Ever wondered how activists stay motivated? In her role as an activist engagement intern at Greenpeace, Creative Access intern Salomé Revault d’Allonnes empowers and brings activists together in their fight against the climate crisis…

I work at the intersection of activist engagement and collective care training.  

A lot of my work revolves around designing and facilitating workshops with different groups of activists. I’m also supporting the Activist Development team in coordinating logistical and welfare support for activists before, during and after an action.  

In terms of digital communications and storytelling, I also co-edit the quarterly activist newsletter, regular email updates, website copy and I presented a social media video for our recruitment campaign. 

Collective care: programmes and practices which support the mental wellbeing of people who are part of causes and movements.  

I really enjoy how varied my role is. It combines many of my interests from my research and tutoring background to my more creative and storytelling side and, last but not least, my passion for social and climate justice and transformative organising. 

No week looks the same and that’s something I really value. 

I graduated from university in September 2021. I was initially looking to work in the documentary film sector, which I did for a bit, but the lack of security required me to work part-time in jobs outside the industry which didn’t work for me. I knew I wanted to tell stories that matter, speak truth to power and contribute to transformative change. 

I am grateful to Creative Access for allowing me to even consider such a well-known organisation in the environmental and NGO sector. I remember seeing the vacancy in a newsletter and thinking why not give it a try without realising that I could potentially be successful. It felt too big and unattainable. 

Creative Access were really helpful during the application process by giving feedback on a first application draft and organising a call with shortlisted applicants. That feedback really helped me refine my application and make it to the interview stage. I couldn’t quite believe it when I was offered the job! 

There were other internships being advertised at Greenpeace at the time I applied, but the reason I applied for this role in particular was its focus around building a culture of collective care in the activist network.  

With previous experiences around migrant justice and feminist organising, the concept of collective care really resonated with me, and I’ve been given quite a lot of freedom in designing that programme.  

I’ve been designing and delivering workshops to develop a culture of collective care with an anti-oppression lens with different groups of activists, volunteers and artists. 

My proudest achievement was when someone who applied to our new activist training programme mentioned a collective care session I had run in a previous volunteer gathering as one of the reasons why they were motivated to take action with Greenpeace! 

My advice would be what I keep trying to tell myself every day: your opinion and experience matter and have value. You have a unique perspective and even if you feel like you don’t have enough relevant experience, you have many transferable skills and there’s no way you’ll know everything about a job before you do it.  

Stay true to yourself and put forward all the things you’ve done and created, including in unpaid contexts. If you want to break into this sector, it means you are creative and passionate, and these are very powerful tools. 

Want to learn more about how you can pair a passion for sustainability with a career in the creative industries like Salomé? Sign up here for our upcoming masterclass on Thursday 30th March.  

Want to know what’s it like working for an immersive theatre company? Did you even know that you could? In the latest blog for our series ‘jobs you didn’t know existed’, former #CAIntern Jessie Francis talks us through her very exciting role as a creative assistant at the trailblazers of immersive experiences, Secret Cinema…

This is always a fun question, to answer. I am a creative assistant at Secret Cinema – an immersive theatre company that brings beloved films, television franchises and even occasionally music to life. In our shows, the audience are not passively watching the narrative unfold, but actively find themselves in the story, uncovering deeper layers of character motives, backstories, mysteries and secrets. Essentially, it’s a bunch of people creating the most elaborate fan-fiction you have ever witnessed.  

Being in the creative team, we are responsible for ensuring our shows encompass cohesive and innovative storytelling or world-building across the narrative structure, the set, the performances and some marketing assets. I also bring additional skills to the role through my illustration and video editing skills – so it’s wonderful being able to contribute to the creation of our shows through my many multi-hyphenate interests. 

Any part where I get to dive into story, or a character, or world development. I adore how research can inform a narrative and create a story that audiences can logically follow and understand; which then enables us to push the boundaries of surrealism and theatricality. So, whether you’re faced with Regency Lady Gaga performances, epic scale alien battle sequences or intimate conversations with characters in rooms, where you have no idea how you entered (or even where they are), the roots of the story and world are always grounding you and driving your experience.  

I will always be grateful to Creative Access for pushing job roles and careers that I never knew existed, because I didn’t go looking for this job at all. I didn’t even know to look for this job.  

I graduated from university in 2019 with a first in animation, and when asked what I wanted to do, I didn’t have a specific vision; but I knew I wanted to work in a story department, or in a writers room, or in story or character development. I was like Lily Allen in the beginning of her LDN music video: ‘Um I’m just wondering have you got any like sort of punky electronica grime kind of like new wave grime but kind of like maybe more broken beats like kinda dubby broken beats but a little bit kind of soulful… do you know what I mean?’. No one knew what I meant (I don’t think I did either.)  

