We caught up with former Creative Access intern Dean Webster, who spoke about the need for greater accountability when it comes diversity in the freelance television workforce…

I started my career in television seven years ago as a Creative Access & PACT Diversity intern, where I was given a fully paid placement at Shine and sent on a funded training programmes. I was given the skills and connections required to start in television and, since my internship, have continued to receive support and advice from Creative Access. Unfortunately not all diverse talent have access to the same resources that I had.

As far as I see it, the diversity issue essentially comes from a lack of accountability. Whilst the Diamond system’s aims are commendable, production companies can choose to opt-out of it and the metric has many flaws exacerbated by the workforce’s fast turnaround, which means that quotas are currently the best workable solution. If we want to make authentic progress when it comes to diversity and inclusion, we need to address systemic issues around recruitment, progression and training, and pay which affect the industry as a whole.

There is an inherent lack of accountability when it comes to TV recruitment. Not all jobs are advertised, full job and people specifications are rarely provided and opportunities for part time working, working from home or job sharing are not considered from the outset. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, with PACT and the CDN airing concerns about the impact on producers in the nations and regions and diverse talent respectively.

If all roles on programmes were advertised, even ones earmarked for people who had worked on previous series, we would be in a better position to monitor diversity as well as career progression within the workforce. Other sectors have adopted initiatives like the Rooney Rule, where at least one BAME person must be interviewed for a role, but the lack of transparency means we don’t know if things like this are being done or, in the instances they are, if they’re successful. To eradicate barriers for diverse talent we need to identify where those barriers exist and this requires us to objectively look at initiatives and challenge those who fail to adopt them. Transparency also helps us look at other issues – how many people move up in our sector, how many people with career breaks return to the sector and at what position, how many people who’ve never worked for a production company/group are offered interviews or roles there for the first time?

I also believe there’s a broad issue with freelancers’ progression up the career ladder, which can be linked to the lack of training offered. Freelancers are commodities, so it makes sense to offer work to ‘safe bets’ who are very experienced in that job role. I believe this, however, is short sighted, does not benefit Britain’s creative sector as a whole and does not benefit freelancers individually. For employers of permanent staff, the cost behind recruitment and retention means there is a financial interest in upskilling workers so they stay with you for as long possible. In my view, the same incentive does not exist for freelancers, so freelancers have to pay for their own training or hope to find a kind employer to do that for them. Whilst I know first-hand that the latter exists and am grateful to the people who have helped me on my way to where I am, it’s unfair to rely on this inconsistent, informal arrangement to help a sector of thousands of workers. Relying on individuals to self-fund their development and training plays directly into the mechanism of inequality that stops diverse talent joining the industry.

We need a formalised training system, led by a consortium of broadcasters and/or production companies, which recognises that a highly skilled freelancer is beneficial to the sector as a whole, not just that sole freelancer. Solving this not only helps diverse talent but helps the sector as a whole, by unlocking the potential of freelancers at every stage. (NB: I have been to ITF training and am currently attending some of the fantastic free ScreenSkills virtual training courses, so I appreciate that there are initiatives out there for freelancers. I do, however, think lots of freelancers can move through their career without receiving any formalised training.)

Finally, pay. It has been clear for a long time that our lack of collective bargaining has resulted in freelancers’ rates being individually negotiated down, often dressed as a lack of budget. Whilst we all know this is commonplace, the lack of data means evidence is usually anecdotal. BECTU’s move to release a rate card for editorial staff, giving parity with camera and sound colleagues, is welcome, but without in-depth analysis of data from freelancers across the sector – this is a subjective ‘best guess’ and doesn’t consider factors like experience. We need to coordinate ourselves to regularly assess industry rates for roles and join collectively to set minimum levels for roles and agree on annual rate rises. This is perhaps the most troublesome issue for us, as it essentially requires individual freelancers to agree not to take jobs when these rates are undercut – but with strong leadership, from the union or another widely endorsed body, we could weather this storm and see long-term benefits.

Apologies for the length of this post – it’d probably be shorter if I had a job (hint hint). This just scratches the surface, I know there’s more to add and there will be lots of views on these thoughts. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback.

You can follow Dean on Twitter at @TVsDeanWebster

Here at Creative Access, we had the privilege of speaking to the multi-talented Ingrid Persaud, author of the stunning new novel, Love After Love. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the BBC Short Story Award, Ingrid gave us an exclusive interview all about her journey from law to fine art to writing, and shares her wisdom for aspiring authors.

Q: Tell us about your background?

I am a Trini to the bone – born and lived there until I was eighteen. Since then London has been my home and I also spend time in Barbados. Regardless of where I am physically my heart and navel string are firmly in Trinidad.

Q: You’re a woman of many talents, from law to fine art. Why did you decide to start writing?

