Variety in artistic fields within academic institutions
Alice Kent, Head of Communications at Creative PEC, shares insights into a groundbreaking report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Creative Diversity, titled Making the Creative Majority. The report, launched earlier this year, focuses on diversity in the creative industries and offers a series of recommendations to improve class representation.
The report emphasizes the importance of resource redistribution, widening access, and targeted support for early careers as central recommendations to foster class diversity in the creative sector.
Resource Redistribution and Wealth Expansion
The report calls for the redistribution of resources and wealth within the creative sector to address geographic and social inequalities. This would expand opportunities beyond London and other cultural hotspots, providing a more equitable platform for talent across the UK.
Widening Access to Cultural Experiences and Jobs
The report also encourages efforts to widen access to cultural experiences and jobs in the creative industries for underrepresented socioeconomic groups. This aim is to reduce place-based economic and social disparities across the UK, ensuring a more inclusive and diverse creative landscape.
Supporting Early-Stage Funding and Development Programs
The report recommends supporting early-stage funding and development programs that target diverse talent. This would help emerging creatives from working-class backgrounds establish careers, similar in focus to government schemes like the UK Games Fund.
Advocating for Coordinated Policies
The report advocates for coordinated government and sector policies that embed class diversity as a core priority in creative industry strategies and funding allocation. This would ensure that class diversity remains a focus in the sector's growth and development.
These recommendations are not only crucial for improving class diversity but also for the overall health and vibrancy of the creative industries. If the creative industries were as socioeconomically diverse as the rest of the economy, they would employ over 250,000 more working-class people, according to previous Creative PEC research.
The report also highlights the low likelihood of someone from a working-class background securing a job in the creative industries, a finding that has persisted for over a decade. Addressing this issue is essential for ensuring a more equitable and representative creative sector.
As the discussion around the 2025 Spending Review continues, it is hoped that these recommendations will be taken into consideration, helping to create a more inclusive and diverse creative industries landscape.
- Alice Kent shares insights from the Making the Creative Majority report, advocating resource redistribution within the creative sector to address geographic and social inequalities.
- The redistribution of resources would not only promote class diversity but also expand opportunities beyond cultural hotspots, like London.
- The report encourages widening access to cultural experiences and jobs in the creative industries for underrepresented socioeconomic groups.
- Supporting early-stage funding and development programs that target diverse talent is fundamental to help emerging creatives, as suggested by the report.
- Coordinated government and sector policies that prioritize class diversity are recommended in the report to ensure its focus in the sector's growth and development.
- According to Creative PEC research, the creative industries would employ over 250,000 more working-class people if they were as socioeconomically diverse as the rest of the economy.
- The report reveals a substantial issue in the creative industries: the low likelihood of someone from a working-class background securing a job, which persists for over a decade.
- To create a more inclusive and diverse landscape in the creative industries, addressing this issue is crucial and essential.
- In light of the 2025 Spending Review, the aspiration is that these recommendations will influence policy-making to foster a more equitable and representative creative sector, including education-and-self-development, technology, culture, arts, heritage, and innovation, eventually impacting the lifestyle and economy.
