Explore our latest news, events, resources and opportunities.

The Victorian writer and philosopher John Ruskin once said, ‘Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion’, and if the history of Creative and Cultural Skills is anything to go by then the unifying force, intellect and passion of this organisation is exactly what’s needed for the evolution and sustainable future of our cultural sector right now.

Based in Glasgow, Cryptic is an award winning internationally renowned producing arts house presenting today’s most imaginative, pioneering artists whilst also nurturing the creative talent of tomorrow. We caught up with the team about their experience of the Creative Kickstart programme and the impact it’s had on the organisation and the young people.

Based in Manchester, Brighter Sound is a creative music charity working to develop the music creators, leaders and industry professionals of the future. We met with Bella and her line managers to find out more about her Creative Kickstart placement and the impact it's had on her career plans. 

We met with Barinur Rashid, Secondary science and post 16 Learning Coordinator and Maya Chowdhury, Cultural Learning & Participation Officer Apprentice at Manchester Museum to find out more about their apprenticeship programme and hear directly from Maya on her experience as an apprentice within the cultural heritage sector.

This year we’re celebrating the fourth and final year of Cultural Ambition Wales, a long-term training programme that has provided young people furthest from the workplace with in-depth skills development and work placements across the cultural heritage sector.

Meet Freya, one of our original Cultural Ambition trainees who has gone on to study a BSc in Conservation of Museum Objects & Archaeology at Cardiff University. In this film, Freya shares insight into her experience as a trainee and the impact it’s had on her personal and professional development.

We're teaming up with Welsh National Opera to deliver their Design Challenge 2023 for colleges and universities, giving students an opportunity to respond to a live industry brief and offering tutors in-person and online CPD.

In partnership with Bauer Academy, a government-approved training provider who are part of Bauer Media, this autumn sees the launch of an ‘Arts Fundraiser’ apprenticeship programme, designed to develop crucial fundraising skills in the sector. 

A BBC Music Introducing and Creative & Cultural Skills online panel discussion celebrating International Women's Day and National Careers Week 2022.

The College’s Music and Sound Production department was chosen to work exclusively in partnership with CCSkills in Scotland and BBC Music Introducing to help college students obtain meaningful work experience in the creative industries.

Chaired by Catherine Ritman Smith, CCSkills Trustee and Head of Learning and Engagement at Young V&A, Changing History: Diversifying the museum workforce was a free online panel discussion that brought together young, diverse voices from across the sector to share their career journeys and experiences of working in museums and heritage.

Founded in 2017, Melodic Distraction is an independent internet station based in Liverpool that hosts over 150 monthly shows and has recently opened a live events space. Izzy joined the team in May 2021 on a six-month Creative Kickstart placement, having discovered the opportunity through a post on Instagram.

It has been a year of tremendous challenge for everyone, which makes it all the more important to celebrate the great work our Creative & Cultural Skills team has delivered alongside our partners, employers, and people working throughout our sector.

Ottie Foster-Alexander is one our current Cultural Ambition trainees, a long-term training programme providing young people in Wales with skills and work experience across the cultural heritage sector.

A short case study exploring the work we did with the team at Bluecoat, Liverpool's contemporary arts centre to provide advice and support around the development of their recruitment policy.

The pilot Discover! Creative Careers Scotland programme kicked off with a week of online activities that saw creative and cultural sector employers from across the country sharing insight into the job roles that exist across their workforce.

Karmal Waters is a Creative Kickstart Placement at Music Manager’s Forum (MMF), the largest representative of music management in the world. Karmal’s role as Events & Marketing Assistant has allowed him to support the promotion and delivery of their live and virtual events, with a particular highlight being the Artist and Manager Awards where he met the likes of Elton John, Grace Ladoja, Bicep, Karma Artists, Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio.

We're delighted to be working with organisations across Scotland to build a skilled, inclusive, and fair creative and cultural sector, through a new programme supported by Creative Scotland.

Volunteering is a long-established practice in many cultural organisations, and there are numerous reasons that can motivate someone to volunteer - often social or altruistic reasons. It can build confidence and introduce skills to help people make the next step into paid employment. But are organisations in the creative and cultural industries doing enough to support this type of volunteer?

Discover! Creative Careers, an award-winning, industry-led initiative that aims to inspire and inform young people about the job roles and pathways into the creative and cultural industries launches in Scotland.

Meet Rosie Wylie: Community Engagement Manager at Historic Environment Scotland

If you’ve just taken on your first apprentice, or are about to, we hope this guide will help you navigate the sometimes complex world of apprenticeships, and give you the basic tools to help your apprentice grow and perform to the best of their ability.

The Best Practice Recruitment Guide for Creative Leaders has been designed to help employers reflect on how they might currently approach recruitment and offers simple steps that could help a business reach beyond the norm. We’d like to support employers to understand what diversity and inclusivity really mean, and the moral, social and legal implications of truly embracing these.

Despite being a dynamic and responsive sector in many ways, the creative and cultural industries still rate poorly for both ethnic and social diversity, even at entry-level. What is stopping the sector from better representing the wider working population and its own audiences?