I took my cool time getting to writing. For decades I was hustling with this thing and that thing and never completely at peace with myself. It was only when I moved to Barbados and desperate to carve out a creative space that I turned to writing fiction. It was portable and fitted with my other commitments. Now I’m privileged to write full time.

Q: What is Love After Love about?

It’s the story of an unconventional family – Betty a widow, Solo her son and Mr Chetan their lodger. All is well until one night, after a few glasses of rum, secrets are revealed that tear them apart. To mend a broken family takes all kinds of love – starting with love of the self. Love After Love borrows its title from the poem by Dereck Walcott. If you haven’t read it yet go now. I don’t know what you’re waiting for.

Q: Have you started your next book yet? If so, what’s it on?

I am always writing. When I’m not writing I am thinking about writing. Maybe what I’m working on now will come together and form the next novel. Or not. I’m prepared to discard work if it isn’t good enough.

Q: What do you think about representation of diversity in literature in the UK?

Serious talk now. What we read and who we read moulds us so we can’t let this issue slide. Diversity in literature suffers from both under-representation and misrepresentation.

The under-representation is stark. Statistics show that less than 5% of characters in children’s books are BAME. Fewer BAME writers are being published since 2000 than the previous two decades. Indeed, the Jhalak Prize was created specifically to raise the profile of BAME writers in Britain.

As that wasn’t bad enough we have a next challenge – misrepresentation. Once your name looking little ethnic your work is immediately exotic – “multicultural literature” or “world literature” or some other subset that gets put on the back shelves. It’s hard to simply be considered as writing literature and to have your work compared to your peers regardless of ethnicity.

Q: What’s your advice for aspiring authors?

Respect yourself and your work. That means showing up at your desk and writing every day. Yes, every single day even if it’s for 15 minutes or half hour. None of this waiting for the muse business. For all you know the muse self-isolating. And read, read, read. It’s that simple and that hard.

Q: Something we won’t find out about you from following you on Twitter!

Decide what you’re willing to reveal on social media and leave out the rest. I tweet mainly book related content and a bit of politics. Otherwise, you see me? I keeping myself quiet. But if I had to tell you something personal…Is shame I shame. I’m the only Trini who can’t dance. How I born without rhythm I’ll never understand.

You can buy a copy of Love After Love here.

By Nelima Begum, Editorial & Marketing Assistant at The Literary Consultancy

I’ve always thought the road to ‘success’ was a straight line – you get good grades in school, graduate from university and suddenly the universe will just deem you worthy of your dream job and you get to live your best life. No. Maybe some of you already knew before graduating but I sure didn’t – looking for ANY kind of job post-uni is difficult, let alone the one you want to pursue a long-term career in! And if that career is in a creative industry, well, you may be in for a bumpy ride. When I graduated with an English degree in 2017 (why does that feel like centuries ago now?!), I was having an existential crisis every other day thinking about my career, what I wanted, how far I’d like to go and who I’d want to work for. I. Was. A. Mess. Looking back on it now, those feelings were totally normal – you can’t make a decision like that in a day. When I sat down and made a mind map of things I was interested in, spoke to people about my options and spent many a late night in bed staring at the ceiling, I decided that more than anything, I wanted to work with books. They’d shaped me, changed my outlook on the world and I wanted to be a part of the industry that churned them out: publishing.

How? How does one get into publishing? It was like I’d just decided and now I didn’t know where to go. I started with creating a LinkedIn and then progressed to the jungle that is Indeed.co.uk. Neither really gave me anything substantial and so I thought to Google publishing houses and apply directly through their websites and portals. To keep track of everything, I made a spreadsheet of EVERY job I applied to and had columns for whether I got an interview and whether or not I received an offer. Each stage of progress was marked by red, amber and green boxes and after a while, I realised that the whole spreadsheet was red. All of it. What was I doing wrong? I made it a mission to get in first with every vacancy but everything just got so overwhelming – why were there so many areas in publishing, which role was I best-suited to? I thought you just needed to love books? No one wanted to hire me without experience but no one was giving me the opportunity to gain experience either. It felt like the biggest catch-22 and after a bag of rejections a few train wreck interviews, I was almost ready to give up and NEVER look at another publishing job description again.

Then, just like those moments in cartoons where the clouds part to allow a big ray of sunshine to come through and the birds start singing, a friend of mine told me about a handy little (not little at all) organisation called Creative Access which is dedicated to creating diversity and inclusion in the UK’s creative sectors. Plagued with disappointment, I felt like this was my lifeline and started looking at the opportunities page on their website. I was amazed to say the least – so many vacancies with such big, reputable names in a variety of industries! I starting applying like no tomorrow and was pleased to see my CV and cover letter going further than it ever had before. Suddenly, I was interviewing with places like Bloomsbury and Pan Macmillan! Each interview taught me something different so even if I wasn’t getting the job, I was still getting better each time and growing in confidence, too. I found myself checking the Creative Access website pretty much every day and becoming more optimistic with each application.

