The creative careers plan wants young people to see a route into film, music, games, advertising and visual art. The creative careers plan has therefore begun with the boldest artistic choice of all: admitting that a career needs a route. This is progress for an industry that can turn “please bring a portfolio” into a six month treasure hunt.
The earlier Creative Industries Sector Vision set out government plans to improve pathways into creative careers through guidance, creative opportunities, work experience and specialist institutions. It also promised closer cooperation between education, government and employers. At last, the sector may explain what people do before asking them to describe their personal brand.
Creative careers plan enters the jargon cupboard
The document covers a world in which a sound engineer, set designer, games developer and production assistant all perform real work while job adverts continue to hunt for “creative disruptors”. The phrase sounds less like a vacancy than a person who has arrived at a meeting carrying a ring light and no memory of the agenda.
Programme lead Tamsin Glitter said the plan should make the routes clearer. In this satirical extension of the policy, she also recommended that employers stop describing entry level jobs as “fast paced opportunities” unless the office contains either a working lift or an actual wage.
The sector vision recognises that young people and their carers need better information about the range of roles available. That sounds sensible. An aspiring animator needs practice, guidance and a portfolio. They do not need a relative asking whether animation and accountancy share a shelf in a supermarket.
The arts industry labels its drawers
At the Institute of Backstage Things, careers adviser Rupert Gaffer welcomed the proposed clarity. He observed that people see the finished film, the game launch or the gig, but not the production assistant, the technician or the person locating a cable that has vanished while attached to something. This is invented comic commentary, not a real quotation.
The real challenge is not persuading people that creative work exists. It is persuading employers that “junior content alchemist” is not a useful description of a job. It may be a warning issued by a company that has misplaced its adult supervision.
The creative careers plan could also help employers say what they actually need. That would be a revolutionary development. The applicant might arrive with the right skills instead of a laptop, a thunderstorm and an anxious willingness to own the brief.
If the vision succeeds, creative careers may become less mysterious without becoming less creative. The industry will retain its magic. Otherwise who would call a meeting a “blue sky ideation huddle” and expect anyone to believe the sky had been consulted? At that point even the filing cabinet would ask for a strategy.
