Founder and executive chair of Creative Access, Josie Dobrin, has been featured amongst leaders in the PR and advertising world in an article on how to address the ‘high churn’ of junior staff in the industry. Read the piece in full here.
A Bookseller article by Caroline Carpenter focusing on the prospects for the book trade in the north-west features former Creative Access intern and current editor at Orion Books.
The article reads:
Witty believes that, despite being encouraged early on in his publishing career to relocate to the capital, he would not have signed the book if he had. Coming from a working-class background in Merseyside, Witty says: “Publishing was never an industry I’d heard of growing up.” It was only during his postgraduate degree when a careers officer pointed him towards Creative Access that he discovered the industry and the opportunities within it. He was accepted onto the Penguin Random House mentoring programme in January 2021, where he was “brilliantly supported and taught about the industry”, however, “throughout all my research and all the advice I was given, one thing was clear: if I really wanted to make it in publishing, I’d have to move to London”.
Read more here.
Vicky Janaway joined a panel along with the wonderful people at Smarts (MSQ’s PR agency), at the latest in Creative Access’ series of inspirational masterclasses. During the event, there were lots of great questions about careers and in particular, career moves. From how to move to agency-side from client-side, or vice versa, as well as how to freelance, or, perhaps, understandably, what it takes to be successful. As Janaway offered advice at the event about career decision making and reflected on how important these choices can feel with each step, she wondered about how we can truly own our non-linear career stories and a source of career inspiration came to mind.
Bhavini Goyate, Creative Access programmes manager (alumni), featured on CH Video’s ‘A Really Useful Podcast #1 | How do I get into the TV/Film/Video production business?’ detailing our services to school/college or university leavers.
Research findings within Creative Access’ Disability Report 2022 were quoted in Campaign’s article covering Clear Channel, Heineken and Arla’s adaptation of OOH ads for neurodiversity drive.
Clear Channel UK has joined forces with Heineken, Arla, Keep Britain Tidy and LeoReader for the launch of “Different minds, better outcomes” – a campaign devised to make ads more neurodivergent-friendly.
About 15-20% of the UK population is neurodiverse, and, according to a Creative Access report, 54% of people employed in the advertising, marketing and media industry are neurodivergent.
Lauren Brown in The Bookseller has reported on the return of the David Miller Internship for the second year in partnership with Deborah Rogers Foundation (DRF) and Creative Access. The programme offers two internships in an effort to create publishing industry entry pathways for people in underrepresented groups.
The internships will provide an entry-level introduction to rights and agenting in publishing companies and literary agencies, providing a full understanding of the role of rights professionals within the wider industry. Companies committed to the programme and which will provide placements include Penguin Random House, Faber, Profile Books, David Higham, Greyhound Literary, ILA, PEW Literary and Eccles Fisher.
Weber Shandwick UK has joined forces with social enterprise Creative Access to create Launchpad, a programme that aims to enable individuals from under-represented communities to enter the comms industry, Elizabeth Wiredu writes in PR Week.
It forms a key partnership and emphasizes the talent strategy to intentionally drive the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan at the grassroots level. Weber Shandwick and Creative Access will work together to provide those on the programme with unique opportunities to gain practical knowledge in areas such as public relations, marketing, social media, or corporate communications and build industry connections.
This partnership will include a three-month paid summer internship at Weber Shandwick UK from July -September 2023, providing individuals with hands-on experience, exposure to real-world projects, and access to mentors from the creative industries. Creative Access is managing the recruitment process and will provide career support for those on the programme, including an induction to working in the creative industries, a “buddy” from the CA community, access to monthly masterclasses and the wider CA community, training and ongoing pastoral care.
Bibi Hilton, CEO of Creative Access featured on PRmoment Podcast, an insiders view of the structure, skill set and role of a modern in-house communications team.
Click here to listen to the full episode and hear from Bibi all the details of Creative Access’ mission, what creative employers who don’t have a diverse range of employees get wrong, and how individuals can access our support.
Bibi Hilton, CEO of Creative Access, featured in Rohan Banerjee’s Raconteur article discussing the use of positive action schemes in senior leadership recruitment.