Suddenly I landed my first role in publishing – Submissions Administrator for The Future Bookshelf, a creative writing initiative being run across four imprints within Hachette UK, which sought to encourage submissions from writers from under-represented backgrounds. It was something that spoke to my heart and I was over the moon to get it! While there, I had a fantastic manager who, knowing it was my first job, did everything to make sure I got as much experience and exposure to the industry as possible. I was reading submissions, co-ordinating readings for colleagues, getting involved with social media and even putting data together for team meetings. I loved every minute of it and was trying to learn as much as I could. I got to sit in on meetings, have one-to-one chats with people from every department and even pick up skills in copy-editing and proofreading. It was an incredible first job because I had the opportunity to learn a bit of everything and network with smart, creative and talented people who had worked on incredible books. At that point, I’d decided I wanted to work in editorial. Even though I was sad to see my contract end after six months, I knew I had enough to apply for another job. Back to the Creative Access website I went.

My second job was at HarperCollins; I’d applied for their BAME traineeship (through the Creative Access website, obviously) and after 2-3 rounds of interviews and a terrifying presentation in front of company executives, I got a rejection. It was a bitter feeling to say the least BUT, they liked how I came across and kept me in the pipeline, regularly sending me and other candidates they’d liked but not hired, vacancies before they went live on the website. That’s how I landed my second job – Marketing Intern at Avon, a commercial imprint publishing everything from women’s fiction to crime and thrillers. It was great – different, but great! How I’d ended up in marketing, I wasn’t sure but because it was such early stages of my career, I thought to be open to everything. I learnt LOTS when I was at Avon; Photoshop, creating digital content, helping out with marketing campaigns, reading submissions with the team and learning all things social media. It was wonderful but it was another six-month contract and I was nearing the end. At the time, there weren’t any other permanent jobs going, so I thought to do what I always do: go back to the Creative Access website!

Then I saw it – an entry-level role with The Literary Consultancy (TLC), an editorial consultancy based in Farringdon which prides itself on working with writers of all kinds and providing a variety of services, hosting events and creating content dedicated to their development and success. They were hiring an editorial and marketing assistant and I went for it. I feel like my previous roles had prepared me for this moment – editorial AND marketing? It HAD to be for me. I was abroad the week that they were interviewing, but the team were lovely enough to interview me via Skype! I felt very lucky and to this day, am full of gratitude for their time and consideration. Long story short, I got the job and was over the moon. I bid farewell to the lovely folk at Avon and began my new venture at TLC.

I’ve been working with TLC for almost a year now, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t feel blessed to be here. I have an incredible team (see pictured) who are so dedicated to overseeing my professional development and are forever creating opportunities for me to get involved with whatever crazy, cool, creative project they’re working on next (watch this space for something exciting in the coming months which yours truly will be doing!) I love working with writers as well as our team of industry experts, having fun with TLC social media, getting involved with marketing campaigns and events and everything in between. This job is a dream and I wouldn’t have this (or any of my previous jobs) without Creative Access. They are an incredible resource and have been a beacon of hope for me for almost two years now! An incredible organisation, I have hope that thanks to their tireless efforts and dedication, creative industries WILL reflect society and WILL progress for generations to come.

Sometimes I feel like my way in was just a happy accident and other times, when I’m being contemplative and thoughtful, it feels like the stars had aligned and I got what was meant for me. My point is that success is NOT linear, but you should enjoy the journey and learn all that you can from it. Every job was a stepping stone and gave me a wealth of experience and knowledge, each one developing me more than the previous role. I’m incredibly excited for my future at TLC and can’t wait to see what else comes my way. My advice to applicants, job-hunters and publishing hopefuls is to work hard (network, volunteer and put yourself out there), be patient, remain optimistic and know that it will happen for you when the time is right…

Oh, and check the Creative Access website on the daily – in case it wasn’t obvious ????

Have a publishing interview coming up but have no clue what to expect? We caught up with our former Harlequin UK intern – turned Head of Zeus Commissioning Editor, and now the Editorial Director for Orion Books, Rhea Kurien, to ask her about her top tips for acing those interview questions…

1. Tell me a little about yourself and your experience to date.

They ask this 9 times out of 10, so do think carefully about how you present yourself. Try and be succinct and tailor your answer to the job you’re applying for. It’s a question that trips a lot of people up, so it’s worth practising this one out loud so you don’t blank when asked.

2. Why do you want to work for us?

Be specific – show them that you know their list, have read their biggest books and are keeping abreast of what exciting things they are doing. Don’t just read their website (websites are usually out of date), really study their social media feeds and search for articles about them on The Bookseller. What are they doing that you feel really passionately about?

