Creativity is as appealing as ever...

What’s more exciting than being amongst a buzzing throng of future creatives? For me there’s nothing better. That boundless energy, excitement, passion and fearlessness that youth exudes. I remember those days well!

The next generation of UK creatives will bring new highs to this country. These individuals will be instrumental in delivering Rishi Sunak’s pledge to grow the creative industries by an additional £50 billion and create one million extra jobs by 2030.

This will be on top of the £108 billion annual revenue and over 2.3 million employees that make up the current creative industries. It has been growing at 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy for the past decade, with even more promising prospects ahead. Congratulations to past, present, and future creatives!

So where was this buzzing creative throng? It was at ExCeL London at the UCAS 'Create Your Future' event. An exciting, free event jam-packed with all thing’s creative careers, from art, architecture, design, journalism, and media, to drama, fashion and textiles, and beyond. And it was heaving. I can tell you there’s certainly no lack of appetite for creativity which was a joy to behold…

BUT there does appear to be a looming issue that might fly in the face of all this optimism.

It appears the government is considering limiting the number of students studying creative arts and other degrees that it deems deliver ‘lower returns’.

According to Creative UK they are defining 'lower returns' by “assessing the value of courses on metrics that are too narrow to accurately or fairly reflect the success of the UK’s talented creative graduates”. That is not great.

Caroline Norbury, OBE says, “Studying creative subjects develops the finely-tuned cognitive skills that are increasingly sought after by employers across all industries.” And also says, “By introducing further restrictions to accessing meaningful creative education, our talent pipeline will only constrict further, limiting the creative industries’ potential to drive economic growth, job creation and innovation.”

As a fellow creative, a father and an employer, I'm absolutely concerned about the need for our educational institutions to deliver the best graduate outcomes, degrees are hugely expensive but those outcomes need to be measured across a host of different metrics. Those should vary based on subject areas, industry requirements, career earnings potential, skills shortages, societal benefits, and our future facing needs. Not purely through the very narrow economic lens of today.

As Polly Mackenzie, Chief Social Purpose Officer at the University of the Arts London says in her brilliant blog; 'Creative graduates enrich society – it’s time we recognised it' this current ‘bean-counting risk aversion is antithetical to the creative, innovative economy this government claims to be striving for.’

Let’s hope this attack on our country's creativity doesn’t come to fruition.

If you are a creative, and love the idea of joining a team like ours, whether you are highly experienced, or if you are new to the agency world, then just have a look at our careers page. We are always keen to talk to the right people!

#creativity #graduate #marketingandadvertising