Creative Industries Leadership Group: Working Group Reports and Ministerial Response – March 2022

The Creative Workforce Working Group: Skills

How can we train a creative workforce for the future of the industry?

Working Group Members

Carol Sinclair (Chair) - Craft

Jane Muirhead - Film and TV

Alex Smith - XpoNorth Creative Industries

Jacqueline Donachie - Visual Arts

Approach

In considering our research question “how can we train a creative workforce for the future of the industry”, the Creative Workforce Working Group (CWWG) have collated a range of examples and case studies from across the Creative Industries considered by the group to demonstrate best practice, conducted a number of meetings with representatives from key professional development, educational and economic development agencies and drawn on their own professional experience.

This paper outlines our observations, identified areas where we believe further work is required and explains our 3 key recommendations in terms of: 1. Advocacy, 2. Creative Industry Support Audit and skill development within the context of 3. Life Long Learning.

Research Question

We began by considering our research question and specifically the terminology used within the question itself. A "creative workforce” implies a homogenous group requiring similar skills and knowledge, and as the Creative Industries (CI) are made up of 16 distinct sectors (advertising, architecture, visual art, craft, fashion and textiles, design, performing arts, music, photography, film and video, computer games, radio and tv, writing and publishing, heritage, software/electronic publishing and cultural education) each with its own characteristics and development needs we needed to ensure our research reflected this diversity, while also recognising significant areas of overlap.

We also noted that the term “industry” is not one that every creative practitioner or business associates with, although we do recognise that using the term CI provides a method of bringing this diverse group together under one defined heading related to a creative output with an economic and business focus. We also want to stress that there can be no clear or consistent distinction made between economic and cultural activity within the CI, as the two are inextricably linked, with profit making companies, charities, social enterprises, not for profit companies, micro businesses, sole traders and freelancers all playing a vital role in the CI. As this diagram illustrates a significant proportion of the CI operate small scale businesses and are a vital part of the ecosystem.

As a result of this analysis, we have chosen to focus our work on the concept of supporting a national pool of creative talent, considering the CI as an ecosystem including different scales and types of business that interact with one another and the wider economy in different ways over time. We believe the work being done by the CILG creates a unique opportunity to champion the CI as a whole, recognise the range of skills and attributes required to be successful in creative fields and the need for skill sets and know how to be transferable between and across disciplines. While we recognise that each creative sector has its own specific development needs, this approach consolidates common ground and offers an overview of CI working practices.

The pandemic has forced all of us to rethink and recalibrate our economic models, and the innovation, problem solving abilities and storying telling skills inherent in the CI have never been more valuable in addressing issues of inequality, sustainability and inclusive growth. Encouraging more partnership working between CI businesses and the wider Scottish business community would also support Scottish Government (SG) ambitions to increase economic competitiveness.

Further Work

The pandemic has made visible a large number of micro businesses, freelancers and the self-employed who had previously been invisible to policy makers. We acknowledge the speedy work that has been done by SG, Creative Scotland (CS) and the economic development agencies to offer funding to those most badly hit by loss of income. However, without the correct data to support informed decision making, the most vulnerable have still fallen through the net, especially those who straddle several business definitions through portfolio working as is common practice in the CI.

As highlighted by Eliza Easton from the NESTA Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC), the data currently gathered on CI freelance and micro businesses is incomplete and urgently needs to be addressed so that their economic contribution can be better understood. We would support PEC’s position that better metrics need to be adopted to understand the wider contribution of the CI, especially at the intersection of commercial and cultural value and in the areas of identity, equality, environmental responsibility and health and wellbeing. We endorse the work of our colleagues in the Resilience Working Group who have been considering the problems associated with outdated SIC and SOC codes and we fully support the development of a new Index of Wellbeing as proposed by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) in their work with Creative Informatics.

Recommendation 1. Advocacy

Observations

Our research has highlighted a lack of understanding across the academic, economic and cultural development agencies providing professional developing training and support, of the characteristics and value of the CI. While there are clearly pockets of CI knowledge and expertise within these organisations, deeper and more nuanced understanding at a decision making and policy level is lacking, and there appears to be a significant knowledge gap at the inter- section of creative business and creative development.