3. What have you read recently and really loved?

If you’re fresh out of university, I know it can be difficult to think of any books beyond what you read on your course. However, to work in publishing (especially editorial, marketing and PR), it is crucial that you have read books that have been published in the last year or so. Go into bookshops and see what books are charting, compare that to the kind of books that are featured in supermarkets, look at the Kindle bestsellers on Amazon as often as you can, and then read read read.

Here is a chance to showcase that you have read books on their list, do try and read a couple of their big books of the last couple of months.

4. What is a recent marketing campaign that really stood out to you, and why?

This will depend entirely on which area of publishing you’re looking to go into e.g. commercial, literary or academic. A couple of stand out campaigns for commercial fiction in the last year or so are Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie and Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare. Lots of pre-publication buzz, a really standout and high concept package, great endorsements from other authors and trade publications, lots of visibility both digitally and on the ground e.g. tube advertisements for Queenie at Brixton station. A similar non-fiction example is Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women. With literary fiction, two examples are Margaret Atwood’s Testaments and Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light (did you see when they placed the Wolf Hall Tudor rose emblem on a billboard in Leicester Square?).

You don’t have to use an example from the publisher you’re applying to – they want to know you know the wider market.

4. Why should I consider hiring you?/What makes you the right candidate for this role?

Here, you want to do the same thing you should have done for your cover letter: refer to the job description. Pick out key phrases from this, boring but important things like good at meeting deadlines, managing conflicting priorities, good people skills, and yes, ultimately, that you love and are excited by the idea of seeing a book from concept to finished product.

5. What have been your major achievements to date?

This doesn’t always come up, but if it does, don’t be afraid. It doesn’t have to be work-related, you can talk about something you did at university or something you achieved outside of work or study. Having other interests is a good thing, and having an example that shows you are capable of taking initiative is even better.

6. Any questions?

Always prepare at least three questions for this. You want the interview to be a conversation. Something I always like to ask is which books the interviewers are really excited about publishing this year.

Competency-based questions

With entry-level positions, there is really only so much they can quiz you about the industry. For the most part, if you’ve got to the interview stage, they already think you’re qualified. They just want to know if your work style will fit in with their team. That’s where competency-based questions come in, things like ‘give me an example of when you had to juggle conflicting priorities’ or ‘tell me about a time that you had to handle a difficult client’. This guide will help you construct your answers in this format: the situation, the obstacle you had to overcome, your strategy, and the (successful) outcome.

Your examples can be from situations you faced at university, any part-time jobs, or even previous internships. It doesn’t matter, the important thing is that you highlight that you know how to handle difficult situations. Publishing is all about working to really tight deadlines, working with lots of different people, and multi-tasking so show them you can do these things.

Final tips for interviews

Be your amazing and authentic self, make good eye contact, smile and be enthusiastic about being there, drink water when your mouth gets dry, don’t panic if you need a minute to think about your answer before you reply, and thank them for their time.

In honour of Jessica Kingsley Publisher’s upcoming book ‘The Bigger Book of Amazing Dyslexics’, we spoke to authors Kathy Forsyth and Kate Power about the incredible work that dyslexic people do across all the creative industries!

Welcome to the colourful world of dyslexia.

Looking to inspire our teenage dyslexics through secondary school and college, we spent three years interviewing amazing dyslexics about the jobs they do. It was an incredible and inspiring experience to meet over fifty happy and successful amazing dyslexics working in a wide range of jobs – from a top London surgeon to a Royal ballet choreographer, and a few famous faces too… The project resulted in a design-led book showing the amazing dyslexics pictured in their working environments alongside their interviews. The wonderful fashion designer Paul Smith supported the project and wrote the foreword to ‘The Bigger Picture Book of Amazing Dyslexics and The Jobs They Do’.

The thing that all these amazing dyslexics share is that they have found careers they love, they have explored subjects and pursuits that they are passionate about, and carved out niche careers for themselves, careers from football to writing for a living. The key is to identify what you are good at and enjoy, to find projects that energise you rather than drain you. Once you know what you’re amazing at, look at what you may struggle with, and find people to work with that can do what you can’t, and vice versa… collaboration is a dyslexic’s best friend!

We talked to our amazing dyslexics about their top tips, what gets them in a pickle and what makes them burst with pride. As a dyslexic is important to know your challenges and build your toolbox of coping strategies and technologies available that make life easier. It’s the ideas that are important, leave ‘spellcheck’ to check the spelling! Our first book ‘The Illustrated Guide to Dyslexia and Its Amazing People’ is an easy way to understand how dyslexia affects you, which provides some useful top tips.

At school, we only study around fifteen subjects, but there are thousands of jobs available using more than these topics. At school, you’re not tested on key skills like empathy or collaborating which are so valuable in the world of work. In this new digital age, new jobs emerge all the time, your perfect job may not have been created yet. Recent research commissioned shows that the things that many dyslexics are good at are needed for the future job market. There’s never been a better time to be dyslexic!

