Creative PEC’s Nik Gunn: a hope for a workforce that looks like the country

Nik Gunn, Policy Adviser at Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre

Predictions about the future of the economy have a potted history. The signals that we identify now could be momentous, or they could fade into nothing. Who at the beginning of the 2020s could have predicted the disruption that artificial intelligence would be wreaking on the creative industries and beyond? So how do we begin to predict what things might look like for those wanting to enter the sector in 2029? The cop out response is that we can’t, not really. However, data and trends in the present can give us some insight into where things might be headed.

Earlier this year, we published our Creative Industries Skills Audits, a major survey of the skills needs of over 1,300 employers from all corners of the sector. There’s plenty of rich data in there, but one of our key findings was that employers are after an “alchemy” of skills that encompass a range of different domains. Digital and technical skills remain in high demand, especially around the use of specialist software or hardware, but equally business critical and core (or ‘transversal’) skills are also important. The sector thrives because of the creative flair, technological innovation and entrepreneurial know-how of its workers. In three years’ time this is unlikely to change and, for those entering creative careers, cultivating this mix of capabilities will remain crucial, even as the sector is buffeted by economic and technological changes.

Of course, having the right set of skills doesn’t necessarily mean that getting into a creative career is easy. We know that the workforce continues to be unrepresentative. So rather than a prediction, I’m going to offer hope: hope that the sector which young creatives enter in three years is one that looks more like the diverse country we live in. The policy landscape is shifting in a direction that can make this hope a reality. Well-designed apprenticeships and flexible learning pathways may help diversify the routes into the sector. Freelancers, who are so integral to the ingenuity of the sector, will receive much-needed attention via the Freelance Champions and Freelancers APPG. And across the UK and devolved nations, innovations in good and fair work, including the Artists Minimum Income Pilot in Scotland, will seek to make the creative industries more equitable. Three years is not a long time in policy terms, but with the backing of the sector, change lies within our grasp. There’s work to do.