CWWG discussions, supported by the group members own personal experience, supports the argument that in practice the economic value of CI businesses is considered on the basis of striving towards linear growth and job creation, and while this is undoubtedly a target for some CI businesses, it is not applicable to all. The key unifying characteristic that applies to all parts of the CI, whether a large architectural company, a games company or a sole trading visual artist, is the project based nature of their working pattern.

Success in a CI business is therefore reliant on having the flexibility in its structure to grow and contract as required, reshaping their talent pool as individual projects require. The sector is heavily reliant on micro businesses and freelancers who bring specialist expertise as required, so job creation is not necessarily a metric of CI success. As the pandemic has demonstrated, businesses that are nimble and flexible are more resilient and resistant to sudden change, so we believe there needs to be a reconsideration of the definition of success as currently applied to the CI, alongside a significant opportunity to champion CI business models as an exemplar to the wider economy.

Recommendation 1 - Advocacy: CILG to take an active role in advocacy on behalf of the CI, with resources including staff time and the cost of generating educational/promotional materials allocated to sup- porting this work.

To support this work the current CI information on SG website needs to be updated to provide a fuller and more nuanced summary of the characteristics and working patterns of the sector. An CI overview along with individual sectoral summaries need to be generated, drawing on the experience (and story-telling skills) of the CILG members. Short films and/or texts are required to tell an accessible and visual story of the CI, how it works and its contribution to the Scottish Economy.

While we recognise that most of the activity undertaken by CILG members is done on a voluntary basis, we take this opportunity to acknowledge and warmly welcome the recent decision to offer payment of freelancer time to attend CILG meetings. We therefore propose that any significant additional work asked of freelance members of CILG be recognised in a similar payment so as not to economically disadvantage those members and encourage their participation.

Recommended Advocacy Activity

• Scottish Local Authority Economic Development (SLAED) to discuss national and local development policies to support CI as a priority sector.
• Young Persons Guarantee (YPG) - Initial conversations on a lack of CI awareness have resulted in direct activity to address this, including the hosting of an employer webinar by YPG, CCSkills and SDS on Feb 10th. While we welcome this initiative we note that the focus on larger scale organisations does not reflect the full range of CI working practices. We propose a follow up conversation to further discuss CI inclusion in employer initiatives and self employment and freelance working options prevalent in CI. It is noted that Framework for the Employer Recruitment Incentive provides financial support for any employer taking on new employees who are currently unemployed and are experiencing additional disadvantages. While CWWG warmly welcome this initiative, we are also aware that the funding made available will be based on local and regional priorities which may not include or recognise the CIs. We believe discussion with the Developing Young Workforce Regional Groups. would be useful. We understand a YPG evaluation report was completed in 2021 and recommend that is shared with the wider CILG.
• Scottish Funding Council (SFC) - A number of opportunities have been identified that would benefit from a CI perspective to support the development of new and the roll out of existing initiatives. These include the development of a Micro Credential Framework, Pathfinder projects, University Innovation Fund, development of the Innovation Voucher for the self-employed and input into the Student Leaver Survey to better understand CI destinations.
• Scottish Government (SG) - We believe there are opportunities across SG to promote and explain the work of CI and discuss opportunities for collaborative working.

Recommendation 2. Creative Industry Support Audit

Observations

The development agencies are currently reshaping their strategic plans and /or have new CI leads in post, so there is an urgent need to make CI perspectives heard and a timely opportunity to input to wider policy developments to reflect CI as priority sector. To ensure that new or existing support initiatives truly meet the needs and working patterns of the sector we recommend that current CI development activities are audited, with findings shared with the CILG for feedback.

Recommendation 2 - Creative Industry Support Audit: Current CI development agency activities are audited, with findings shared with the CILG for feedback.