It’s time to change the negative perception of dyslexia and to embrace the skill set and divergent thinking of dyslexics. “Your time has come,” says educational psychologist Katherine Sharkey.

Dyslexia is a different way of learning and thinking and affects everybody differently, it can be mild or severe. About 1 in 10 people are dyslexic, and it’s commonplace in the creative industries where thinking differently is embraced. Sebastian Conran, son of design guru Sir Terrance Conran noted: “In the design industry it’s actually a stigma if you’re not dyslexic.” Lots of entrepreneurs are proudly dyslexic too.

We also interviewed experts in the field of dyslexia, like Professor John Stein FMedSci. Professor & Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford who has said he “wouldn’t want to cure dyslexia; it comes with too many good things.”

Dyslexic strengths are more recognised with companies looking for big picture thinkers. Matt Boyd runs Exceptional Individuals, an employment agency for dyslexics (and other neurodivergent thinkers), it provides support and educates employers about how great minds think different.

Marketing Director at Direct Line Mark Evans believes that “dyslexia is the next big thing in the talent conversation.”

Read more in ‘The Bigger Picture Book of Amazing Dyslexics and The Jobs They Do’ publication date May 2020. You can pre-order your copy here.

Khaleda Rahman has come so far since her internship with Creative Access in 2013. She has worked across the world in offices in London, New York and Sydney, but one thing she has noticed consistently is the diversity problem in journalism. Khaleda shares some of her own experiences with us…

Walking into an unfamiliar newsroom for the first time is daunting for any new journalist, I’m sure—but it’s even more so when you realise you’re one of very few people of colour there.

As a freshly qualified journalist, I secured an internship with a local London newspaper through Creative Access. I’m incredibly thankful that I was able to learn the ropes at a small weekly newspaper so when I made the leap to the nationals and found myself walking into newsroom after newsroom where I was in the minority in the years that followed, I was a much more confident journalist.

Over the past six or so years, I’ve worked at the Birmingham Mail and the Scottish Daily Mail while on the MailOnline graduate scheme and then went to work in MailOnline’s offices in London, New York and Sydney. After a stint as a foreign news reporter back in London, I decided to go freelance and move to Los Angeles. I’m now based back in the U.K. as a reporter for Newsweek.

I’ve been lucky enough to live and work in some of the greatest cities in the world and work on some of the biggest news stories in recent years—the 2016 presidential election, ISIS and “Megxit” to name just a few.

But one thing I’ve noticed everywhere I’ve worked is the lack of diversity. It’s not just an issue in UK newsrooms, but also in the US and Australia.

Don’t just take my word for it—there are plenty of statistics that speak for themselves. According to the National Council for the Training of Journalists, 94 percent of journalists in the UK are white and it is 87 percent in the US. Research in the US also found that employees in newsrooms are more likely to be white and male than anywhere else in the country. In Australia, newsrooms are overwhelmingly white and a recent study found that more than a third of hard news stories reflect negatively on minority communities.

That lack of ethnic diversity is most glaring when stories related to race have made headlines, whether it’s about politics or terrorism. It’s clear there’s a problem when mainstream news outlets misidentify prominent people of color or someone like the BBC’s Naga Munchetty is unfairly penalised for voicing her experience of racism when speaking about racist comments made by Donald Trump. And of course, there’s the specific kind of coverage of the Duchess of Sussex that some have claimed is fuelled by racism, while others insist has nothing to do with her skin colour.

In my years in journalism, I’ve had an editor suggest I would have an easier time securing job interviews if I Anglicised my name on my CV. I’ve had another confuse me for the only other brown woman in the office. I’ve seen the surprise on the faces of colleagues when I’ve told them I’m Muslim. And sometimes, I’ve had to strongly push back on headlines that I feel are unnecessarily inflammatory or biased.

But when it comes to these kinds of things, it can be challenging to have your voice heard. Speak too loud and you’ll be accused of “playing the race card.” Say nothing and it keeps happening. Sometimes you might feel it’s better to pick your battles as you always have a job to be getting on.

The onus shouldn’t be on the few people of color in newsrooms to educate their colleagues, especially if they’re in more junior positions.

Of course, more people of color should be recruited into newsrooms but tokenism in the workplace won’t make a big enough difference. They should also be recruited into more senior roles and changes should be made at the top.

Newsrooms should reflect the communities and demographics they represent, and it’s disheartening to say that almost a decade after I started on my path to become a journalist, there’s still a long way to go.

Journalists from diverse backgrounds can add so much value to newsrooms today and ensure reporting is more accurate and comprehensive. While it can be a tough road at times, the job is also an incredibly rewarding one. Over the past few years, I’ve had the chance to pursue some of the stories I feel most passionate about, including revealing the identity of a jihadi bride from Scotland, speaking to a Saudi teenager who fled the kingdom and barricaded herself in a hotel in Bangkok Airport and interview a man who survived the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

There are plenty of stories like these that need to be told and we are the ones who should tell them.

