“As things stand, as a society, we aren’t encouraging young people from a range of backgrounds to consider it as a career path or putting in place the tools they need to help them overcome the barriers they face in doing so.”
– Tom Stocks
Tom Stocks discusses careers in the arts, the opportunities and challenges facing young people today, and what more that can be done to support the new generation of young creatives in Arts Professional this month.
Responsive to the needs of young people
In July 2020, we launched a series of webinars called So You Wanna Work In The Arts. Taking place every 1-2 months, they were a mix of practical skills-based workshops and freewheeling discussions, featuring experts from across the arts.
More recently, we’ve discussed Asian representation in TV and film, the challenges of international collaboration post-Brexit and the teaching of Black history in school. These discussions have been complemented with practical sessions on how to write a funding application, performing at festivals and being a woman in stand-up comedy in a male-dominated environment.
A full archive can be found on our website. Because the programme is led by young people for young people, we can be responsive to their needs and programme the topics they want to talk and learn about.
The webinars have attracted a wide range of people, some who had previously not been able to access this kind of network and training, whether for financial, access or geographical reasons.
Buoyed by this, we’ve just announced a new series of webinars which will include a session on neurodiversity with Michelle Payne and Tabby Lamb. We’ll be looking at creating in communities, an area of huge interest given ACE’s current direction.
There’s also a skills-based mini-series to coincide with this summer’s FUSE International and, this autumn, a debrief on the state of the arts post-Covid. So You Wanna Work in the Arts has reached many more than I dreamed of and has the potential to reach still more. I hope that in doing so, we’re able to be that lily pad for some of the creative young people out there.