I started off in 4Creative – Channel 4’s in-house creative team – on a 3-month traineeship (courtesy of Creative Access) where I edited and wrote scripts for trailers. I then went on to work as a scene build and prop design artist for Blink Industries x Netflix’s charming, spooky, queer animation series Dead End: Paranormal Park. I was job hunting for my next role prior to my contract ending, and on a whim, I applied to a Secret Cinema creative assistant role that was advertised on the Creative Access opportunities page. It turned out that many of the skills I possessed, and was interested in pursuing, made me the perfect fit for a company where everybody wears many different hats and brings so many varying abilities to their roles.  

It would have to be Secret Cinema presents Bridgerton. It was my first show, and I remember sitting in the writers room surrounded by talented creative directors, performance directors, actors and writers and just wanting to absorb all the knowledge everyone had, whilst simultaneously wondering how the hell I had got there. It was surreal and amazing.  

My only real advice would be to not limit yourself to what you believe you are qualified for. I read somewhere once that men apply for jobs even when they are underqualified, but women only apply if they believe they are overqualified. This has stuck with me, and so I applied for anything that caught my interest and didn’t get caught up in the details of what I had studied or been trained for. Skills can be transferable, softwares can be taught – YouTube and google are your best friends.  

At my core, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller and artist, and so although editing trailers, designing props for animation and creating immersive theatre all seem vastly different, they all share the core function of visual storytelling. So don’t limit yourself, and don’t feel embarrassed or flaky for career or industry pivoting. Everything you try and everything you learn will inform and equip you for whatever you do in the future – no matter how disparate it may seem from where you came from. I still adore animation, and would love to return to it one day, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my time in theatre – a medium I was so interested in as a child, and never thought I was talented enough for. And who knows, there’s probably a world in which both can be combined. 

Check out Jessie’s illustration and editing work here, and her blog here.

Sign up to our opportunities board and find your creative role here.

In this series, Creative Access is focusing on the amazing jobs happening behind-the-scenes in the creative industries to hopefully inspire you to think about some roles and career paths that you might not have heard about before!

Former Creative Access intern Kaler Wong tells us all about his career journey from curatorial and artist administrator at White Cube to gallery assistant at East London-based contemporary gallery, Kate MacGarry…

I work as a Gallery Assistant at Kate MacGarry, a contemporary art gallery in East London. We put on six exhibitions a year and support the artists we work with in external shows, commissions and lots of different projects.  

I work as a Gallery Assistant at Kate MacGarry, a contemporary art gallery in East London. We put on six exhibitions a year and support the artists we work with in external shows, commissions and lots of different projects.  

We’re a very small team of six so the job is really varied and involves things like assisting with exhibitions and art fairs, administration, marketing, front of house, organising events and even condition checking works of art (below: check out Kaler and colleagues checking some prints, and take the time to appreciate ‘our beautiful bookshelves which took a whole day to arrange’). I’ve done everything from shopping for purple hydrangeas for an artist’s work to model-making miniature booths for art fairs. 

Spending time learning about an artist’s practice and then having the chance to meet them and work with them on an exhibition. We work with 21 contemporary artists (and two artist estates) who work with all sorts of media and are inspired by so many different things. I’ve learnt about ornithology, carpentry, prehistoric archaeology and Malawian history to name a few areas. I enjoy hearing artists speak about their own work and what they are trying to achieve. As an artist myself, I really enjoy seeing the development of the ideas of others, as they form something physical and concrete, and overseeing the whole exhibition process.  

I also enjoy talking to guests about art as we get a lot of different people who visit the gallery. We often have groups of students from art schools who visit with varying levels of enthusiasm (occasionally students look bored out of their mind but thankfully they’re an exception). It’s good public speaking practice and ensures I’m knowledgeable and on message on the show itself. (See image of Kaler below giving a talk to a group from Kingston School of Art). We usually have the artist give a short talk to staff about the show before the opening which is invaluable for more personal insights and interesting details. 

I got into this role after a year-long traineeship at White Cube gallery, an opportunity I got through Creative Access. Honestly, I really didn’t think I would get the role, after having applied and then been rejected for a number of similar junior positions at other galleries. That was a really great experience in learning how the gallery system works and opening my eyes to the number of different roles and people that come together to put on an exhibition and support artists. 

White Cube is a mega-gallery which represents some renowned international artists, so I tried to make the most of the learning opportunities. I was lucky to have a really helpful manager as well as an amazing mentor who made me feel well supported and comfortable asking stupid questions. It also taught me a lot about how to work with people and the importance of communication, from observing how my colleagues dealt with different pressures, to dealing with demanding or temperamental artists (which I saw a fair amount of). 

Previously to that I did an undergrad degree in history and a master’s in art history. The art industry in general is really overqualified – I didn’t need the master’s degree to do the job, but I probably needed it to secure the role. I had previously volunteered at a couple of arts organisations and have always enjoyed making my own art @kqhuangart – which also gave me marketing skills.  