• Audits should include rationale for support, eligibility and selection criteria, expertise of support staff, outputs and measures of success, follow up support options.
• Scottish Enterprise (SE) - The Resilience Working Group have had meetings with SE representatives, including new Chief Executive Adrian Gillespie, to discuss issues specific to CI, and the difficulties of using SIC and SOC codes. We suggest picking up these discussions further to audit the support currently available to CI, identifying gaps and considering opportunities for further alignment.
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) - CI is already very well supported in the H&I, especially in the brokerage of international opportunities from and for remote and rural locations, with further discussions presenting an opportunity to understand what might be transferrable to other parts of Scotland.
• South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) - The appointment of a new CI lead, Mark Geddes, presents a valuable opportunity to discuss policy and skills development activities in the South of Scotland catchment area to support CI.
• Creative Scotland (CS) - We recognise the pandemic has shifted the focus of funding activity to include business as well as creative development and we believe there is now a greater need for CI business knowledge and support within the organisation.

Further Work

In addition to supporting CI development, we believe the development agencies (potentially through Can Do Innovate or SFC Interface) should consider developing new opportunities for cross sectoral working and collaborations between CI and other businesses, charities and social enterprises to apply creative problem solving skills to broader societal and environmental issues. Blending the models of creative residencies (e.g. Creativity at Work, a creative residency scheme run by Arts In Business, funded by Creative Scotland), and the Creative Hack model (e.g. Culture Hack run by Scottish Games Network and Sync), short focussed projects as well as longer term engagements would facilitate a variety of relationships between CI and the wider business community. We endorse the work being done by Creative Informatics in bringing together mixed CI cohorts to explore data, digital and business model developments and recommend the Challenge Project as a model that could be rolled out to support cross sectoral projects.

Recommendation 3. Life Long Learning

Research Question

In May 2018 the members of CILG were asked to summarise what success looked like in their sector, and while the responses were framed within the specifics of each creative discipline, the key measures of success were very similar - to make a living while producing creative work of high quality. In addition to financial success other factors were cited, and well summarised in the following quote:

“While some businesses see success and growth within the parameters of government definitions, namely high turnover, others are more concerned with the intrinsic benefits of their work, sustainability, wellbeing and meaningful collaboration. Reputation and profile also rank at the top of the list for both publicly-funded organisations and creative businesses. Many also articulate success as being connected to a wider ecosystem - highlighting the collaborative nature of the creative industries and the freelance-heavy workforce." Evy Cauldwell-French - Creative Industries Federation

Using this research as our starting point, the CWWG sought to identify existing training programmes that supported CI business success with the production of quality creative work, profile raising with community and social benefit, and the development of business models with sufficient surpluses to support research and idea generation. We also identified where we felt there were gaps in current provision, in the context of life long learning.

However, within the context of covid recovery every individual and organisation has had to reconsidering how they deliver their training and skill development support, and there a number of very interesting new initiatives, including those supported by the National Transition Training Fund. We therefore present our recommendations based on our understanding of what is currently know and what is still being tested and evaluated. We have therefore identified one significant, immediate and urgent recommendation, and a list of initiatives that we recommend are explored further as information is made available.

School Education

Creative education provided by specialist staff in Scottish schools has been steadily declining for many years and needs to be addressed urgently. While the Curriculum for Excellence provides a framework for the integration of creative with other types of learning, resources and specialist knowledge have steadily reduced to the point where many children are simply not experiencing vital life skills through craft, music, drama or other specialist creative skill and knowledge.

We believe this is the most significant barrier to the development of a future creative talent pool as children who do not experience creativity simply do not value it or think of it as a viable career option.

We recognise that the issue of creative education sits across all creative disciplines, but draw on the work done in the MAKE Learn report specifically looking at craft education.

Recommendation 3: Creative education provided by specialist staff in Scottish schools has been steadily declining for many years and needs to be addressed urgently through the creation of a high-level Creative Education Steering Group to set national vision and strategy and agree priorities.