Since 2008, we have led the developments of the creative apprenticeship frameworks and have seen thousands of apprentices start in the sector, supporting young people to pursue an alternative route into employment in our world leading industry.

Complimented by our ‘Working with Freelancers’ sector support training session, this guide provides an overview of the responsibilities and distinctions of working with freelancers and is a tool to encourage objective assessment of an organisation’s current understanding and approach when working with the self-employed.

Meet Amy Telfer: Art & Video Photographer based in Manchester who shares insight into her career so far.

A new toolkit aimed at widening access to the creative industries for people from working class backgrounds has been launched by the Social Mobility Commission.

The research is part of a three-year programme, led by the Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre, working in partnership with the Social Mobility Commission and Creative Industries Federation, exploring class in the Creative Industries.

Meet Leila d’Aronville: Managing Director of Northern Roots based in the north east, who shares insight into her career that spans over 15 years in the cultural sector.

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) is supporting a range of sessions and workshops for creative and cultural businesses throughout Northern Ireland, that will offer free expert advice and help a wider range of talent into the creative workforce.

Meet Tajpal Rathore: Artistic Director & Executive Producer at Tribe Arts and an actor, writer, producer, presenter and dramaturg who previously worked in TV and film for ten years.

We recently spoke to three apprentices from The Scottish Crannog Centre, a living history museum on Loch Tay in Perthshire. You can hear directly from Digital Marketing Apprentice Toby Sloan and Visitor Services Apprentices Daisy Charles and Izzie Hanby in our podcast bonus episode and find out more about Toby and Izzie below.

Now in its fourth year, the Cultural Ambition programme is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Welsh Government’s Museums, Archives and Libraries division. Since 2018, it has provided over 30 young people from Wales with skills and work experience across the Welsh cultural heritage sector through paid training.

The ‘flexi-job’ apprenticeships announced this week in England can offer a new route to careers in our world-leading creative industries and help arts and cultural organisations of all sizes connect with new talent. The scheme could also remove some barriers faced by those currently under-represented in the sector, boosting diversity and broadening opportunity.

Meet Jakki Jeffery: Head of Faculty for Creative Industries at Edinburgh College, the largest provider of creative industries provision in Scotland.

Harri was part of the first year of our Cultural Ambition project in 2018 and has since gone on to be employed by one of our Cultural Ambition placement hosts, the National Waterfront Museum, part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

In this bonus podcast episode we hear a discussion between two former apprentices, Emma Blake Morsi, a Multidisciplinary Arts Producer; and Ellen Johnson, a Project Officer at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. The recording was made as part of our feature-length episode, Apprenticeships work for other sectors, do they work for ours?, listen here. 

Meet Ellen Johnson: Project Officer at Culture Bridge North East who recently completed their Level 2 creative apprenticeship in Community Arts Administration there.

Creative & Cultural Skills is thrilled to announce the approval of updates to Creative & Cultural Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks in Scotland.

Meet Emma Blake Morsi: Multidisciplinary Arts Producer who was the CCSkills Apprentice of the Year 2016 and has worked across various projects for clients including PUMA, Gal-Dem and Harper’s Bazaar.

Joining the discussion is Bendy Ashfield, Apprenticeships Manager at Royal Opera House; Jakki Jeffery, Head of Faculty, Creative Industries at Edinburgh College; Emma Blake Morsi, a Multidisciplinary Arts Producer; and Ellen Johnson, a Project Officer at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.

The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, has announced substantial cuts in funding for arts degrees. Our CEO, Jane Ide assesses the impact it might have on training for the sector.

In episode two of our brand-new podcast, we hear from Sarah Shead, Director & Creative Producer, Spin Arts Management and Prema Mehta, Freelance Lighting Designer & founder of Stage Sight, as they discuss their experiences as freelancers within the cultural sector and the impact the pandemic has had, with our host, Rob West.

Meet Sarah Shead: Director and Creative Producer of Spin Arts, an agency supporting artists and companies to realise their ambitions through fundraising, consultancy, training and producing.

Here at CCSkills we are proud to have facilitated the development of a brand new, level 3 museum and gallery technician apprenticeship. This apprenticeship will create a vocational pathway into this occupation, which people typically progress into via informal routes.

The recent report by Inc Arts UK A Year of Anti-Racist Action, which explores the progression made in the arts and culture sector, makes a valuable contribution to this discussion, and its findings echo many of the challenges we’ve encountered in the sector.

The creative industries thrive on innovation, versatility, and practicality.  Many creative professionals operate successful portfolio and freelance careers, and for young people who aspire to a career in the sector, understanding the value of this way of working might just help some make the leap, especially if they know they can be their own boss.  But we must help the next generation learn that there is a right way to do this.

Creative & Cultural Skills is supporting the Young Person’s Guarantee as part of our commitment that the creative and cultural sector will Build Back Fairer. The Guarantee aims to provide an opportunity to every 16-24-year-old in Scotland through a job, an apprenticeship, further or higher education, training programme or volunteering. Sandy Begbie CBE CEO of Scottish Financial Enterprise, has led on its development and offers more detail about why it matters and how to get involved.

