Youth Voice Report
Breakdown of Results

Careers and Training

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IN THIS SECTION: Identifying future routes for young people to take part in cultural careers

Summary

Career pathways are key to ensuring the longevity of the cultural and creative sectors. We know that career and future education choices are a key concern for 12-16 year olds, but the availability of cultural careers is not always clear.

This section is divided into two parts. The first looks at possible careers for people interested in culture, and the second explores how young people access these options in Calderdale.

Part 1: Careers for People Interested in Culture

Young people

Cultural careers and pathways cover a huge range of subjects, which was reflected in young people’s responses to this section of the consultation. We wanted to know what career options young people thought were available for people interested in creativity and culture.

Key findings

  • Young people are aware of the vast range of careers available in cultural disciplines.

  • They’ve also shown that they understand creative skills are applicable to a much wider range of careers, such as for engineers, sports professionals and chefs.

  • A high number of participants were unsure about what a creative career might be.

What does this tell us?

Young people need more support to identify the cultural careers available to them. Many recognise that creative skills are applicable to a large number of career options, but the fact that so many were unsure of creative career options means that more work needs to be done.

Adults

We asked adult participants what sorts of career options they thought were available for young people in culture, and learned about different routes and access.

Key findings

  • Adults were aware of the large range of career options that creative skills were useful for.

  • They emphasised the large range of opportunities that are available.

  • There was an emphasis on careers involving people skills as particularly enhanced by creative skills.

  • They were concerned about a perceived lack of awareness of cultural careers by young people.

  • There were concerns about how cuts to arts education can hinder the awareness and availability of cultural careers for young people.

What does this tell us?

Adults are keen to pursue young people in pursuing creative and cultural careers, and many are aware that these skills are applicable to many, if not all, careers. The concern that young people don’t always have this same awareness was very high, and often linked to cuts in arts education. Discussing creative skills as key to careers came across as the exception rather than the norm, and raising awareness of this will likely be key to increasing awareness of cultural career pathways.

  • "Creative careers are very broad but I feel that access is becoming harder and harder. The arts have been stripped from education, particularly schools, and often people go into creative careers because they benefitted from access at school. I believe that children and young people could enjoy a very wide range of creative avenues, but access is a huge problem."

  • "Many different careers, it opens doors rather than closes them. We have just done a big cultural careers day where we invited ex students to share their career paths and explain how the arts has helped them. We do a lot of work in lessons to promote the different careers art can help with."

  • "Not sure as creativity has always been a pastime rather than a career path."

  • "Creativity and culture are at the heart of all careers from hospitality to engineering."

  • "Almost every job would benefit from a more creative workforce however I think young people only see jobs in the arts as creative."

  • "I think we could do more to promote careers in creative or culture locally."

  • "There is little to no access for creative and cultural jobs, particularly when creative subjects are being slashed within the curriculum. Therefore, how can young people enter a creative job without receiving effective arts education."

  • "There are a range of careers available to creatives and those interested in culture. While it may not pay particularly well, the benefit of working in culture and creativity is the flexibility of options. Individuals can work freelance to be in control of their own time or work on a fixed-term contract to ensure their options remain open and they are not tied to a particular place. There are also a huge number of part-time jobs available for people unwilling or unable to commit to full-time employment. While these characteristics are largely borne out of limited sector funding, there are positives in them for those looking for greater flexibility in career path and working pattern."

  • "Everything from teaching and facilitation to working in the creative industries (digital/film/music/theatre/dance/publishing/performance/festivals/museums and galleries) but creativity and the ability to apply your creativity in a variety of of settings is a core skill. I think young people are put off the creative industries because they are seen to be for other people but social media and digital platforms are levelling the playing field."

  • "To pick up a career in any of the arts, but also creative people can be invaluable and provide solutions to many difficulties in many jobs from caring careers to administrative and managerial careers. If a job needs people skills then creativity can be advantageous."

  • "Artist, musician, curator, arts organiser, technician, producer, designer, researcher, art and wellbeing. Young people I work with tend to be less aware of the more embedded, socially-engaged or publicly situated creative careers available."

