“We aimed to focus on simplifying the message for those participating and making sure that everyone knew how they could contribute. Young people and skills for the future was the core takeaway, but for industry we also helped them to understand the need to develop a workforce to support business growth."
Overview
HEY Creative spearheaded activity in Hull & East Yorkshire for Discover! Creative Careers Week 2024. This was the first time the region as a whole had engaged in the programme, and as well as an awareness campaign, HEY Creative hosted 11 showcase events covering a range of artistic disciplines and creative careers that were connected to particular school priorities.
Across the week the focus was on championing creative careers and getting schools and businesses involved with activities and resources. The campaign included information and resources being distributed to and via Hull & East Yorkshire Careers Hub, Hull Fostering, Hull Training and Adult Education, the Young People Skills and Employability Service, HCC Care Leavers and Refugee and Asylum Seeking Teams, Hull Virtual School for looked after children, Hull SEND Local Offer, Hull Youth Council and Young Mayors Group, Thrive Partnership, Youth Centres, youth groups and The Warren. Generation Hull and East Riding Cultural Education Partnership also connected directly with schools about the campaign.
HEY Creative’s campaign also encouraged arts and culture organisations themselves to showcase opportunities and resources to support children and young people to connect with creative careers. Information and resources were cascaded across the sector by individual organisations and by networks led by Cultural Collisions, We Are Creative, Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Videos were made and shared showcasing opportunities for Children and Young People to connect with creative careers.
HEY Creative urged non-creative businesses to champion creative careers and creative skills, with all signatories of the Hull & East Yorkshire Creative Charter receiving specific communications with template posts to share widely about the campaign. Five business leaders from across the region were highlighted as key supporters of creative skills, receiving over 6,000 engagements across social media and coverage from the BBC.
The 11 Creative Careers Showcase Events that took place in selected schools across the region were organised in collaboration with Generation Hull and East Riding Cultural Education Partnership. These included talks, workshops, presentations and more, covering a broad range of topics that matched school priorities, from print-making and drama to ‘monetising your music’.
Number of young people reached: 205
Advice for similar companies/organisations
“It is all about partnership working. As a Cultural Compact, we don’t directly engage with children and young people but work with many partners who have great relationships with young people. We worked with so many partners to connect with young people outside of traditional education, too, from young carers groups to the fostering service. We served as the single point of contact for amplifying the message about creative careers, but without those partnerships we wouldn’t have had so much to shout about – or so many avenues to do it through.”
“We aimed to focus on simplifying the message for those participating and making sure that everyone knew how they could contribute. Young people and skills for the future was the core takeaway, but for industry we also helped them to understand the need to develop a workforce to support business growth. We were thinking on a regional scale to support the recent devolution in Hull and East Yorkshire’s, and themes of resilience and future proofing.”
Can you tell us why you believe it’s important for industry to get directly involved in inspiring and informing young people about careers in the creative industries through projects like Discover?
Max May, Chief Officer at HEY Creative said “In Hull and East Yorkshire, we believe all children and young people have a right to thrive through creativity. Our region’s businesses are acutely aware that we live in a complex and ever changing environment; if they want to thrive as a business, they need to be taking control of their own future. The Discover! Creative Careers programme and the week of activities has been a fantastic opportunity for us to engage the whole region in developing the skills and talents we need in Hull and East Yorkshire.
I think that our region is at a truly exciting time in its development. Discover! Creative Careers has given us the opportunity to really be heard on a national stage.”
Beyond skills development, the sessions had unexpected benefits of wellbeing with one KS2 student at Oldfleet Primary School describing a mask-making workshop as an opportunity to relax, feel calm and use their imagination.
Feedback from teachers in the region:
“The students were so focused, interested and produced wonderful outcomes. They really understood the opportunities that are available at KS4 choices and the diverse nature of where a creative subject such as art can take you in the world of work.”
“The workshop gave them ideas and options for the future that they have probably never considered a possibility”. Teachers also noted the inclusivity of the workshops: “There was a wide range of learning needs in this group, and ALL students produced superb outcomes.”