You can follow Khaleda on Twitter at @Khaleda

We are so happy to welcome the newest member to the Creative Access team, Laura, who has joined us as our Head of Programmes! In honour of her joining, we arranged a Q&A with her to learn more about her role and what brought her to Creative Access, and ask what advice she would give to young creatives just starting out…

First of all, welcome, Laura! How are you enjoying your time here so far?

I’m settling in really well thanks, it’s such a lovely team and supportive environment to work within. I’m only in my second week and it’s been a busy start including two trips to Bristol already! I’ve especially enjoyed learning about the breath and depth of Creative Access’ work, working with a range of creative organisations as well as matching mentees with mentors. Of course, I’m still getting up to speed with everything!

How would you describe your role as Head of Programmes?

It’s a brand new role which is exciting, including outreach – so as many people as possible from under-represented careers pursue creative careers; and then support – so they can progress and flourish once they secure their first role. My role involves managing programmes, maintaining existing relationships and building new partnerships.

What brought you to this career path?

My background is in Art History, Anthropology and Youth Work. I worked at Tate for 10 years, starting off as an Intern: Youth Programmes in the Learning team at Tate Britain and then as Customer Services Assistant for Tate Enterprises Ltd. in their Publishing team. I worked as Assistant Curator: Young People’s Programmes and then as Curator where I led on the delivery of the cross-arts education programme for young people aged 15 – 25 years, which engaged 20,000 visitors per year.

In 2018, I completed an MA in Applied Anthropology, Community and Youth Work at Goldsmiths University, whilst on sabbatical leave. I then worked as Employment Manager, Create Jobs Programme at A New Direction to oversee the delivery of various strategic projects to support the next generation of creative talent and bring in new ideas and energy to the creative and cultural sector. I am passionate about making positive change, inspiring young people and this new role at Creative Access’ is well suited to my interests and experience.

What advice would you give to young creatives at the start of their careers?

1. Be kind and respectful – treat others how you wish to be treated
2. Do your research into individuals, organisations and projects
3. Prioritise self care, your physical and mental heath comes first
4. Don’t compromise on your values and what matters to you most
5. Keep in touch – your network is your net worth

What’s one interesting thing about you that’s not on your CV?

I have a really loud laugh which sometimes shocks people! It occasionally gets me into trouble but generally people seem to laugh along too.

Former Creative Access Intern Olivia Evans tells us about life as a newbie in the TV industry. A year on, she reflects on all that she has achieved…

Today is the day I complete my one-year Creative Access Researcher placement with Objective Media Group and what a busy year it has been. For those who don’t know, Objective is an umbrella company encompassing many different TV productions companies and labels. Through my placement I have been lucky enough to work at three of them.

Having spent most of my career at one company, progressing from Runner to Researcher there, I had little experience moving from company to company, so I was nervous, but keen for this new experience. Having worked on three long running shows I was ready for a change and was immediately given the opportunity to work in development at Hitchhiker TV. This was the area I had wanted to get into from when I first decided to work in Television. Within the first fortnight I was drafting treatments and researching ideas, as well as being encouraged to come up with ideas of my own. When we got funding for a pilot I was asked to do casting research for the show and learnt outreach skills that would come in handy in my next role.

May came quickly and I moved to my second Label at Objective: Second Star Productions. Here I was a Casting Researcher and then Locations Researcher on the prime time Channel 4 show Flirty Dancing. My first time ever working on prime time television. This was a whirlwind three months. Street casting in Liverpool, frantic calls to councils to get filming permits and dashing around London on recces. These were two roles I had little experience in and it wasn’t until the summer was over that I realised how much I’d learnt. Our series finale Stand Up to Cancer Celebrity Special airs tonight.

In September I moved to my final company at Objective: Betty. Here I started out on a proof of concept for Fox called Turf Wars. This entailed a short preproduction period followed by long days on set in a field in Essex, followed by long days in the edit. Once again I was learning on my feet. There wasn’t an edit producer, it was just the editor, the executive producer and me. We pieced together the new show and tried to interpret what the channel wanted. I loved being in the edit and when I finished, my exec was kind enough to suggest that I should become an edit producer. We are still waiting to hear if the show has been commissioned, but in the meantime I moved onto the Betty Development team. Where I met lovely former creative access alumni Gama.

I have greatly enjoyed my placement and feel it has really helped me further my career. I have learnt so many invaluable skills, met so many kind people in the industry and gained experiences that would have taken me far longer had I not been on the scheme. All in all I feel far more employable!

The organisations we work with use Facebook ads for a range of different goals: driving donations, email subscribers or video views, for example. But regardless of the goal, for Facebook ad campaigns to succeed it’s crucial to drive clicks from the right people as cheaply as possible.