Something that has really helped in my roles so far has been making an effort to see exhibitions and writing about what I’ve seen. When I moved to London for my master’s degree, I was visiting at least three exhibitions a week (admittedly quite easy in London, it may be harder elsewhere). The more you see, the more you can contextualise things and learn what you like. Being able to speak coherently about an exhibition I’ve seen or about artists I like has been very useful in interviews and more generally. It’s easy to be discouraged when things are not going your way and you’re applying for jobs and not getting anything back. But, if you’re passionate about art, don’t stop attending exhibitions and reading about them.

Looking to enter the museum and gallery sector? Find opportunities here!

Ever heard someone’s job title and thought: “Wait, you can do that as a job?!”… This month, we’re highlighting all the coolest jobs happening behind-the-scenes in the creative industries that you never knew existed. In today’s blog former Creative Access intern, Ayodele Ogunshakin fills us in on her time working as a storyliner on one of the UK’s longest-running soaps, Coronation Street.

As a storyliner, I worked as part of the Coronation Street story team to pitch, develop and write storylines. The team comprised of an assistant storyliner, storyliners, senior storyliners, story editors and a story producer.  

I really enjoyed attending story conferences; as nerve-wracking as it was, I loved pitching my ideas and writing them. It was also great to work with such a talented and encouraging team, and I always found it surreal to see plot lines we talked about and developed just months earlier, brought to life on screen by the editorial teams and the fabulous cast and crew.  

What is a story conference? This is a space to meet and network with other storyliners, script writers and editors AKA any roles involved with story and script developments on soaps. They usually consist of workshops where writers can work on pitching, testing out and sharing ideas to ultimately help them create and develop their skills.  
 

The team at the famous British soap, Emmerdale, organised a storylining workshop in Media City and I was really curious because I had never heard of the role before. After attending the session, I realised it was the job I had always wanted but didn’t know existed. We were all given storylines to write after the session and I received helpful feedback.  

Years later when Creative Access advertised a storylining workshop being run by Coronation Street I went along with a better understanding of what a storyliner does. Having learnt from my experience attending the Emmerdale workshop, I put the feedback I received into practice and secured an interview which led to a role as an assistant storyliner, and eventually a promotion to the position of storyliner. 

If anyone is interested in becoming a storyliner, I would encourage them to look out for workshop opportunities as they provide incredible insight into the role and what you can expect when working as part of a story team.  

I recently moved to Canada and have been learning a lot about how the industry works here. I love writing and creating characters, so I plan to continue doing that and I hope to have my personal projects and scripts produced soon too.    
 

Read more of Ayo’s advice from when she was a panelist at our creative industries showcase in Leeds here. 

Looking for your next role in TV? Check out our opportunities here.  

This month, Creative Access is focusing on the jobs you didn’t know existed. That means all the amazing jobs happening behind-the-scenes in the creative industries to hopefully inspire you to think about some of the career paths you might not have considered or known how to access before. This week former Creative Access intern and current guest artistic director at the Kings Head Theatre, Isabel Adomakoh Young tells us all about her new role…

I’m an actor, writer and voice artist so I do a lot of different projects, but my main role at the moment is Guest Artistic Director (GAD) of the Kings Head Theatre in Islington. I am programming a season in spring for them, which means I choose what shows will perform at the theatre during that time. 

The role is a newly invented one as the theatre doesn’t have anyone currently doing the job of Artistic Director, so they’ve chosen to invite four theatre artists to do it in the interim as part of a project called ‘The Takeover’. Usually, being Artistic Director (AD) of a theatre company or theatre involves other elements beyond programming too.  

I’ve called my season ‘Sight Unseen’ and I’m asking the questions: “Who should finally get their turn in the limelight?”, “How can we take a fresh look at old narratives?” and, “What have we taken as read without ever asking ourselves why?”.  

Being a GAD involves a number of tasks… 

Planning  

• Designing my season, writing some text that explains my vision and what type of work I’d like to see 
• Researching and contacting artists I like to see if they’d like to propose a show  
• Reading applications from the public ‘open call’ and opening a conversation with projects I like the look of. Most projects will be headed up by a producer and will have a writer (whose script I’ll read) and possibly a director and cast also attached, though that can also be arranged later.  
• With the information they provide about their productions, deciding how many performances the show should do and what time it should go on. Alongside our ‘main’ shows that do 6 performances a week, we have shorter slots and late-night ones that better suit comedy or cabaret. 

• Most slots require a refundable deposit from the production, but for the latest evening slot we simply divide box office takings between the theatre and the company. 
• Working through the financial, time and production requirements the theatre has with the producers and negotiating how those can work for each project.  
• Drafting and issuing ‘Deal Memos’ which act as a contract, once all points are agreed.  

Execution  

• Handing over to the theatre’s in-house producers to see the show through to opening night.   

• Promoting the season, creatively supporting the artists I’ve booked, fostering networks between them, and being a vocal champion of the work.  
• Us GADs also receive skill development and mentoring as part of the role, so we attend workshops, one-to-ones and networking events.   

