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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 the hardest thing in the world.
Which qualifications do employers really value? What skills are in shortest supply? Will you have to leave home and move to London to chase your dream? Will you have to work for nothing in the early days? The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural (NSA) addresses these questions.
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NSA is a network of further education colleges and employers in the live music and theatre sector across England, which aims to address the growing shortage of trained and qualified support staff across the industry. The 20 Founder Colleges work with industry to ensure the training being delivered is relevant. Founder College students are given opportunities to work at key industry events and festivals to gain the experience that will help them to get that vital first foot on the ladder. 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.
Careers information, advice and guidance
Did you know that of the 148,000 working in the performing arts, only around 26% 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 the UK's performing arts sector 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 www.getintotheatre.org, getintolivemusic.org and www.creative-choices.co.uk come in!
Creative Choices
Creative Choices offers advice and inspiration on careers in the creative and cultural industries (design, visual arts, theatre, music, craft, cultural heritage and literature), through a range of free career tools and resources, including bite-sized Open University development courses, a UK-wide funding database, updated listings for training and development opportunities, a CV and career development workshop, job profiles, quick guides and short films and stories about people working in the industry.
Creative Choices also has a social networking tool, designed to help develop a creative career, including groups, discussions and the opportunity to receive mentoring.
Get Into Theatre
This is all about working in the theatre. The site helps young people to open their eyes to the huge variety of careers in the industry - and different ways to get there. At Get Into Theatre you can read interviews with people who are already working in theatre - onstage, backstage and offstage - and discover over 80 careers in the theatre, make an appointment at the CV clinic and get some feedback on your CV or hold up your hand and ask a question to the panel of industry experts.
Get Into Live Music is the sister site to getintotheatre and offers information, advice and guidance in regards to the job roles in the live music industry.
Creative Choices
Creative Choices offers advice and inspiration on careers in the creative and cultural industries (design, visual arts, theatre, music, craft, cultural heritage and literature), through a range of free career tools and resources, including bite-sized Open University development courses, a UK-wide funding database, updated listings for training and development opportunities, a CV and career development workshop, job profiles, quick guides and short films and stories about people working in the industry.
Creative Choices also has a social networking tool, designed to help develop a creative career, including groups, discussions and the opportunity to receive mentoring.
Apprenticeships
You don't have to have a degree to work in the performing arts. 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. From September 2008, 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
But it's not just the Creative Apprenticeship roles that are offering individuals opportunities to get into theatre and live music. The National Skills Academy has set up an Apprenticeship Training Service which will support employers to take on an Apprentice more easily - cutting out the hassle and allowing them to focus on delivering the Apprenticeship. The Apprenticeships on offer will cover all job roles delivered within a creative or cultural workplace - finance, IT, business administration, marketing and many more.
For more information on any of these projects, or the wider work of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural and how to get involved, please visit www.nsa-ccskills.co.uk.
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