Grant awarded to attract diverse young talent into creative careers

Westminster City Council, the City of London Corporation and Lewisham Council are pleased to announce they have been awarded a small grant by GLA and London Councils’ Evolve programme, which supports cross-borough collaborative working between culture officers. 

The boroughs have come together to act on a collective sense of urgency that more needs to be done to attract young talent from socially and ethnically diverse groups into often highly rewarding creative careers. Only 23.4% of creative economy jobs in London are filled by those from black or minority ethnic groups, compared to 32.9% of jobs outside the creative economy.

Creative careers are perceived as high risk and low paid even though they are in the fastest growing sectors of the economy, where specialist skills are in high demand and a rich variety of behind-the-scenes and frontline roles are available. The project will generate tools and activities to help young people, educators and parents gain an understanding of the wide range of careers available within the creative industries. 

The first step will involve consultation with ethnically diverse pupils, teachers and parents so they can shape the film development. From this we will commission a short film based on the vast array of little known, behind-the-scenes roles in the film industry aimed at young people aged 11-14 and their parents.

The film will offer insights into the wide scope and range of careers in the film industry; how people access these jobs, what qualifications and skills they might need and what they could expect to earn in this industry.  Screenings will take place at school assemblies, summer creative careers events and on social media channels.

The project will be enhanced by each borough sharing their community insights to help diverse young people and their influencers better understand the extraordinary opportunities available in London’s vibrant and growing creative economy.

For further information contact John Nolan, City Lions Project Manager, on [email protected].

“We are thrilled about this opportunity to collaborate with Lewisham and City of London so we can inspire more socially and ethnically diverse young Londoners to follow their talent into creative careers as part of our City for All delivery.” - Cllr Paul Swaddle, Cabinet Member for Finance and Smart City

“This collaboration will help us inspire a more diverse range of young people to pursue a career in the creative industries. The dynamic project supports our education and social mobility programmes, and strengthens our commitment to making the Square Mile, and London as a whole, as a place where people of all backgrounds can thrive.” – Caroline Haines, City of London Corporation Education Board Chair

“We are dedicated to addressing inequalities for our diverse communities in Lewisham and are glad to be working alongside City of Westminster and the Corporation of London on tools to better connect our young people with  London’s outstanding Creative and Cultural Industries.” - Cllr André Bourne - Cabinet member for Culture, Jobs and Skills