It’s very exciting thinking and researching who might fit my season. Despite the somewhat uncertain outlook in theatre, there are always amazing artists full of ideas and determination out there. I love finding new theatre companies or writers and thinking: “I have an opportunity that could help you grow and succeed”. It’s an interesting challenge navigating what the Kings Head audience might be interested in, what I think might sell, and how to achieve a balance of different types of work and topics across the season. The best moment is when you’ve made a formal offer and they reply saying “Yes please!”.  

Part of the invention of The Takeover at the Kings Head was because the existing path to becoming an Artistic Director is very opaque. There’s no specifically required skillset or professional background, and the way people achieve it is not clearly set out; it’s often based on ‘relationships’ with theatres and powerful people. The exciting thing, though, is that one can come at it from different directions – you don’t have to have been a theatre director, for instance. As an actor, my experience has been more on the making shows side rather than running a company or building. The Takeover means I’ll be better prepared if I ever choose to pursue becoming an AD.  

As for how I attained the role – full transparency – I was asked by simple invitation. While I was invited to take on this role, the theatre has assured me they will look at making the process much more accessible – so keep an eye out for that!  

Reflecting more broadly on what got me the offer, I’d say every job, from my internship via Creative Access with a literary agency, to being in a drag collective, to running my own arts festival on a shoestring, brought me experience and insight that I’m using now. It’s not always obvious how, as the industries ostensibly differ a lot, but knowing how to handle artists, or familiarity with contracting, or simply an appreciation of an art form, can prove useful in unexpected ways in this sector.   

And importantly, courage and a bit of self-belief helped. I nearly turned this opportunity down, feeling inadequate, but my mum told me “Say yes, and figure out how to do it later”, which is exactly what the Kings Head were inviting us to do!  

I can’t talk yet about what’s on in my season but performing at the Kings Head in 2021 was an amazing experience. They ran a season called ‘Barstools to Broadway’, about their 50-year history as a fringe theatre nurturing shows and writers that went on to huge things in the industry, and I loved reading an early play by a writer I love and respect, Stephen Jeffreys, as part of that. I’m actually using his book on playwriting to help me write my first play now!  
 

1. Don’t be shy! Shout about your work and your achievements, because you can trust that other people will be shouting about theirs. Put the effort into presenting yourself well, as well as your work; for better or worse in the arts, opportunities come when people perceive you to have potential. 

2. But alongside that, create relationships where you back one another. It can be a lonely industry and a boost from someone you rate will keep morale high and hopefully get you both some work/ audiences. 

3. See other people’s work and think critically about what you liked, what you’d do differently. Also, keep abreast of opportunities like grants, workshops and networking events. There’s so much out there that people just don’t know about, and these can be a great start to a relationship with an institution too. Think of yourself as part of an industry you can both benefit from and change for the better.  

Keep up to date with Isabel’s projects by following her on Twitter here, or visiting her website here.

If you’re feeling inspired to find a new role in theatre, you can see our opportunities here.

Creative Access development director, Elonka Soros, reflects on our work over the past year and what key diversity and inclusion concepts employers need to know for going into 2023…

As I start the year prepping new projects for 2023, I’ve been reflecting on a busy 2022 Creative Access year of activity.

It’s been a pleasure to meet so many engaged creative industry colleagues over all the training sessions I led last year. In those sessions, I have noticed a shift in levels of understanding about matters of race, sex (and gender identities) social class and disability. That’s not so surprising because these discussions have been at the fore of political and world events, but what is interesting is that perhaps because of the often-polarising nature of the narratives, in many cases, I’ve also noted an increasing sense of urgency to take actions to confront and eliminate exclusions often aligned with these identity characteristics.

Regardless of sector, company size or the level of seniority of those participating in our Creative Access workshops, the key themes emerging out of these discussions have been very similar.

I’ve collated the top five matters that were exercising the minds of creative colleagues in 2022 – I wonder, how do these match your experience and what are you prioritising for 2023?

It’s been refreshing to be part of DE&I conversations that acknowledge that just because someone is included in the team it does not mean that they feel that they belong. Creating equitable and inclusive workplaces with belonging cultures requires action that goes beyond the diversity numbers and the inclusion policies. It takes each one of us to understand the individual roles that we play to create company cultures that are welcoming, respectful, where people feel valued and can thrive. When people thrive, businesses thrive too.

We’ve been working with a global publishing company on their Equity and Belonging programme for line managers. They’ve built strong ERGs (employee resource groups). These safe spaces, celebrating difference have provided a forum for individuals to engage in meaningful dialogue with colleagues. When people feel they belong they are more likely to speak up, be creative and to innovate.

