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Getting a job in the performing arts should be about what you know, not who. But making that crucial first step into the business can often seem difficult.
Which qualifications do employers value? What skills are in demand? Will you have to move to London to chase your dream and work for nothing in the early days? Creative & Cultural Skills exists to help answer these questions and give people of ability, creativity and talent opportunities to prosper.
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Creative & Cultural Skills is an industry-led body, set up to close the divide between the worlds of education and employment. Its board of Trustees and advisory panels are drawn from the leaders of the industries they serve - including advertising, design, cultural heritage and music as well as the arts. Licensed by the government in 2005 as the Sector Skills Council for the creative and cultural industries, the organisation has developed a range of programmes to make sure world-class training is delivered for the worlds greatest stages.
Careers information, advice and guidance
Did you know that of the 101,600 people working in the performing arts, only around 30% are actually performers? The show must go on and putting it there requires the skills of a wide range of professionals - technicians, stage managers, directors, choreographers, wardrobe, props, administrators and accountants to name but a few.
The commercial growth and creative success of our performing arts mean some of these skills are in short supply. But where do you go for sound advice on which route to take to your chosen career? It's a complex, highly specialised arena and school or college careers advisers can't be expected to have all the answers. That's where Creative & Cultural Skills comes in and www.creative-choices.co.uk.
Creative Choices is the first user-led, on-line service to provide the tools, knowledge and networks to support every artist, sole trader and creative business in the creative and cultural industries. It provides the tools to help individuals get on with their development, networks to help them get on with one another and knowledge to develop their skills and fuel their desire to succeed. The plan is to put learners and employers at the centre of our future skills needs.
Apprenticeships
You don't have to have a degree to work in the performing arts - in fact only one in three people in the business went to university. While budding performers will often get their start by studying at drama or dance school, many occupations - especially backstage and technical roles - require practical skills rather than academic qualifications.
The Creative Apprenticeships is a new and alternative entry route to a range of careers across the creative and cultural industries. Young people from 16 to 24 years of age UK-wide will have the chance to mix formal learning with paid for work that will equip them with real skills that employers value. The Creative Apprenticeship recognises that academic prowess and creative talent or technical ability don't always go together. It's also for people who, for economic or social reasons, simply can't afford to spend three years at college. Apprenticeships have been developed in six key areas including:
Live Events and Promotion
Music Business (Recording Industry)
Technical Theatre (rigging, lighting and sound)
Costume and Wardrobe
Community Arts
Cultural Heritage Venue Operations
Young Apprenticeships
The Young Apprenticeship (YA) programme is for 14-16 year-olds - it is not an entitlement but an initiative that schools can choose to be a part of. It is for young people with a clear talent and keen interest in performing arts and art and design who wish to gain an additional qualification in the subject and some industry experience (50 days over 2 years). YAs allow you to specialise at a young age and they're a good foundation for moving on to further vocational education such as a Creative Apprenticeship or to university.
National Skills Academy
In 2008, Creative & Cultural Skills received government approval of it's business plan to build a National Skills Academy for offstage and technical staff in live music and theatre in England. It's been designed to address the growing shortage of trained and qualified support staff across both industries. There will be a need for 30,000 people working in technical theatre and live performance over the next decade.
The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural (NSA) will put employers in charge of the training - what is taught, where it's delivered and how. It'll be a nationwide training network with regional and cross regional networks linking industry with colleges and other training providers. A proposed central administrative office and specialist training centre will be built in the Thames Gateway, east of London, sharing a site with the Royal Opera House production campus.
As well as preparing new entrants for their first jobs, the NSA will assess and accredit the skills of experienced but unqualified staff and assist with their career development.
For more information on any of these projects, or the wider work of Creative & Cultural Skills and how to get involved, please visit www.ccskills.org.uk.
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