Creative industries get boost with £16m skills development fund

A new £16m Government fund plans to help maintain the UK’s position as a world leader in the creative industries through vocational training projects. It supports a new strategy for growth published by the Creative Industries Council, which points out that, with jobs in the creative industries increasing by over 10% since 2011, compared to a 2.4% average, there is an urgent need to ensure entry and progression routes for individuals from all backgrounds.

The announcement follows the recent publication of a report by the DCMS on employment in the creative industries, which paints a mixed picture of diversity in the sector. Music, performing and visual arts organisations employ one of the lowest proportions of people from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds (BAME): just 6.7% in 2013, compared to 10.6% across the creative industries as a whole. 37.1% of jobs in the creative industries are filled by women, which is below the national average of 46.9%. However this varies across the sector, with music, performing and visual arts organisations employing an above average number of women, and accounting for almost a fifth of all women employed in the sector. It also revealed that the proportion of workers in the creative industries with a degree or equivalent qualification is almost double the national average.

Through the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot the Government will match industry investment in skills development projects led by creative industry employers over the next 3 years. The funding is the result of a successful bid led by Channel 4 and skills organisation Creative Skillset, involving over 500 industry partners.

Stewart Till, Chair of Creative Skillset Board said: “The scale of this investment will see us investing in the futures of people from all backgrounds. From school level, to leaders at the height of their professional career, there will be support on an unprecedented scale. All with the goal of increasing even further our creative industries’ global reputation for quality and competitiveness.”