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This week (Monday 18 November – Friday 22 November) is Discover! Creative Careers Week – the annual flagship event for the wider Discover! Creative Careers programme, aiming to address some of the creative industries’ most urgent challenges and risks around skills shortages in the creative industries.

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with additional support from Arts Council England, the programme aims to create career opportunities for more people from diverse backgrounds, drawing upon the wealth of talent that exists across the country.  

The facts 

Spanning across culture and media, to technology and so much more, the creative industries enrich everyday lives of individuals, families and communities across England and beyond. In fact, career opportunities in the creative industries are increasing daily. In 2022, the creative industries in the UK generated £124.6 billion and employed over 2.4 million people, growing at more than 4.3 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade. Plus, the creative industries workforce represents 7.1% of all UK jobs in 2023.  

Despite this growth, the creative industries are also facing skills gaps and shortages, with almost half of creative employers reporting skills issues. Alongside this, young people across the country face numerous barriers to accessing information about jobs and pathways within the creative industries.  

Additionally, as the Government’s newly announced Industrial Strategy positions the creative industries as one of the seven key sectors of national focus, now is the time for employers to take decisive action to safeguard the future of this vital industry.  

That’s why ScreenSkills, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Arts Council England, and a steering group of almost 30 industry partners, have collaborated to deliver the Discover! Creative Careers programme. This initiative provides secondary school and college students aged 11-18 across England with greater access to creative industries, showcasing the diverse career pathways available to them, especially in regions where opportunities are less visible.  

How Discover! Creative Careers will help 

The programme will connect thousands of students with employers in the creative industries during Discover! Creative Careers Week. This is an opportunity for employers to directly engage and inspire young people, challenging misconceptions about careers in the creative industries and breaking down barriers to employment opportunities that they may have previously felt were out of reach.  

Across Discover! Creative Careers Week, young people in England will take part in online and in-person careers activities with hundreds of creative industry employers, many of which are funded by Arts Council England. 

Beyond Discover! Creative Careers Week 2024 

In the Autumn Budget, Government announced it was expanding the programme and increasing funding to £3 million, to connect even more young people to employers in the creative industries.  

Discover! Creative Careers, and other organisations including National Portfolio Organisation the National Theatre, are urging employers to invest in the future by offering work experience and employer engagement opportunities to secondary school students, beyond Discover! Creative Careers Week. This activity is vital to create a more sustainable pipeline of emerging talent, particularly in regions with significant skills gaps, and will aid growth within the sector. 

Other resources 

The Discover! Creative Careers website is home to a range of industry-led lesson plans, events and resources to support careers provision and encourage young people to access the careers finder, featuring over 500 job profiles.  

The Discover! Creative Careers programme 2023 – 2025 is delivered by ScreenSkills and Creative UK, in partnership with other key stakeholders across government, industry, careers and education. 

Mary Rose, Programme Lead for Discover! Creative Careers yesterday said:

“The UK’s creative industries are world-leading and I want to thank everyone for getting involved in Discover! Creative Careers Week and for sharing their expertise in their sectors with students. Engagement with industry is so important for ensuring we can create a diverse pipeline of talent entering the creative workforce and plug the current skills gaps that impact the sector, particularly by linking education to industry in their own regional area.  

“This years’ Discover! Creative Careers Week is set to be a fantastic success thanks to the organisations that have worked with us to provide excellent work experience opportunities and industry encounters for young people across the country. These encounters are invaluable to debunking misconceptions about the sector and underlining that people from all backgrounds can and should consider the creative industries for their careers. We know that encounters in the workplace have a huge impact on young people in terms of considering a career in the creative industries.”  

 Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, who support the programme yesterday said:

“Our world-leading cultural industries offer young people a broad range of exciting professional opportunities that allow them to explore their creative interests, whatever they may be. I hope this year’s Discover! Creative Careers Week will not only inspire the next generation of creatives from across England but also offer them pathways to meaningful, long-term careers in our industry.”