Creative & Cultural Skills supports industry-led live briefs that give students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience in the creative sector and to put their skills to the test. They are part of our work to create fair and inclusive opportunities for young people within the creative and cultural sectors.

Cardiff and Vale College and New College Swindon students gain real-world experience of designing theatre sets for a major opera company.

Meet Suba Das: Artistic Director and CEO of HighTide, one of the UK’s leading new theatre writing companies, as he shares insight into his career journey.

With the pandemic having a disproportionately negative effect on young people trying to build careers in the creative industries, has an already-established prejudice against hiring from disadvantaged backgrounds become even worse?

While organisations have been fighting for their survival, the hard work they’ve done towards fair access and recruitment may have fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, this is the very time when young people aspiring to join the sector need it the most.

Fair access to careers in the cultural sector is something we have been working tirelessly to champion. Our sector is still rife with unpaid internships and recruitment strategies that require higher-education qualifications for entry-level work - and we're not the only one.

Joining the discussion is Catherine Ritman-Smith Head of Learning and Engagement, Young V&A and Alex Porter-Smith Co-founder & Head of Production at High Tide Media. During this 40-minute preview episode, they cover a range of topics from how the pandemic has highlighted some of the inequalities in society, how the cultural sector has adapted, the impact on freelancers, and much more.

Led by the creative industries and delivered alongside our partners in England and Wales, the Discover! Creative Careers Week / Darganfod! Wythnos Gyrfaoedd Creadigol and Creative Careers Programme Cymru / Rhaglen Gyrfaoedd Creadigol Cymru (CCP Cymru) has reached over 120,000 young people in the last twelve months, despite Covid-19 restrictions.

On Friday 19th March 2021. CCSkills was very pleased to host 120 students and staff from across the UK on courses ranging from music performance, music technology, events management, and media production. This article shares the top three takeaways from the event.

The Creative Careers programme, including Discover! Creative Careers week, was born out of a desire to bust some pretty damaging myths about careers in the creative industries – notably the idea that creative careers are somehow ‘lesser’ jobs, that they are not well paid or that they are only appropriate for certain groups of people.

Creative & Cultural Skills is delighted that the 2021 Spring Budget announced on 3rd March revealed several measures that will support more young people from under-represented and disadvantaged communities into apprenticeships.

Even in the most challenging of times, the creative industries has put itself at the heart of helping the next generation learn about the myriad skills that are needed to help the sector operate. We need them to help us rebuild our sector post-Covid, making us stronger, fairer and even more impactful than before.

Lifelong learning, more technical training provision and industry-involved professional development for FE teaching staff. It sounds good but, asks Sara Whybrew, is it too good to be true?

Creative & Cultural Skills has been involved in apprenticeships since 2008, when we first supported the development of the creative apprenticeship frameworks for the industry. Since then we’ve seen thousands of apprentices start in the sector, supporting young people to pursue an alternative route into employment in our world leading industry.

Creative & Cultural Skills confirmed as a gateway organisation for Creative Kickstart: a UK-wide job creation scheme to transform the lives of hundreds of young people and create paid employment within our sector.

With uncertainly and job losses cutting through the cultural sector, just getting to the next quarter seems a challenge. But we also need to look to the future and consider how we will build back our industries – not just better, but fairer and more inclusive than ever before.

14-18 NOW Make Art Not War was a Creative Skills Programme commissioned as a legacy programme by 14-18 NOW (the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary) and managed by Creative & Cultural Skills.

The immediate answer is unmistakeable: 2020 has been a tragedy. The profound loss of life, the cost to our economy, the detrimental impact on the wellbeing of millions. The impact has been palpable.

Celebrating the launch of Digital Discover! Creative Careers Week 2020, part of Creative Careers Programme Cymru. A programme of content that will support a diverse range of young people to learn about real jobs from those that do them, led by the creative industries.

The creative sector is serious business. Before the Covid-19 crisis, its value to the UK was more than £111bn a year, the second largest contributor to the economy, and it was the country’s fastest growing sector – to say nothing of the years of dedication and training required by practitioners to excel in careers of choice.

Creative & Cultural Skills launches a programme of activity across Wales to ensure more diverse talent can aspire to careers in the creative industries.

Jane is based in Derbyshire and joins us from NAVCA, the national membership body for voluntary and community sector support and development organisations. She is an established CEO with experience of working collaboratively in complex environments and an extensive background in communications, stakeholder engagement at ministerial, national and regional levels and reputational management.

Those aged 16-24, claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment, will be eligible. Funding available for each six-month job placement will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week – and employers will be able to top this wage up. It is intended to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people.

On 5 July, the UK Government announced emergency grants and loans to protect museums, galleries, theatres, independent cinemas, heritage sites and music venues.

Donald takes over from Carol Harvey-Barnes who has been acting Chair since the departure of Paul Latham in autumn 2018.

The creative and cultural industries are one of the mainsprings of the British economy, yet despite its strong position, the creative and cultural sector is facing a number of skills challenges, which could threaten its continued growth and prosperity. This report explores the skills that are key to sustaining this growth, and addressing current gaps and shortages is a priority to ensure the sector continues to thrive.