Simon Dixon: “We can’t replace one set of barriers with another and call it progress”

Simon Dixon, Co-founder at DixonBaxi

My gut says fewer people will start their creative careers inside a studio or in the stereotypical way. More will start by making their own work, building audiences, collaborating across disciplines or running something small. As making gets easier, having something worth making becomes more valuable.

For creatives starting out, getting into the industry will be harder, even as the opportunities to create grow. A polished portfolio won’t be enough. When anyone can make almost anything, the skill is knowing what matters and what to leave out and why. Those starting out will have more opportunities to shape the work, rather than simply help produce it, even as the routes into the industry become more varied and less obvious.

At a moment when starting a creative career feels almost existential, something exciting is happening. As the traditional routes close, emerging talent has more reason to question why the industry works the way it does. That will create new ways of building careers and dismantle some of the structures we’ve taken for granted. But creating your own path takes time, money and backing, things not everyone has. We can’t replace one set of barriers with another and call it progress.

Studios will have to change too. We’ve spent years reinforcing some of the barriers that make getting started so difficult. Now we have to take them down and teach judgement on purpose. Judgement used to develop through practice, experience and support, but only for those who managed to get through the door. And learning needs to work both ways. Emerging creatives bring perspectives that challenge what we think we know. The more automated our world becomes, the more people matter.

The answer isn’t to cut junior roles to protect margins. That only creates a talent gap tomorrow. We should be doubling down on emerging talent, not pulling back. That means protecting senior time for teaching, even as the pressure to produce more with less increases. Pay people from the start, hire for potential over polish and bring new creatives into the room where decisions are made. Not everyone needs a job inside a studio either. Some need a partner willing to back what they’re building independently.

Three years is a short time, and institutions move more slowly than technology, so the changes will be uneven. But the opportunity to create has never been greater. Our responsibility is to make sure the opportunity to build a creative career grows with it. That takes more than optimism. It takes investment, generosity and a willingness to change how our industry works.