Discover! Creative Careers Week, 13th - 17th November 2023
Discover! Creative Careers Week is a call to arms to employers and individuals across the sector to provide young people aged 11-18 with direct encounters with industry through in-person and online events at workplaces.
The national programme is part of Government’s pledge to build a highly-skilled, productive and inclusive workforce for the future, with its ambition to maximise growth of the creative industries by £50 billion and support a million more jobs across the UK by 2030, as outlined in the Creative Industries Sector Vision launched earlier this year.
Across Discover! Creative Careers Week 2023, thousands of young people met professionals and heard directly about different sectors, job roles, career pathways and more, through a range of interactive activities including building tours, talks, workshops and discussions, alongside a virtual programme delivered by Speakers for Schools.
Read more about the week in our Impact Report.
Highlights across the week:
Over 100 young people from Discover Creative Careers priority areas including Dudley, Brent, Newham, Croydon and Barking and Dagenham took part in architecture careers workshops led by the Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA), Open City and AtkinsRéalis. In addition young people engaged with online events delivered by AHR Architects and Ryder Architecture as part of the Speakers for Schools virtual programme. Images: RIBA and AtkinsRéalis workshops. Photographer: Victor Frankowski.
In Swindon 130 young people from local schools visited Create Studios to take part in gaming, music, social media and film production workshops with employers including Bristol-based training provider BoomSatsuma, music producer Jamie Coupe and marketing agency Evito Talent. Images © Create Studios.
Over 60 young people from Brent, Croydon and Newham attended an immersive workshop at Framestore, a visual effects company in London who work on films including Guardians of the Galaxy, Paddington and Avengers. They were joined by Creative Industries Minister John Whittingdale in the afternoon who helped the Framestore judging panel feedback on the presentations. Images © Joshua Syratt at Framestore.
In Birmingham, BOA Stage & Screen Production Academy hosted schools from across the midlands who took part in a range of creative, technical and construction careers workshops and heard from some of the current students and staff members. Images © Victor Frankowski.
Over 60 young people from Knowsley took part in a backstage tour, talks and workshops at the innovative new performance space, Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot. They were joined by Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay. Image © Lucy Hunter.
Across the week over 300 students took part in several workshops and set visits with screen companies, arranged by ScreenSkills. This included a visit to ITV’s Granada Reports newsroom at MediaCityUK in Salford, a talk with Maise Maguire, the Executive Producer of The Voice to a group in Manchester, set visits to famous soaps Coronation Street (ITV) and Eastenders (BBC), storyline workshops with ITV for Coronation Street and Emmerdale, a visit to the post-production house Molinare and various other workshops and visits.
In Bury St Edmunds, UK Music and West Suffolk College hosted a music and creative industry careers day featuring a panel discussion and Q&A with guests including Verity Pabla from I’m Not a Machine Music and artist Shao Dow. The event took place at the innovative Extended Reality Lab (XR Lab) which combines Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality technologies and environments. Image © UK Music.
Other highlights included:
- The week featured several opportunities for students with special educational needs (SEND) including an online workshop with Leeds Museums and Galleries, a workplace workshop with Blue Zoo Animation and an online insight with Newcastle Castle
- The virtual programme delivered by Speakers for Schools featured workshops, talks and activities with a range of employers including Sky Studios, Cockpit, Factory International, Get Into Theatre, Fane and The Lowry
- Local students in Blackpool went face to face with world-famous icons as they met the team at Blackpool’s Madame Tussauds to find out what it takes to maintain their renowned waxworks
- In Stoke on Trent, Carse & Waterman Productions hosted a group for an interactive animation and visual effects (VFX) workshop
- In Wigan we launched a youth voice pilot at Wigan Youth Zone in partnership with Curious Minds, to hear directly from young people, leading towards more co-designed activity in future
Register now for Discover! Creative Careers Week 2024
We're thrilled to reveal that next year's Discover! Creative Careers Week will take place from Monday 18th - Friday 22nd November 2024.
We’ll be working with industry to encourage them to open their doors for local young people to encounter their workplace, with a specific focus on engaging young people based in our 77 priority areas.
Find out more
Discover Creative Careers 2023 - 2025 is funded by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) with additional support from Arts Council England. It is being delivered by ScreenSkills, in partnership with over 20 organisations representing the creative industries. Find out more.