This year Creative Access research has fuelled some insightful discussion with and within our wider creative industries community. Data from our 2022 Thrive Report showed that disabled people who also identify as Black, Asian or from other ethnically diverse backgrounds, are feeling less confident about their careers and progression in the creative sector than any other group. The more ways that a person is minoritised in their workplace – the greater the levels of concern. These more nuanced conversations about disability, race, accent, and social class have brought greater awareness and understanding of the ‘emotional tax’ of people who are minoritised in multiple ways at work. Hence the focus as above, on creating belonging cultures where people don’t have to mask their identity, or “pass” to survive. 

While Creative Access’s industry leading positive action apprenticeships and internships programmes have delivered increased racial, socio-economic, and disabled representation at entry level across the sector, our research and community feedback show it’s still far from a level playing field and there is a lot of work to be done. In all areas of the creative sector, disabled people are seriously underrepresented. Steps to address systemic structural barriers are needed throughout the career cycle and you can read more about these and see the data from our Creative Access Disability Survey 2022 here.

While the Covid19 pandemic is not over yet the forecast is not so bleak as it was back in 2020 when the UK went into lockdown. The toll on our individual and collective national mental health as we adjusted to a new reality is well documented, as is how many workplaces responded by putting in place measures to support employee wellbeing. Creative Access’ team of clinical psychologists, beamed into our homes via zoom and provided our team with tools to support ourselves, our families, and wider communities during the crisis, and many of our employer partners have been accessing these resources too.

Before the pandemic in many people spoke to me about their fears of sharing their mental health status at work, but the psychologists’ sessions have provided a space for people to share and learn that mental health is not static and that we are all always somewhere on a scale. More open conversation about feelings and the impact of day to day working life on our wellbeing has also resulted in a motivation for people to be alert to behaviours and language that could negatively impact their mental health and those of their colleagues. As we get back into more normal routines, the next steps will be to maintain the good practices we have acquired and build them into our new ways of working. 

The 2022 Creative Access Thrive research threw up an interesting aspect that may account for the slower progress towards DE&I aspirations than many creative companies would have hoped – they have no data upon which to build the actions required for change. Increasingly there is a realisation that measuring the diversity numbers is not enough, we also need data on our inclusion impact, and even fewer companies are doing that.

Earlier in this reflection I shared some of the discussion on the concept of belonging and the importance of understanding how now only how colleagues are accessing roles in our teams but also how they are experiencing working with us. It’s not always easy for people to speak up about matters that are concerning them or even articulate some of the impacts of workplace culture on mental health and wellbeing or productivity and ability to innovate. Even giving positive feedback about the things that we love about the places we work and the people we work with can get overlooked as we move form project to project, across time zones and in hybrid spaces. But we do need the information if we are to make the best use of our time and resources.

I think I may have said this before but it’s true, so I’ll say it again… when people thrive, businesses thrive too (and there is a big body of research to back that up).

If you’re interested in discussing what’s at the top of your DE&I agenda for 2023 or finding out more about how we support and partner with organisations, please contact us here.

I look forward to hearing from you.

What a year 2022 was! From celebrating our 10 year anniversary to launching our first career development bursary and steering group, there were lots of reasons to celebrate.

We’re so proud to have recruited new candidates, matched more mentoring partnerships, worked with existing and new employer partners, and continued supporting our ever-growing community in our mission to create a more inclusive and diverse creative economy. But, we know that there’s still so much more to do in 2023.

Here’s some of our highlights from the past year…

• Placed 285 people from under-represented backgrounds in the creative industries in permanent roles or internships
• Trained 4,625 employers in 185 workshops
• 300+ mentoring placements
• 980 people from marginalised groups supported with employability skills
• 2,500 young people and students aspiring to work in the creative industries reached at university and college fairs and community and youth organisation events
• 850 people inspired at 12 masterclasses ranging from how to get into journalism at the Financial Times to working in the TV industry at ITV Leeds (featuring a special tour of the Emmerdale set!)

Creative Access undertook more research into how under-represented communities in the creative industries fare in the workplace this year. See our findings…

• Thrive report
• Covid-19 impact research with University of Manchester)
• Young carers in the workplace
• “Generation post-pandemic”
• Creative Access disability report 2022

This year also marked our 10^th anniversary. Together with our friends at CPL Productions and with director Andrea Speziale-Bagliacca, we made a film highlighting our alumni’s stories and career progression. We hosted three events across the year with our community of interns, alumni and employer partners to thank them for being a part of our journey so far.

For our birthday, our longstanding employer partners across journalism, TV, publishing, music, theatre, art and marketing kindly shared with us the impact that Creative Access has had on their organisations over the past 10 years…

Tom Weldon, CEO at Penguin Random House UK:

Julian Bellamy, MD at ITV Studios:

Alison Phillips, editor at The Mirror:

Jay Jopling, founder of White Cube:

Rufus Norris, artistic director & joint CEO at National Theatre:

Are you an employer looking to create a more inclusive workplace? Find out more about our training and recruitment services.

Candidate searching for your dream role in the creative industires? See our opportunities board and how we can support you.