To make sure we’re always spending ads budget as efficiently as possible, we regularly test new ideas to challenge and improve on best practice. And this testing can throw up some surprising results – here are just a few of the things we’ve learned.

Images can sometimes be an afterthought of the creative process, but we regularly find the ad’s image impacts performance even more than the copy. A trend we’ve consistently seen in the past is that the more emotive an image is, the better it performs. But recently, we’ve found that in many cases maps significantly out-perform other more relevant or emotive images we test against, even if its geography isn’t particularly relevant or unique to the campaign.

It’s a fascinating result, and we’re still trying to work out why it is maps perform so well. Our current leading theories are 1) the simplicity of the graphic makes it stand out in people’s timelines, 2) if the map shows the country someone lives in this makes the campaign feel more relevant to them, or 3) a map gives a ‘current affairs’ tone, which appeals to the kind of people who tend to engage with progressive campaigns. But if you have any theories of your own, get in touch – we’d love to hear them.

It’s easy to assume that everyone knows that any part of a Facebook ad is clickable. But on one campaign, even though the copy had a clear call to action, we started to see comments underneath asking how to sign up. It wasn’t immediately clear to everyone they needed to click the ad. So we included a page URL in the ad copy to see if this would increase sign ups – and it did, by 45%. It certainly doesn’t look pretty, but a URL link does scream ‘click here’.

Facebook gives you the option to add a call to action button like ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Learn More’. But we’ve found in some tests that using a button actually reduced click rates, versus not having a button at all.

Instead, we’ve found it much more effective to include a tailored call to action in the headline copy. We’ve found a 40% increase in conversions for ads using a call to action in the headline, versus those without. Adding your own call to action in the ad’s headline means you can tailor the language to be as specific and compelling as possible – and it works.

Our tests on email and action pages show that when people know the action is quick and easy, they’re more likely to do it. Facebook ads are no different; telling someone ‘it only takes 30 seconds’ can actually see conversions rise by 11%. We found that ‘30 seconds’ also beats ‘one minute’, which makes sense considering the quicker time should be most compelling. But surprisingly, saying ‘it only takes 10 seconds’ actually produces fewer conversions than ‘30 seconds’. Our hunch is that quicker is only better if it still sounds realistic.

Results like the ones above inform our work, but testing is a never ending process. There are always so many factors at play in an ad’s success, and it’s impossible to say that any of these findings will always hold true. But it just goes to show that data is always more illuminating than going off gut instincts alone.

Have you ever had surprising results with Facebook ads? We’d love to know.

Forward Action is a digital movement-building agency for progressive causes. They work with clients from campaign conception through to results, creating strategies, content and tools to get the job done. Their clients are some of the most exciting and impactful organisations in campaigning, including Greenpeace, The Labour Party, Centrepoint, WaterAid, and SumOfUs.

From the depths of Dublin to championing diversity in literature, former CA intern Namra Amir shares her amazing journey into publishing with some helpful hints along the way!

It’s been a full year since I was a Creative Access intern, and what a year it has been!

Hailing from Ireland, I didn’t think my prospects of breaking into the publishing industry were high at home. It is fiercely competitive in Dublin, the industry is smaller and there aren’t any BAME initiatives. I didn’t even know BAME schemes existed until I stumbled across Creative Access! I thought not being a UK citizen would hinder my chances, but thankfully it wasn’t the case.

I wanted to work in publishing because I have a goal of championing diversity in literature. I studied English Literature at Manchester University and throughout the four years, I didn’t encounter much ethnic writing until I conducted my own thesis on Muslim Female writers. I had to go searching for these writers and I always wondered how easier it could have been if I found it sooner.

I can still remember interview prepping with Anouska (Director of Talent) and her impressed tone when I told her about my thesis struggles and desire to rectify the situation. She was so encouraging and I felt truly grateful to be heard.

Then I landed my dream internship at Faber & Faber. Never in a million years did I think I would get it. It was everything I wanted; a mix of poetry and fiction. The home of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, whose poetry I learned at school. Also the home of Nadeem Aslam, an amazing Pakistani novelist. A mix of both my ethnicities combined, exactly what I wanted!

For three months, I was surrounded by the writers who I adored and the most hardworking and talented staff. From publicity to marketing, editorial and rights, I learnt so many valuable lessons about publishing. While learning about the industry, I also made friends for life at Faber who mentored and guided me consistently. The three months ended and I had finished with a wealth of publishing knowledge. But I desperately wanted to stay. Thankfully I did when a job opening appeared in the publicity department.

It’s been a year since I was an intern at Faber & Faber and now I’m a Marketing Assistant for the Children’s team at Bloomsbury. Though my job and company has changed, the connections I’ve built remain strong. I went back to Creative Access to give an induction talk and pass on what I’ve learnt. Though I no longer need mentoring from my Creative Access mentor, we have become close friends who still catch up. The family I created at Faber & Faber are still checking in and championing my success.