  • "Too many to mention in artistic/cultural sector, few that pay enough, they are certainly not pushed/promoted by schools etc."

  • "Many but I know myself that these opportunities are not as good in the North as the South."

  • "Few."

  • "Kids are encouraged to find very practical jobs quickly. I think it would help is a big variety of creative jobs were somehow on display, perhaps interviews/films of people in these jobs accessible online?"

Part 2: Creative and Cultural Careers for Calderdale

Young people

Awareness of and access to cultural careers are often widely varying. We asked young people if they had thought about cultural careers for themselves, and what that might look like.

Key findings

  • When talking about the careers that they would like to do, a lot of young people spoke passionately about what their dreams were and what excited them.

  • Many responded with career pathways that would not traditionally be thought of as creative, such as scientist or engineer.

  • Some young people told us that they weren’t sure yet.

What does this tell us?

Young people need more support to identify the cultural careers available to them. This links to the fact that many young people told us that creative activities don’t help them to feel optimistic about their future (see Values and Perceptions of Creativity and Culture section).

Adults

We asked adults if the young people they engaged with had considered cultural or creative careers, and gained insights into access to careers in Calderdale.

Key findings

  • A lack of time and space to discuss careers was often cited as preventing young people from engaging with cultural careers.

  • Most young people who worked with the adults had been focused on purely arts-based careers, with limited knowledge of the possibilities beyond this.

  • Adults frequently discussed the different opportunities and working styles that cultural careers provided, but also recognised that many did not pursue them because they typically had a lower wage.

  • Those who work in fields with careers guidance talk about it regularly with young people, but find that uptake for cultural careers is often low in comparison to other more practical fields.

What does this tell us?

Adults working with young people need more support and resources to support the young people to learn about and pursue creative and cultural careers. Key concerns of financial viability and solid employment options need to be addressed, and are often dependent on national policies.

  • "I don't think the level of engagement we currently have with young people is long enough or sustained to have these conversations."

  • "Not many - may be one or two."

  • "Some of the feedback responses we have through evaluation with families and schools often mention children's career aspirations - even at 5 years old!"

  • "Yes. A lot want to go into acting and performance."

  • "We discuss the value of engineers and scientists."

  • "Some. Many of our young people would like a career in a practical trade i.e. construction. This can be linked to creative skills- i.e. through joinery- designing storage in a house/designing furniture, plastering- producing ceiling roses. In terms of cultural careers I believe the opportunities which have been brought to the area by The Piece Hall is helping our young people to explore this option."

  • "Yes, I think they would enjoy their work better and feel more fulfilled if they did. However, I think the concept of 'career' is changing. A career that starts after education and goes on to retirement is likely to become less of a norm in future. However, transferable creative skills could help them in any career changes.

  • "No - unless you reach the top of the profession it's not financially rewarding and can lead to a hand-to-mouth existence."

  • "My husband is a graphic designer. My eldest daughter considered a higher education course in Art but beyond ‘artist’ didn’t know what job would be available to her afterwards."

  • "Yes, we have careers opportunities throughout the week. I actively speak about my career and how and why I become a teacher."

  • "Yes - I got Level 5 art but no jobs for this."

  • "Regularly. It would be nice if more felt confident to go down the arts route but those that do have been pretty successful."

  • "They often dismiss careers in the arts due to perceived lower value, or maybe just because it seems very hard to find work. The word 'creative' is often misread solely as 'art' which is a problem. One skill which creative careers require (meaning those narrowly in the arts for example) is proactivity in problem solving. Every successful artist, writer, musician etc has had to overcome a great many obstacles to success. It means that these industries favour those who have the determination to pursue a creative goal even when it seems there is little to achieve at the end."

  • "No. Very rarely. The link betwen extra-curricular opportunities is simply not there due to financial restraints and information."

  • "Yes but they find it is more difficult to imagine a very creative career for them as their role models and peers tend to work in local industries."