Craft Education in Schools

MAKE Learn, is a research paper written by Rosemary James-Beith considering the current provision of craft education in Scottish schools. The report summarises the role of craft education in meeting Scotland’s national education policy priorities:

• Creativity: Problem solving, resilience, individual curiosity, inquisitiveness, group work and communication skills— craft and making activates the head, heart, and hands, and can con- tribute to creativity skills and creative learning.
• Interdisciplinary Learning: craft provides a unique bridge between Expressive Arts and Technologies curriculums, and can unlock STEAM learning – promoting creativity and attainment within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines.
• Employability: hand skills and materials knowledge are important in a range of professional contexts.
• Creative careers, STEM careers, green jobs of the future, and skills to preserve Scotland’s built heritage are all developed through access to craft and making.
• Learning for Sustainability: craft and making are in a unique position to support learners to develop the skills for life, learning, and work in a future that demands we respond to the cli- mate emergency and shift our values relating to the way we use, reuse, repurpose, recycle, and upcycle materials.
• Mental Health and Wellbeing: Craft is internationally recognised as a positive contributor to mental health and wellbeing, with the capacity to improve mood, reduce anxiety, contribute to feelings of happiness and calmness, and reduce social isolation. It has also been shown to provide respite from digital overload.

Make Learn Recommendations include a comprehensive list of practical actions to ad- dress the lack of quality craft education in schools, and while we endorse the key recommendation to create a high-level Craft Education Steering Group to set national vision and strategy and agree priorities, we suggest this is widen out to the formation of Creative Education Steering Group.

Business Training Within a Creative Context

As the CI success factors as identified by the CILG have outlined, although the generation of an income is clearly of primary importance, it needs to be balanced with the creation of high quality creative work. We therefore sought out examples of successful business training programmes that were felt to achieve this balance, bringing theory together with practice and industry insights.

LevelUp! is a partnership project with XpoNorth and University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) offering an integrated employability and business development programme for creative students to help them build their confidence, sense of self, and resilience so they are in a position to fully con- tribute to the future creative economy. In its pilot year 63 students were accepted from across 17 creative industry programmes, open to all year groups. The programme was designed to address both work readiness and self employment, introducing students to support agencies as well as the wider CI, through mentoring, work experience and workshops. The project won UHI’s Student Support Initiative Award 2021 and was nominated for a Herald Higher Education Award.

SHIFT is a week long online bootcamp for final stage creative students and new graduates to give insights into CI business practices and to offer information on what it takes to run your own business. A collaborative project with partners from academia, (Glasgow School of Art, The Royal Conservatoire and Queen Margaret University), business support intermediaries (the Creative Entrepreneurs Club) and a large team of industry practitioners and businesses, it offers a variety of activities to inspire self-determination in the context of developing a creative career. Participants came from a wide range of creative disciplines, both as creators and producers, with activities in- tended to support the development of networks and skills exchange. In 2021 Shift received 186 applications for 90 places from students and graduates associated with 7 Scottish Universities. With the digital format there is scope to double the student numbers without affecting the quality and integrity of the course.

We recommend that the official LevelUP! and Shift evaluations are made available to CILG and Scottish Government.

Integrated Programmes of Professional Development: Sustaining Craft Business Practice

This is a new type of short professional development course for craft businesses affected by the pandemic. Supported by National Transition Training Funding and SDS this is a collaboration between Lews Castle College (UHI) and Applied Arts Scotland. Commended by UHI as an innovative new approach that bridges a gap in current training provision, this SQA accredited 10 week course is fully embedded in practice and is devised, delivered and assessed by experienced professional craftspeople. The module structure, which was first developed for craft apprenticeships by CCSkills, is the first step in creating a suite of integrated courses that offer connected progression routes into and through a professional craft career, with the flexibility required for on the job learning.

We recommend that the project evaluation is shared with the wider CILG so that the transferability of this approach can be considered for other parts of the CI talent pool.

