If there’s one thing the creative industries should be doing more of, it’s giving opportunities to people who might otherwise feel such a career is beyond their reach. For decades now, there has been an uneasy unspoken rule that only the University-educated and those with parents wealthy enough to support them through months of unpaid internships are eligible for agency work.
But that wasn’t always the case. Because, while great strides have been made in recent years when it comes to equality regarding race, gender and sexual orientation, the class gap has never been wider. Indeed, it can almost feel like there is no real conventional middle class anymore, just an “us” and a “them.”
Thankfully, there are elements within the sector attempting to address this issue in a manner that doesn’t come across as patronising and pandering.
Driving forward
A case in point is Wunderman Thompson. The agency has partnered recently with the Drive Forward Foundation to offer internships, not to Oxford leavers or “somebody’s son” but to young people with an experience in care work. The idea is to help them build confidence, awareness and familiarity within the industry and help them transition into a creative career.
Having worked with over 5,000 young people already, the Drive Forward Foundation has worked to dispel the myth that those who’ve been in care will struggle to achieve anything meaningful. In their own words, they offer: “a helping hand along the way from experienced employment consultants trained mentors and committed business partners.”
It’s all part of Wunderman Thompson’s “wider diversity and inclusion agenda,” and will offer one-month long, paid internships to a diverse range of applicants between the ages of 16 and 26, giving each intern insight into the inner workings of Wunderman Thompson and the industry itself.
Of course, Wunderman Thompson is far from the first agency to get behind the push for a more fiscally diverse workplace. North Staffordshire creative agency Starbots Creative launched a free training programme to help young people become “more employable” earlier this year, giving three individuals a year the chance to gain industry experience and guidance. This program, however, was geared more toward University graduates.
A crisis of class
In a sea of programs geared towards diversifying our beloved industries, precious few seem to acknowledge class as a factor.
The creative industries are among the UK’s most valuable sectors. Indeed, pre-pandemic, it was estimated that the creative industries employed over 2 million people, contributed £115.9 billion to the UK economy and were growing four times faster than the economy as a whole. But the sector remains disproportionately tilted in favour of those from ‘privileged’ backgrounds at the expense of working class entrants.
Last year, the Social Mobility Commission also launched a new “toolkit to encourage socio-economic diversity and inclusion in the creative sector workforce” and while it has yet to bear much fruit (and I don’t personally have any real confidence in Nadine Dorries) at least the intention is there. But it shouldn’t be up to the government to solve the problem. It should be down to us.
According to research by the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre, 52% of those working in the sector are from a professional background compared to only 27% from a working class background. These statistics sit in stark contrast to the wider workforce (37% professional background/ 39% working class background respectively) and show that real effort is needed to close this gap.
It is, admittedly, a sector dominated by professional roles and freelance workers but, in my mind, perhaps the largest barrier to entry is the heavy reliance on unpaid internships. People from working class backgrounds simply can’t afford to work for free and that’s why Drive Forward is such a welcome breath of fresh air.
Granted it’s only based in London right now (where more than half of all UK agencies are based) but it certainly has the opportunity to expand to the rest of the UK where it’s really needed.