You can follow Namra on Instagram

To mark its 70th anniversary, Kavita Puri sheds a light on the untold stories of those who witnessed India’s partition in 1947 with the BBC Documentary, Partition Voices. The award-winning TV executive producer and radio broadcaster also recounts their experiences in her new book, Partition Voices: Untold British Stories…

In 2017, I ran a project called Partition Voices whose main component was a three part Radio 4 series. It documented eye-witness accounts of colonial British and British South Asians who lived through the partition of British India in the summer of 1947. It also recorded interviews with the children and grandchildren of the partition generation on the legacy in Britain today.

Speaking to the partition generation was one of the most moving experiences of my life. Some were speaking out loud for the first time about what they saw. Some children and grandchildren wept silently as they heard about what happened to their family seventy years ago. The stories were told with great sadness, but the interviewees wanted them recorded and heard. The collection of testimonies paint a nuanced picture.

The pull to the land of their birth, even if it was a place they had to flee, and had not returned to in many decades, still persisted strongly. And they remember a time before partition where people of different faiths lived largely peacefully.

My book, Partition Voices, is based on the original interviews from the BBC Radio 4 series – many of which are now in the British Library Sound Archive and able to view online – and on subsequent interviews with each contributor and independent research.

Many whose lives were disrupted by partition migrated to post-war Britain and they put down roots here. But they didn’t speak about their experiences. Now they are finally opening up, it’s important that we listen.

Kavita Puri works in BBC Current Affairs and is an award-winning TV executive producer and radio broadcaster. Her landmark three-part series Partition Voices for BBC Radio 4 won the Royal Historical Society’s Radio and Podcast Award and its overall Public History Prize. Her critically acclaimed Radio 4 series, Three Pounds in My Pocket, charts the social history of British South Asians from the post-war years. She is currently making the third series. She worked for many years at Newsnight and studied Law at Cambridge University.

You can follow Kavita on Twitter and Instagram at @kavpuri

You can buy a copy of Partition Voices here.

To be in theatre or to not be in theatre? Our former Creative Access intern from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Armani Ur-Rub decided to go with the former option and shares his journey into the Arts with us…

It’s not uncommon to finish university and struggle to find your first job. In fact, I reckon it’s more common than not in the current climate. Being plunged into an over-saturated job market, where it feels like every job spec requires ‘at least two years’ office experience’, can feel like an uphill battle. But winning is not impossible.

After graduating, I immediately went looking for a job in the Arts, but every application I sent off seemed to hit a brick wall. Application after application fell by the wayside without response, and it’s natural to feel downtrodden by that, but that’s not a reason to give up – it’s a reason to search harder.

About 11% of all NPO (Non Profit Organisation) staff are Black or Asian*. A staggeringly small amount, but progress is being made (we are that progress). Art and Government quotas demand that council-funded organisations hit a “BAME” workforce quota, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Widespread awareness from the Arts Council is good. But it’s still easy to overthink that quota and to feel like a token – and that’s a totally fair feeling to have, but it’s probably not the best way to look at it. And that’s the second way in which Creative Access changes so many lives.

They don’t just help you find a job, they help you become part of a growing, and diverse community who are taking the Arts by storm.

They exist to rebalance the Arts

• To help BAME professionals feel represented on stage, screen or in journalism
• To help redress unfair representation
• And they help you meet other interns and alumni who have been through exactly what you’ve been through

I had lived in Newcastle and have frequented other parts of the North, but I wasn’t prepared for how overwhelmingly white Stratford-upon-Avon would be. But it’s hardly fair to blame the RSC for the demographic of the area around it. When you see a show with disabled or POC actors, you can immediately tell that steps in the right direction are being taken.

Moving to Stratford-upon-Avon was difficult, but it was a leap of faith I’m happy I made. How would I have looked at myself if I hadn’t uprooted my London life, knowing that I had a chance to help pioneer diversity in the arts? Someone always must be the first…and equally, sometimes you might think you’re the first, and you’re not; but it’s still important to always tell yourself that your presence is making an important difference.

Creative Access still gave me an opportunity to come back down to London regularly for masterclasses where I met like-minded, excellent CA interns who had started their journey at the same time as me. Following my five-month internship, I came back to London with more confidence and an improved understanding of how theatre worked. I have now secured an improved role at the RSC in their London office where I work on the press and marketing for all their shows at the Barbican and in the West End, including Matilda The Musical.

If you’re an aspiring BAME who’s looking for a way into the Arts, look no further; Creative Access will support you every step of the way.

You can follow Armani on Twitter

*Overall in 2016/17, 11% of all NPO staff were from a BAME background – the same as the previous year – compared with 16% of the working age population. Across all staff, 54% identified as white, while 31% were unknown and 4% did not disclose. – from Arts Council England stats, taken from an article on The Stage.