NUA’s Rebecca Wright on the gap between the probable and the possible

It’s a tough time for people starting out in the creative industry right now. Together with Creative Lives in Progress we asked 27 people to predict what starting a creative career will look like over the next three years.

Words: It's Nice That
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Date: 9 November 2026
Tags: Career Predictions

Starting a creative career has rarely felt harder. Junior roles are disappearing, budgets are tightening and AI is taking over much of the work that new starters once learned on. So we asked studio founders, recruiters, educators, organisations and emerging creatives themselves to predict what they think starting a creative career will look like over the next three years. What skills will matter most? How will the pipeline work? And what can people do to take advantage of new opportunities? Their answers will help shape how Creative Lives in Progress can best support emerging talent through this period and beyond.

Contributor specific paragraph.

Professor Rebecca Wright, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts

Given the pace of technological, ecological and economic change, there is little that feels predictable about anything over the next few years, including what starting a creative career might look like. However, the current direction of travel indicates what is probable or possible.

The probable feels weighted towards the challenging – that AI will continue to impact junior level roles; that even while the creative industries sector is anticipated to grow (2026 Creative Industries Skills Audits) entry level creative opportunities will decrease and become increasingly competitive; that the wider conditions of local and global unpredictability continue to contribute to a growing instability in the employment market, the creative industries and beyond.

The possible feels more hopeful – that greater value will be placed on the skills that creative education already has as its foundation: creative depth, critical evaluation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and continuous learning; that employment and creative career opportunities increase in roles beyond the creative sector, something we are already seeing starting to happen; that the conditions of uncertainty generate new and as yet unforeseen opportunities for graduates who are prepared and equipped to navigate the unknown.

“The possible feels more hopeful – that greater value will be placed on the skills that creative education already has as its foundation: creative depth, critical evaluation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and continuous learning.”
Professor Rebecca Wright, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts

It’s an outlook that contains both challenges and opportunities for emerging talent, for Higher Education and for the Creative Industries and I see our futures as interdependent. We need to work together more closely on making a compelling case to young people (and their parents) for choosing a creative education – and a creative career – when there appears such a strong case against. I think this involves us broadening the conversation and expectation about the different forms a creative career might take and the varied starting points this might include, as well as the combination of skills required. If we recognise, value and teach young creatives to combine creative expertise with technological confidence, human judgement and the ability to learn from and work with others from within and beyond our sectors, we are giving them and us the best chance of securing our shared futures and not only responding to change, but shaping what comes next.

This series has been put together in collaboration with It's Nice That's sister company Creative Lives in Progress; a creative careers resource, on a mission to transform the way emerging talent access, understand and connect with the industry. Find out more at creativelivesinprogress.com