To mark #WorkinPublishing week we hosted an all-star panel (including four of our very own Creative Access alumni!) from leading publisher Penguin Random House. The panellists talked about their journey into publishing, the day-to-day of their roles, and gave a bucket-load of inspiring advice for those pursuing a career in the book trade. Below are some of their top tips, or you can head over to our YouTube channel to catch up on the full conversation. The panel comprised of:

• Josie Dobrin, Founder & Executive Chair – Creative Access
• Mubarak El Mubarak, Head of Digital Marketing & Brand – Penguin Michael Joseph
• Candy Ikwuwunna, Brand Marketing Manager (Youth Engagement) – Penguin Random House
• Malissa Mistry, Sales Manager – Vintage
• Gaby Puleston-Vaudrey, Editorial Assistant – PRH and BBC Audio
• Priyanka Moorjani, International Communications Assistant – Penguin Random House UK

The panel covered wide-ranging themes from favourite books to top tips for covering letters and interviews. On the subject of CV and applications, Malissa, stressed how important it is to tailor your cover letter to the role in question saying “it will take more time, but applications that aren’t changed across roles are immediately obvious to the reader. Instead, break down the job description into key points and apply your skills and experience to any activities or requirements. Find something you like from the publisher’s output or activities to talk about in the interview or application.”

When moving to interview stage, Gaby cited that she used the STAR method; this stands for situation, task, action, and result. Think outside the box when it comes to your experience, as interviewers will be more interested in your approach to a challenge and how you applied yourself to it.

Gaby described passion for books as ‘the one thing you can’t learn.’ This is something that anyone entering the industry will have but being able to showcase your genuine interest in the current book market when applying or interviewing is key.

There are plenty of ways to show you have your finger on the pulse, whether it’s through knowing the top charts or having a favourite BookTok campaign – something that Candy remembers bringing up in the interview for her current role.

Before he found his internship, Mubarak spent 9 months applying and getting nothing – ‘I had to check if my inbox was working!’ – and said that you don’t need to rule out a career in publishing to justify taking a break from sending applications. No two paths into publishing are the same.

Priyanka also mentioned that gaining publishing ‘adjacent’ experience is still massively worthwhile and sets you up for success even if you aren’t landing the dream job just yet. If you have experience on TikTok, highlight that on your CV. Even if you think it’s just silly videos you’re making from your bedroom, BookTok is now a hugely influential platform and can shape the market.

Gaby advised using transferable skills – such as the ones she gained as a student ambassador – when writing successful applications, and Malissa described how helpful it was to build an understanding about books and current trends by starting out as a Christmas temp at Waterstones.

The panel discussed the ongoing dilemma of whether or not a degree is needed to enter the sector. Whilst acknowledging the benefits of university eduction for those who can access it, the consensus from the panel was that there’s no barrier to entry without it. There are numberous pathways to a career in publishing – such as publishing apprenticeships – and plenty of other things will stand out more on your CV. Of the panel, only Priyanka had completed a Publishing MA; she said that it was a good route to picking up more publishing vocabulary and getting to grips with the process, but that the essentials of what you need to know can be learned and fleshed out through doing the job.

When discussing the skills needed for their individual roles, Gaby (who first worked with an independent publisher before moving to her current role) said that needs will vary between teams. Priyanka – working in communications – communicates with a lot of different people! She encourages individuals in similar roles to think about how to adapt their tone and approach with different people you’re in touch with, from more informal conversations with book bloggers to an attentive and generous approach to relationships with authors. Malissa said that to succeed in sales you don’t need to be an extravert, but you’ll be good at building genuine relationships with external parties, and this is just as valuable as hard data.

Mubarak had a final piece of wisdom on this topic:

The panel also spoke about diversity within industry; Priyanka didn’t shy away from the topic of where the publishing industry can do better when it comes to hiring talent from under-represented backgrounds. However, the diversity (or lack thereof) of larger publishers is becoming increasingly transparent – Penguin Random House has recently published statistics on this. Candy said that since coming back to the industry after a short hiatus, efforts across the board to improve social inclusion is more noticeable with positive action schemes like those run by Creative Access or The Scheme by Penguin Random House.

Candy’s final piece of advice was to not give up!

And don’t feel afraid to reach out to publishing industry experts who are public on social media. ‘I reached out to someone who directly helped me with my application,’ Gaby said. People who are as passionate about publishing as you are often generous with their time in giving feedback.

You can watch the full panel conversation on our YouTube channel here

Follow Penguin Random House on LinkedIn to keep up with the latest news from company news, employee stories, new roles, programme dates etc. or explore publishing roles from the wider industry on the Creative Access opportunities board.

