For many looking to begin a career in the arts, there is not so much a postcode lottery at play than abject exclusion. Several barriers in place, such as a lack of funding, a lack of diversity, and a lack of awareness, which make it harder for young creative talent to forge itself and develop. A geographical unfairness that becomes particularly well-known in the creative industries. For those in some of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods, access to the arts looks to be a distant concept, though there are ways to address this disparity.
Lack of Arts Funding
A love of the arts will begin in childhood and can then blossom at school. Ideally, there should be several paths made available during education, including but not limited to; music, art, and creative writing. A lack of arts funding for many schools will take away those choices and potential paths without them ever becoming available.
In the UK, the creative industries are undoubtedly a success story. British bands, artists, authors, film-makers and script-writers have brought in millions to the economy. That pipeline of talent has found itself narrowed in recent years due to a lack of arts funding. The tighter the tap, the harder the next generation of creatives will find it to break through and the economy will suffer.
The issue has become a political one with the October 2024 Budget including several investments to push along creative talent. These include;
- £3 million to expand the Creative Careers Programme in schools to broaden and diversify that talent pipeline to the creative industries
- £25 million for the North East Mayoral Combined Authority as funding for the Crown Works Film Studios site and support creative industries in the region
- £2.3 billion in 2025-2026 for the creative industries via programmes such as Create Growth
These are welcome investments yet remain a start. To really make an impact, such funding should begin at the most deprived neighbourhoods and branch out from there.
Rising Cost of Living
Particularly during winter, several households can find themselves faced with a vicious decision. As the temperature drops, it can be as simple as ‘eat or heat’. During other, warmer, parts of the year that decision can seem less likely, though the rising cost of living still bites. If there’s a budding artist in the house, the choice may be ‘paint or pasta?’, ‘lunch or limocut?’
During the summer holidays, the rising cost of living can feel particularly restricting. Fewer families from deprived neighbourhoods can afford childcare, let alone activities for their children. If there are drama schools, art classes, or film-making opportunities, even if they are free, the cost of getting a child there with a packed lunch can seem like an expense too far.
Lack of Diversity
When you tend to see creative talent fit a certain criterion, it tends to become self-fulfilling. For instance, if new actors and film-makers mainly seem to come from drama schools in London then budding actors and film-makers may well think that if they do not follow that path then that career is already out of reach.
Cases like Owen Cooper should be less like misnomers and more like the norm. The Warrington-born actor rose to fame in Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ drama. He hadn’t come from nowhere as his talent was clear from early on and he came through The Drama Mob, a leading drama school in the North West. When you consider that half of all productions are made in the capital, the lack of diversity is not altogether that surprising or healthy, with fewer talent scouts going beyond the Watford Gap. One hopes that Cooper’s example can prove to be a catalyst for change and with a similar spread of scouting, you could see the next Owen Cooper come from Stoke.
The Rise of AI
If you saw that a machine was being preferred to a human, you probably wouldn’t fancy your chances of success either. When the likes of ChatGPT are being heralded as the future, it’s no wonder that a career in the arts can seem more far-fetched. For a child that envisions becoming an author, the prospect of a program creating an essay in a matter of seconds can push that dream down. There’s also the impact on creative thinking that can occur if you have a free application that can do the creation for you.
Lack of Awareness – Skills Gaps
When at home, many youngsters know that asking for something rarely bears dividends. Whether that be food, pocket money, or even bus fare. Without an awareness of the opportunities that exist, a career in the arts may be over before it has had a chance to blossom. Sometimes, simply providing those chances can be life-changing.
That’s where endeavours such as the Exchange Forum can make such a difference. By creating awareness of opportunities and offering networking, those chances can become a tangible reality, specifically via the Opening Doors initiative. By employing young creatives, holding free forums in areas where they live, and supporting them with opportunities in the arts, they can connect with the wider community. Over time, the creative industries become a more realistic prospect.
A city’s cultural sector, and that of a region, depends on connectivity. Creative individuals, businesses and organisations can struggle to thrive without a funded infrastructure around them. The Exchange Forum looks to provide that by;
- introducing young creatives to professionals in the creative industries, and
- finding those connections to gain vital work experience, skills, and knowledge of the arts section.
Through regular forums and new connections, locally nurtured fresh perspectives can work together to create something more vital than the sum of their parts. No matter a child’s background, or their postcode.