The Creative Industries are a growing and valued sector, making a vital contribution to the national economy. LESLEY FINLAY looks into the current state of affairs…
The creative industries are now a growing sector and include careers in all areas of the arts from film to music, game design and art creation. There is now great support from the government and within schools for these industries, not least through the movement for cross-curricular and creative learning.
Ink Pellet has already written about the good work being done by Creative Partnerships, which works in schools to encourage a return to creative learning.
Creativity, as we know, is not only about being able to draw or paint – it is a state of mind and all organisations from the biggest businesses to schools and colleges have to think and react in ever-creative ways in which to survive.
According to figures published earlier this year by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the creative industries have contributed more than six per cent to the UK’s economy. At this last count, there were approximately 157,400 businesses in the creative industries sector, with the biggest contributions coming from software, computer games and electronic publishing sectors. This group of companies made up just under half of all creative businesses and contribute 33 per cent to creative exports.
So maybe all that computer gaming will eventually make business people out of your pupils!
Clearly, the creative industries are now an important contributor to national growth and are certainly not seen as the last resort for drop-outs and artists with brightly dyed hair.
The sector will suit the generation of twenty-somethings and will become a viable career choice for our current crop of secondary students, the generation where technology is simply a necessary part of life.
Funding is still available for businesses in the music industry while the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) funds people with innovative ideas at no cost to the taxpayer.
The Arts Council has suffered the first blows of budget cuts, but there is still money, advice and support for those wishing to move into the creative industries.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched an inquiry into the funding of arts and heritage. This aims to look at what impact cuts will have on the sector, what arts organisations can do to work more closely together in order to reduce duplication of effort and whether businesses and philanthropists can play a long-term role in funding arts. Mr Hunt, along with the Arts Council’s Chief Executive Alan Davey, are due to appear in front of the Select Committee this week in anticipation of a report in November. We’ll all have to watch this space.
At school level the creative industries are being supported by the Creative and Media Diploma, which, despite some knocking in the right-wing press, is gaining ground and interest in schools. The qualification, which should be available in all schools in England by 2013, offers a different approach to learning by giving students real, hands-on, practical experience of a range of creative methods and ideas. It covers work in the film, TV and fashion industries and is supported by local businesses. The Education Business Partnership Kent (EBP Kent) offers specialist days where students can try out a range of experiences supplied by businesses already in the creative industries. Executive director Anne McNulty said: ‘The Creative and Media industry tends to be a micro industry where one or two creative people are running their own creative company, generally around their own creative practice – for example, they might be an artist, or a mosaic artist and be commissioned to do small pieces of work.
‘It is quite difficult to engage this sector in offering free support for schools so the creative and media programmes we develop give a work-related learning activity to the huge number of creative youngsters in the system. These youngsters need the opportunity to see first hand what is in the sector.’
‘The Creative and Media Diploma helps to give students a chance to see first hand what career opportunities there are in the creative industries sector…’
EBP Kent forges links with businesses and tries to maximise opportunities with local arts organisations. Anne says: ‘If you are in an area where cultural regeneration is happening, this will give a host of work-related opportunities through hands-on programmes. An art gallery, for example, will give students the chance to experience how to curate exhibitions.’
The company also works with students in other curriculum areas: ‘At the end of last year we worked with eight employees at a local girls, school and put together science students with creative and media students. They had to create a fashion store from making their own complete display, design of products and they had to conduct a lot of research. They were supported by professionals in both the design and retail sectors.’
This offers deeper learning than traditional work experience, where students are often used as temporary cover, with no chance of responsibility. As Anne says: ‘During work-related learning they can exercise all their skills in a controlled environment.
‘At our all-day workshop events, we do a “round robin” with twelve creative and media companies from TV production to set design, and from performance to craft (we had willow-making) and the local art gallery doing workshops on curation. This kind of workshop approach gives a taste of work that can be hugely inspiring for young people who want to be part of this extraordinary industry but not to perform or create pieces.
‘We see the Education Business Partnerships’ role as the facilitating organisation to maximise the employer’s gift and to translate it with the teaching staff into the right outcomes for the learner so that they too can be inspired and develop from what they do. One school worked with a journalism workshop group at an event and evaluated it as mind blowing – something they couldn’t do with a textbook in a classroom.
‘The other thing is we are very committed to giving teachers opportunities to work with the sector and to experience the industries first hand.
‘We have loads of teachers with business buddies, so that they learn from the professionals. We take them as groups to experience creative experiences themselves.
‘It’s like a re-charge for teachers, and is a great motivator for them and therefore for students, as a good teacher will harness that experience and pass it on.’
So what is the future of the diploma? Has it been affected by the change of government? Anne says: ‘The diploma is still being rolled out but this government has dropped the entitlement that says every student should have access, so they are no longer going to be treated as a special case.
‘Having said that, the schools I work with see the qualification as a rich way to learn.’
Long may it last!
And you are..?
The Institute for Education Business Excellence (IEBE) is a professional body that brings together brokers, educationalists and employers to create opportunities for young people to develop the skills they need for adult life. Visit their website at www.iebe.org.uk
Education Business Partnership (Kent): www.ebpkent.co.uk
For information about the diploma www.skillset.org/qualifications/diploma