Digital Skills

One of the key and pressing areas for the skill development in CI is in data and digital, and the development of new models of practice related to their use. Immersive technologies are developing at speed at one end of that spectrum, but there is also a requirement to offer basic introductions to digital practices at the other end. Digital Boost, Digital Pivot and Creative Digital Initiative are all programmes providing support for CI businesses and practitioners. The Futures Institute and Creative Informatics are leading on the creative and innovative use of data and have an integrated set of initiatives that support cross sectoral working and skills exchange, including: Challenge Projects, Resident Entrepreneurs and Connected Innovators.

We understand that a white paper has been submitted to Scottish Government outlining a Scottish wide programme to deliver a CI cross disciplinary programme of data and digital training. We recommend this is supported.

Role of Intermediaries

In considering CI as an eco-system, the role of intermediaries as brokers, centralised services, knowledge banks and sectoral advocates is vital. The role of localised creative networks has been cemented in recent years, supported by place partnerships and the coming together of local development agencies to agree local or regional priorities. Regional networks are particularly important in supporting rural and fragile economies. Based in Perthshire, but with a remit to support rural businesses across Scotland Grow Biz is an independent organisation with a mix of funding and support from local council, SE and SG.

“Nearly 25% of adults in rural Scotland are self-employed (more than twice the rate of urban areas).” Grow Biz June 2020

CABN (Creative Arts Business Network) based in Selkirk supports the professional development needs of CI across the Scottish Borders. The evaluation of their work is currently underway with funding from Creative Scotland, although a decision by Live Borders has already been made to terminate their funding, resulting in the closure of the organisation by the end of this current financial year. Local CI business are concerned about this decision and specifically about the transfer of information and data collected over number of years, and the preservation of the organisations legacy.

The role of intermediaries is considered in more detail by our colleagues in the Resilience Working Group, and we support their recommendations.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

There is an urgent need to address the lack of diversity in the Scottish CI and tackle barriers to entry. These include financial barriers such as the requirement to undertake self funded and unpaid work experience to build skills and networks, and a lack of affordable housing/ workspace. CWWG members were therefore keen to understand more about the Scottish Government commitment to a Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG), which is intended to be delivered through a combination of employment, tax relief and social security benefits and also through access to services such as childcare and transport. We also believe that the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), as a mission-led bank has a role to play in shaping packages of support (including mortgages) that are accessible to CI practitioners, especially those running freelance and micro businesses. We believe that talent retention, inclusivity and equality of opportunity are interconnected. This is seen most acutely in rural areas, although also a national challenge.

We recommend that that CILG is kept informed of the progress of developing a MIG and the development of the mechanisms developed to deliver Bounce Back Loans.

Funding Models for Individuals

Members of CWWG were keen to research models of funding support that have been adopted in other countries, looking for transferable models of practice. A research paper written by the Arts Council of Finland on the Nordic Model for supporting artists, comparing and contrasting approaches in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, provided interesting models of support based on the value of their artistic contribution they have made to their countries culture over a number of years. Support includes annual grants of between 1-5 years to eminent artists, with an emphasis on their long term security (equating to 7-8% of all practicing artists in Norway). In the words of a Danish report “artists should not receive support because they are poor, but because the society needs their work”.

Another scheme funded by the Nordic Arts Council (NIFCA) gave funding to recently graduated artists working as assistants in a professional artist studio. Support of a monthly stipend for a fixed period covered their working and living costs, but importantly the work they did could be in any country in the world. The scheme was competitive, and awarded on the quality of work, potential of the young graduate, and the profile of the host artist. The benefit of this scheme was the knowledge transfer that would benefit the artists and the country funding the work.

Graduate Career Advantage Scotland (GCAS) breaks down barriers by supporting employers of all sectors and sizes, making it possible for them to create new impactful opportunities for graduates while benefiting organisations and boosting Scotland’s economy. If this scheme was adapted we believe it would be an effective way to support freelance and self employed artists as the employers, and could be accessed by graduates who are unemployed or self- employed on low incomes themselves. This approach could also support older graduates in a similar financial situation, particularly post pandemic, where many artists and musicians have had to claim Universal Credit due to loss of freelance work.

We recommend that discussions take place between CILG and GCAS to understand the adaptability of the support to CI practitioners and businesses.