Close to 80,000 get insight into creative jobs via Discover! Creative Careers initiative

A government-funded, industry-led programme month of activity to demystify careers in the creative industries and inspire young people of working class and underrepresented backgrounds has reached almost 80,000 people.

Discover! Creative Careers Month, part of an industry-led year round programme, ran in November and gave 79,134 young people aged 11 to 18 direct experiences with creative industry employers. The month aimed to demonstrate that there are career opportunities for people from a wide range of backgrounds across all regions of the UK, not just London and the South East.

November also featured a Discover! Creative Careers Scotland Week (November 10-14) and Wales held Discover! Creative Careers Cymru (November 17-21)

The initiative connected young people with industry professionals to show them careers options - from working backstage at a concert venue or theatre, to developing the latest gaming technology.

Coordinated by industry hosts across the creative industries and supported by industry-led skills charity ScreenSkills, the activities crossed all subsectors of the creative industries and included a range of influential organisations throughout the UK.

The campaign encouraged people to find out where their interests could take them, pointing to the Discover! Creative Careers website where they can explore different roles that link to their interests and motivations, as well as explore technical qualifications and various creative courses available on the Skills for Life website.

The Discover! Month programme was amplified this year by a government campaign that reached millions of young people and parents online, driven by a mix of paid media, digital content, regional events, ambassador amplification and high-profile industry support. The campaign, delivered in partnership with ScreenSkills and CreativeUK, generated 100 million impressions and 18.5 million total video views, and visibility translated directly into record engagement on the Discover! Creative Careers platform.

Website visits rose by 341 per cent, attracting more than 42,000 users, the majority of whom were new to the site, and a large proportion from outside London.

Key partners, including the BRIT Awards, UCAS, Channel 4 Skills and Co-Op Live publicly supported the digital communications campaign through social media amplification, and #DiscoverCreativeCareers, #DiscoverCreativeCareersMonth and #CreativeCareersMonth achieving a combined reach of 5.5 million and 67,500 interactions.

The Discover! Creative Careers campaign will continue to engage young people and their parents in priority regions across the UK, through new and existing partnerships such as UCAS, and marking key milestones like National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week.

Creative Industries Minister, Ian Murray said: "Discover! Creative Careers Month is completely aligned to what this Government believes in - improving access for people of all backgrounds, and creating earning power and economic growth across our regions. It’s encouraging to see just how many young people it’s reached already, and to think about the potential for the future."

November also featured a Discover! Creative Careers Scotland Week (November 10-14) and in Wales Discover! Creative Careers Cymru (November 17-21).

More at https://discovercreative.careers/

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