Solent region: Equitable routes into Creative Careers Workshop
Date Created: 10th May 2022
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During Spring 2022, two Artswork Youth Researchers, Hannah Buckingham and Annabel Phillips, investigated the current state of creative and cultural career opportunities for young people in the Solent region.
On Friday, 29 April they presented their findings and recommendations from this research project in a workshop generously hosted in University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Creative and Immersive XR. Bringing together key stakeholders from across the region, including those from local creative businesses, arts organisations, heritage sites, local authorities, colleges, and young people themselves, the event generated a room full of ideas and positive energy.
Annabel and Hannah gathered intelligence for this project from January – March 2022, collating results from a wide range of areas within the Solent region. Primary research consisted of a survey with participants aged 14-30, and interviews with local young creatives and professionals to gather a diverse range of opinions and experiences. They also looked at a range of existing research, including statistics and qualitative data regarding employment and working conditions in the UK’s creative industries.
Research findings helped them to identify 5 main barriers that are significantly affecting young people getting into the creative industries:
- Diversity and Representation
- Education and Experience Requirements
- Working Conditions for Young People within the Creative Industries
- Exposure to the Creative Industries and Access to Opportunities for Young People
- Lack of Early Career Roles
And they made five initial suggestions on what young people need in place to overcome these barriers:
- Local Creative Jobs and Opportunities Directory
- Support for Freelancers and Small Businesses
- Creative Industry Events
- Mentoring and Career Support
- Cross-sector Dedication to Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
After sharing a detailed and well-received presentation of their findings, followed by a brief Q&A, focused discussion began in two workshops. Tables at the event were labelled with Hannah and Annabel’s 5 initial suggestions for overcoming employment barriers, and stakeholders then explored how they/their organisation could benefit from, or contribute to, the achievement of this recommendation.
Lucy Marder, Artswork Strategic Manager for the Solent region said:
“At Artswork, we believe it’s vital that any development of more equitable routes into creative careers is informed by the young people who currently face barriers to entry. At the workshop, young creatives were able to speak directly with Solent regional decision makers, working with them to co-design key elements of the regional programme proposal.”
Young creatives and a mix of stakeholders, including representatives from schools, colleges, arts organisations, heritage sites, local authorities and the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, had an opportunity to network and collaborate. Ideas were noted on post-its under the heading of either: Want / Offer / Suggestion / Match / Gap, and then added to the relevant table with stakeholders’ names and organisations so Artswork can follow up after the workshop where necessary.
Following a round-robin summary from the host of each table and a heart-warming thanks for participation to all attendees, the workshop event came to a close having successfully established a shared understanding of the current situation and the barriers that exist. One of Artswork’s Publicity Assistants, Ilyayda Kalach, got a chance to interview Hannah and Annabel after the event – to read more about them, and how they came about undertaking this research project, click here.
Louise Govier, Artswork CEO said:
“The message from young people was clear – some key issues were identified, along with very practical steps that we could take to overcome them. It was great to see so many different figures from creative organisations, education, local authorities and agencies coming together to hear what young people themselves feel are the factors that stop them from going into what in reality are growth industries. I’m really looking forward to collaborating with local partners and young people to create genuinely equitable routes into creative careers.”
Not only was the event an active demonstration of how Artswork work with young people, but the discussions also gave key stakeholders the opportunity to engage with the intelligence and contribute their own insights and expertise to help shape the research for the next stage of Annabel and Hannah’s youth-led research project, the development of a funding bid to take further action to remove barriers identified.
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