Figures from the last British census, published in 2011, and Creative Skillset’s 2012 Employment Census showed that the UK was 14% non-white and London’s population was over 40% BAME. Yet BAME representation across the creative industries had fallen to just 5.4%. 

The absence of diversity in the creative sector is not only bad for our society but is also bad for business – how can the media reflect society, if society is not reflected in the media?

A report by McKinsey in January 2018 found that companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 33 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Moreover a 2017 Government report showed that the UK economy could benefit from a £24bn-a-year boost if those from BAME backgrounds progressed in work at the same rate as their white counterparts.

Creative Access fills a gap in the current creative landscape by helping young people from black, Asian and other non-white minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, to secure paid training opportunities in creative companies, and supporting them into full-time employment.

Our vision is that in the longer term, our interns will progress to management positions, and in turn bring in others from under-represented communities in alongside them.

Creative Access is the only organisation in the UK dedicated to recruiting BAME talent in the creative industries.

We help young people, from under-represented communities throughout the UK, to access creative careers. Working with UK’s most successful creative firms, we provide a range of services to help bring in diverse talent to organisations; we facilitate paid 3 to 12 month-long internships; provide employer training and host an opportunities board for organisations to list their roles.

 We operate across ten different creative sectors:

• Book Publishing
• Film
• Museums & Galleries
• Music
• Newspaper & Magazine Publishing
• PR, Advertising & Marketing
• Radio
• Television
• Talent
• Theatre

We work with large, small and medium-sized companies right across the UK, from Bristol to Newcastle and from Cardiff to Manchester. Our interns have been placed with almost 300 organisations, including global brands such as ITV, Hachette, Pan Macmillan and the National Theatre.

Creative Access has been set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC, pronounced ‘kick’ not ‘sick’). This means we are a not-for-profit social enterprise and that all profits are re-invested.

But what really gives us a ‘CIC’? (sorry – couldn’t resist!). Our decisions are driven by the interests of both the young people and the companies with whom we work. This sets us apart from other organisations where all decisions are ultimately about increasing profits. Of course, in order to be able to continue our work in the long-term, we can’t lose money, so we are hugely grateful to all our industry partners and to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation for their invaluable support.