGE artist development programme, a programme that will support 4 exceptional emerging companies who will become attached to the Playhouse for 9 months, receiving free rehearsal space to R&D ideas, dramaturgical support from the Southwark Playhouse senior artistic team, free office space for producers and a week-long slot to platform a show in ‘The Little’ space to a paying audience. The scheme will also provide industry mentorship from established theatre professionals and bespoke workshops from the Playhouse team on a variety of key learning topics, to guide and empower them in this creative journey.