With the number of young people facing unemployment on the rise, those who want to carve out a career in the creative arts and media industries are feeling the strain. A snapshot survey by Words of Colour Productions on the training options available for young people who want a creative career threw up some interesting findings, including the need for more vocational programmes and the opportunity to network with industry professionals. Mesha McNeil, who did the survey, explains the findings and the next steps.
From March to May 2013, 959,000 young people aged 16-24 were unemployed at a rate of 20.9 per cent across the UK. Many young people are leaving education to realise that finding employment is virtually impossible. For young people interested in a career in the creative arts and media industries, the goalposts aren’t even visible. This is why we produced a short survey with young people to express their concerns.
Between November 2012 and January 2013 we engaged with over 50 young Londoners aged 13 to 22. The focus was on what training they felt they needed so that we could to help meet their needs.
Under 15s – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5YKHNZ2
16 to 18s – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5YYLLHX
Over 19s – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5YW9D79
We wanted to create a profile of young people who were interested in receiving training and identify who they were and where they were. What did they want from training? Around 86 per cent of the young people surveyed had enrolled into further or higher education, including those aged 13 to 15 years old who expressed an intention to. This demonstrates how young people still see education as an important factor in achieving their future goals.
We also wanted to establish if young people had access to creative and media training in London. It was important to identify how large of a service provision gap they believed there was. The majority of young people surveyed (54 per cent) stated that they hadn’t participated in any relevant training.
The lack of visibility of these kinds of programmes was cited by 40 per cent as the main reason for not attending any training. Also many young people didn’t know where to look. This suggests that providers are failing to do an adequate job of signposting their services to attract young people, particularly online. Finally, the survey wanted to determine what training young Londoners wanted. Most of the responses indicated that they wanted training to help them improve their career prospects.
Based on the survey results, younger people aged 13 to 15 years old are a lot less sure about their futures and want an opportunity to go on courses that are fun, practical and give them the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals in their age group. Those aged 16 to 18 years requested skill-based training and the majority want to work on practical projects and shadow professionals in the industry.
The 19 to 22 year old group placed a greater emphasis on training which helps them to make a living from their creative interests. CV advice, tips on how to get published and business guidance for freelancers were all identified as preferences by the young adults in this age bracket.
Engaging with the young people directly has been vital. The survey has provided some important initial pointers and will help us to start developing bespoke training and events tailored to the needs of young people. To kick start this process we are planning to host a creative media careers event in November 2013 with an arts body, featuring young creatives who will talk about their career goals and experiences as well as offer practical advice. More importantly, it will be an event at which young people will take centre stage.
Mesha McNeil is Words of Colour Production’s youth engagement lead.
To find out more email Mesha at [email protected]