Lighthouse is proud to be playing its part in this week’s Discover! Creative Careers Week, a call to arms to the sector to solve its own skills shortages by providing young people with direct encounters in cultural workplaces.
Lively and interested groups of young people from St Edward’s Poole, Autism Unlimited, Poole High School, Young Carers and Dorset School of Acting have been able to take a peek behind the scenes, meet technicians and experiment with light and sound, as well as enjoy a walk-through on the set of the amazing, smash hit musical Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), which is playing to packed houses this week in the Theatre.
“There are hundreds of creative careers – if you have a skill there is a job for you in the creative industries,” explained Kay Verdon, Senior Programme Manager, Discover Creative Careers.
She signposted young people interested in finding a career in the creative sector – which contributes £10.8 billion a year to the UK economy – to the Discover Creative Careers website with its finder function that suggests possible routes into the industry.
The young people also met Andrew Speed, Company Stage Manager with Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), who talked them through the structure of theatre and walked them through the stage set, much to the delight of the school groups.
“I’ve given my life to the theatre,” he said. “It’s our job to help the creatives and writers to realise their vision, to get it on the stage, and then once it’s up there to keep it polished.”
Discover! Creative Careers Week is part of Government’s pledge to build a highly skilled, productive and inclusive workforce for the future, with its ambition to maximise growth of the creative industries by £50 billion and support a million more jobs across the UK by 2030.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to welcome young people to Lighthouse who may be considering a future in our industry,” said Martha Earley, Creative Engagement Manager at Lighthouse.
“There are all kinds of jobs, both on-stage and off-stage, that offer challenging and exciting ways to make a living so to be able to show them some possibilities and share the stories of industry professionals is so important.”
Lighthouse also hosted Teacher Encounter, a Dorset Careers Hub initiative designed to be a meaningful interaction between teachers and employers, at which educators heard from Patric Gilchrist, a director of David Pugh Ltd, the production company presenting Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), who spoke about the importance of encouraging young people into the industry.
“It is vital to educate the educators about the benefits of cultural careers and how to be more creative in thinking about careers,” he said.
“Not only are there ways into a career for young people who perhaps don’t perform so well in mainstream education, but you can accumulate a huge range of transferable skills. My own son started out as a theatre technician and is now a senior police officer.”
Nationally, at least 3.5 million jobs, about one in 14 of total UK jobs, are in the creative industries.
(NC)
Photo © Lindsey Harris