Last year, Zahra Khan was one of the successful recipients of the Creative Access x McLaren Racing Career Development Bursary. With the second round of the bursary just announced, Zahra tells us what she’s used the bursary for over the past year and how its impacted her creative career…

I was working as a barista and waitress in a London cafe when I applied for the Creative Access and McLaren Career Development Bursary. I was completely struggling to pay rent and stay afloat. Needless to say, I did not have the disposable income needed to invest in creative pursuits. When I was awarded the bursary, it opened the door for me to be able to independently produce a radio show and make prints again.

I’ve been presenting a monthly radio show with community-based radio station Dublin Digital Radio for the last two years. My show is a platform to discuss research related to South Asian diasporic identity, culture, and history. I used to present from a studio in Dublin, but in London, I did not have the equipment needed to continue remotely presenting the show. The bursary allowed me to buy a microphone which I have since used to interview guests and record myself, allowing my show to survive.

I’m particularly proud of a show I recorded last February using the bursary. I interviewed the founder of Hungama, a queer Bollywood night in London, and recorded snippets of a discussion in RichMix about brown LGBTQ+ nightlife. I used these recordings to create a radio documentary about queer South Asian nightlife in London. 

The bursary allowed me to purchase equipment for my work as a visual artist. I was able to buy Photoshop and a UV lamp which I’ve since used to produce cyanotype prints on both paper and glass. I would never have been able to experiment with glass printing without the support of this bursary. 

Being awarded the bursary has had a huge impact on my life and work. It gave me a confidence boost to know that someone believed in the value of my work. Trying to make it in the creative world can be frustrating, expensive, and challenging. You’ve got to believe in yourself and your work, and at the beginning of your career, you can feel like an imposter staring in at the work of established creatives. The bursary reminded me that my work can be taken seriously, even in its very early stages.

My portfolio of work continues to build and has landed me opportunities such as creating artwork for local bands and even an internship offer at the Financial Times. I’ve been able to live off my freelance writing career and was recently awarded a bursary by the Arts Council which will allow me the time and opportunity to write a booklet of experimental prose about colonisation in Ireland and South Asia.

None of this would have been possible without the boost that being awarded this bursary gave me. Even just the process of filling out the application has given me the confidence to apply and research for more awards, grants, scholarships, and bursaries. The creative world can still seem like a scary space, but the Creative Access x McLaren bursary has given me some of the tools I need to navigate it.

The next round of the Creative Access x McLaren Racing Career Development Bursary is now open for applications. Find out more and apply here by 7th Novemeber 2022.

On Monday 3rd October, around twenty Creative Access interns and alumni came together for a book club hosted at the independent book shop and wine/coffee bar Bookbar.

Our pick for this month was Babel, a new novel from award-winning author Rebecca F. Kuang about the power of language, the machinations of 19th Century colonialism, and the price of resistance.

But what does this actually look like on the page? A culturally diverse group of students study translation in a fantastical tower in Oxford, begin understanding its roots to the British Empire, and wreak havoc before they can help themselves.

Over the course of an hour we took a deep dive into the book to share our thoughts, covering topics from which characters were well-drawn or sympathetic, how messy racial and nationalistic politics played out, and what exactly did we make of that ending.

Something that consistently came up was Kuang’s approach to altering reality. She writes about a fictional technology that uses silver and massively enriches the European powers. Silver bars are inscribed with the same word in two languages, creating a spell which might do anything from keeping food from going stale to locking a door. By making other languages a key part of the silver bars, Kuang presents cultural difference itself as something that can treated by empire as a material resource.

Many thanks to everyone who attended and HarperCollins for sponsoring the event!

The Creative Access book club is open to Creative Access trainees, those placed by us through the Kickstart scheme, and our alumni. We read soon-to-be or recently published books, always by authors from under-represented backgrounds.

If you’re a publisher who would like to nominate one of your upcoming books, please contact us at info@creativeaccess.org.uk.

If you don’t have many contacts in the creative industries, mentoring is a great way to gain expert advice for getting ahead in your career. Former ITV x Creative Access mentee, Wakai Muganiwah talks about how her mentoring experience shaped her career aspirations and helped her gain confidence and the skills for applying to internships and roles in the TV industry.  

For a very long time I have known my desire to work within the media and communication industry. Yet, as a University of Leeds journalism student, I had been confused on where to start my journey and how to begin filtering towards my dream career.  

While I had known about Creative Access for years prior to my mentorship, I had never truly looked at the incredible opportunities it had to offer. I was slightly lost in an abundance of career aspirations and goals, so when I came across the Creative Access mentoring scheme in the summer of 2021, it felt like a perfect opportunity to get clarity on where I was going in life and when I was allocated Paul Moore, the Group Corporate Affairs and Communications Director at ITV, I was ecstatic. I was surprised at how perfect the pairing seemed. A communications director who had been in a variety of disciplines would be extremely helpful in guiding me towards narrowing down the career I desired.  

Initially, I had been extremely nervous to begin this mentorship scheme, but the ease and the support I received throughout the process, from both my mentor and the Creative Access team alleviated all of my preliminary anxiety. Over the six months of mentoring over zoom, I can truly say the advice and guidance I received was invaluable. We completed a variety of tasks and exercises that helped me begin exploring my passions more in order to compact them into tangible careers.  

