Discover! Creative Careers has announced a major expansion of its national government-funded programme to inspire more 11–18-year-olds into creative and cultural industries.
Discover! Creative Careers’ flagship annual event, Discover! Creative Careers Week, has been expanded to a month-long programme of industry encounters this November. The event connects young people with real-world experiences in the creative industries through employer-led events, talks, and workshops designed to inspire future talent into archives.
A particular focus this year will be on the archive sector, after a 2023 report led by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals found that 95% of the archive, library and information sectors was white, and 63% was aged 45 or above, raising concerns for the sector’s long-term sustainability due to a lack of young people joining the sector.
The expansion of Discover! Creative Careers follows on from the initiative receiving increased investment from the Department for Culture Media and Sport, who recognised its success in improving awareness of creative industry career paths for school students.
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The initiative is administered by ScreenSkills in partnership with a steering group of nearly 30 leading creative industry organisations, educators, and career specialists. The programme aims to demystify creative sector pathways for young people, such as archives, and ensure the next generation of creative professionals better reflects the UK’s diverse talent pool.
Supporting Discover! Creative Careers Month is Steering Group member The National Archives, the official archive and publisher for the UK government which is responsible for preserving and providing public access to more than 11million records spanning over 1000 years of history.
Almost 150 industry partners are already registered from a wide range of creative subsectors including advertising and marketing, art and design, and archives. The programme will collaborate with Speakers for Schools on a series of virtual events throughout the month.
As part of the Discover! Creative Careers programme, a work experience pilot will also be run by Mission Accomplished with a focus on in-person placements aimed at Years 10 and 11 building on the Department for Education’s ambition for two weeks’ worth of work experience for all young people. Work experience placements in years 10-11 should allow students to experience a real working environment and begin to develop work-based skills and behaviours.
To harness the enthusiasm created by the month-long programme and ensure it leads to greater access to the creative industries, ScreenSkills is also working with DWP and DCMS to identify entry-level roles for Jobcentre customers to begin careers across these exciting sectors. The government has identified the creative industries as one of eight “growth driving” sectors it will prioritise in its industrial strategy.
Tina Morton, head of archive sector leadership at The National Archives, said: “The National Archives is delighted that Discover! Creative Careers Week is expanding to a month, enabling an even wider range of people to experience the creative and cultural industries. Currently, many young people don’t know about the amazing opportunities within our sector or think that archives aren’t for them. We uphold that archives are for everyone because they are about everyone.
“Archives hold fascinating insights into our shared pasts but also collect stories from the present for future generations. The Discover Creative Careers programme is helping show young people the impactful careers that they can forge and bringing new skills and perspectives into our sector.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “With a huge range of exciting and fulfilling careers in our world-leading creative industries now on offer, it is so important that all young people – regardless of background – have the skills, tools and opportunities to pursue this if they wish.
“The expansion of the Discover! Creative Careers Programme will ensure that thousands of young people across the UK have the opportunity to be inspired as they start to think about life beyond their core education.”
The Discover! Creative Careers programme has been designed in collaboration with sector bodies, employers, education and careers professionals and provides a single front door to creative industry information, advice and guidance.
Laura Mansfield, CEO at ScreenSkills, added: “This expansion is a significant step for an already very successful programme and an endorsement of the huge value it has in opening doors for young people from all backgrounds to explore and consider a broad range of careers in the creative industries they might never have heard of. Working collaboratively pan-sector in this way is essential to sustaining growth and resilience and building a more inclusive and dynamic industry.”
Over the past two years, the programme’s vision of a strong, inclusive and diverse creative industries workforce has moved a little more into view; over 62,000 young people have experienced inspiring encounters as part of Discover! Creative Careers Week. The Discover! programme last month announced a major expansion in the North East.