• We completed CV workshops, where Paul guided me in improving my CV to entice employers and capitalise on my skills and work experiences. Through these workshops I can truly say my CV improved immensely and helped me acquire some of the incredible placements and internships I have today.  
• Practice/mock interviews were extremely helpful in preparing me for future interviews. We practiced under the guise that I was interviewing for a role in media and communications and my mentor acted as an employer in a well-known media organization. After the exercise I was given constructive feedback on ways to improve my interview techniques.  
• Guidance on how to write a cover letter, something that I can truly say became one of the core elements to the success of my applications. I had previously not recognised the significance of cover letters when submitting job applications, particularly paired with a tailored CV.  

It goes without saying how lucky I was to get this help in the aftermath of the pandemic. Like so many in my position, finding such incredible placements felt intangible because of the socio-economic effect of the pandemic. Several months on, I have two 3-week placements and a year internship with Discovery – a role that I applied to through Creative Access. I would not have had the confidence to apply for the amazing opportunities I got had it not been for my mentor’s encouragement, from his help with my CV and cover letters to the interview exercises.  

I applied for this mentorship with the aim of guiding me into the right direction to begin starting my career and guiding me on what else I can do alongside my studies to begin my career, yet I got so much more. I honestly cannot express how much of an incredible opportunity it was to talk to and get guidance from an industry expert. These schemes are important because they allow students and young people like me the opportunity to be seen!  

Despite applying the scheme on a whim and not expecting too much, I received so much more than I could have asked for. Not only did I acquire an incredible contact, but I gained an extremely enriching experience. I never understood the value of having a mentor to help guide you through the extremely confusing industrial work. It is not easy to start a career in the creative industry, but I was fortunate enough to get such an amazing advisor.  

The Creative Access mentoring schemes have created an enormous difference to my personal and professional life. It has given me insight and advice that I would have otherwise never acquired and it has cemented Creative Access’ determination to help people like me.  

Hi! I’m Adina and I work as an Account Assistant for London Communications Agency (LCA), having started in January. My family is originally from South Africa, however I was born and grew up in North London and ended up studying Media and Communications at the University of Sussex. Graduating in 2019, I was part of the first year hit by the major economic repercussions due to the pandemic. Finding a job proved to be a near impossible task….

After countless applications and soulless rejections (if I was lucky enough to receive a reply at all), I knew I had to go about my job search in a different way. At this stage, nearly all my friends were a part of the Universal Credit scheme, and almost half were now employed through Kickstart – it was time to hop on the band-wagon. Although slightly lengthy, the registration process for this scheme was smoother than expected, and in about a week I was matched with my coach at my local job centre.

Starting my job search afresh with a new sense of hope made this whole process so much easier! I also was pleasantly surprised to see such a large number of companies taking advantage of this scheme, and it then only took me a day or so to come across Creative Access. Although I am somewhat creative, a role in the arts industry wasn’t quite where I had imagined myself. Luckily, the advertised vacancies were not limited to only these, as this is where I spotted my role at LCA!

LCA is a full-service PR consultancy that delivers campaigns, consultations, and content to clients across the built environment sector. My main role within the company is providing practical and logistical support to my client account teams, which includes King’s Cross and a range of developers and architects. Along with daily monitoring and scoping the net for any coverage for our clients, I also research a variety of topics within the built environment when handling client requests and come up with creative ways to pitch my clients’ projects to the media.

Being LCA’s first and only Kickstarter, this was a new realm for all of us. Luckily, everyone on my team made it their main focus to ensure this has been entirely a learning process, allowing me to try all aspects of the business, even those my role wouldn’t usually cross!

On the topic of my team, I have to say this isn’t a normal office. Everybody here has been more than welcoming and supportive throughout my whole journey, but also approachable and just plain lovely (shout-out to my appraiser Phoebe)! It’s a pleasure to be here, and I can thankfully say the feeling seems mutual as I was offered a full-time position just two months in.

In my experience, the Kickstart scheme is literally the sole reason I am where I am today. I was lucky enough to join a thriving agency, but for many other companies, Kickstart helped them to stay afloat through an exceptionally difficult period. Similarly, for myself and so many other young people living through the pandemic, the re-opening of the job market meant we now had a chance to start/continue our careers.

Creative Access allowed my transition into LCA to be as smooth as possible. I have now attended two workshops since starting, giving myself and other Kickstarters key information to take into our roles and further in our careers. This also gave us a chance to connect with those in similar roles and hear about their personal experiences. Those on the Creative Access team have always been warm and welcoming as well as supportive whenever needed.

As my Kickstart journey soon draws to a close (and I became a permanent member of the LCA team!!!), my aim is to continue learning and growing here, soaking up everyone’s knowledge while progressing on my PR path.