Bibi Hilton is the CEO of Creative Access, a charity focusing on diversity within the arts and media industries. She takes the same view. “The talent is there,” she says. “But companies need to cast their net wide enough to reach senior individuals… Whether that means fishing where the fish are using more diverse jobs boards, or working with external partners who inherently have an inclusive pool of talent within their networks.”
Anoushka Dossa, Creative Access’ director or recruitment, has contributed her advice to Rafe Uddin‘s piece “How to use your experience for a standout job application” in the Financial Times weekend edition.
“Rather than applying for every role you find, it is better to choose quality over quantity, says Anoushka Dossa, director of intern recruitment at Creative Access, a charity that provides career support and access to the UK creative industries. “Consider earnings, benefits, corporate social responsibility — all the things that are important to you.”
Advanced Television report on the findings of the Freelancer Report, conducted by Creative Access, ‘Data: UK TV freelance creatives demand change’. Creative Access research showed that although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy, as over one in two freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
“Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood of a creative organisation,” says Bibi Hilton, CEO, Creative Access. “They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly spikes and there’s no time or budget to hire to plug highly valued, and often specialist skills gaps. And yet, our survey shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
“At Creative Access we’ve been at the forefront of supporting diverse talent for over a decade, it’s all part of our mission to make the creative industries reflect UK society. However, we also appreciate our own role in offering career-long support – particularly when talent is self-employed and lies outside the safety net of an organisation.”
- Freelancers ask for reasonable adjustments & employer training to thrive
- 50% of freelancers don’t feel supported by the employers they work with
- 1 in 5 (22%) became a freelancer due to negative experiences in a perm role
- Disabled individuals 30% more likely freelancing after negative perm role experience
- 54% say they’re offered a day rate or salary below their level
Creative Access, a leading UK diversity and inclusion social enterprise today reveals new research that shows although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy as 1 in 2 freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
This is despite the creative industry’s heavy reliance on its freelance workforce. Self-employed talent currently represents a third of resource in the creative economy (source) – sectors such as film, TV, journalism, PR and many more have historically relied on freelance support to deliver projects and plug valued skills gaps.
Creative workplaces ‘excluding’ freelancers
Although demand for freelance workforce support in the creative industries shows no signs of shrinking, overall satisfaction is waning among the self-employed. The report from Creative Access surveying under-represented freelancers in the creative industries highlights poor standards from employers. When asked ‘do employers support freelancers and include them in their teams & organisations?’ half of respondents (50%) said no.
Unsurprisingly, 1 in 2 freelancers also said late payment from employers was an issue. And 1 in 3 disabled respondents said they went freelance due to a negative experience in a permanent role, this was higher than the average 1 in 5, which sadly raises a bigger issue of disabled freelancers being 30% more likely to have suffered bad workplace experiences as staffers, this ‘otherised’ treatment seems to continue into self-employed life.
Not all bad for freelance talent
Despite challenges freelancers face, respondents are overall pleased with their career path, pointing to several positive aspects about being self-employed, suggesting their job gives them satisfaction, namely around:
- remote work (62%)
- project diversity (61%)
- independence (61%)
- it being beneficial to their health & wellbeing (42%)
- and freedom to select clients (32%)
How can employers & the industry help freelancers thrive?
Despite positive experiences being self-employed, freelancers didn’t hold back in identifying how employers and the creative industry at large can better support them to do great work. It’s no coincidence that respondents said employer training on how to best support freelancers is one of the most important resolutions to the freelance, employer disconnect.
Respondents also pointed towards several key action points employers and the creative industry at large can take to help them thrive:
- Make it clear as an employer you will make reasonable adjustments for disabled freelancers – 91% of disabled freelancers in our survey highlighted this was an issue with employers.
- 78% of freelancers in our survey said professional training was one of the most important areas employers and industry bodies can support them
- Providing access to a mentor with a similar lived experience, was valued by 63%
- Access to networking events to build their client and peer contact base (67%)
- As well as training for employers on how to best support freelancers (48%)
“Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood of a creative organisation,” says Creative Access CEO, Bibi Hilton: “They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly spikes and there’s no time or budget to hire to plug highly valued, and often specialist skills gaps. And yet, our survey shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
“At Creative Access we’ve been at the forefront of supporting diverse talent for over a decade, it’s all part of our mission to make the creative industries reflect UK society. However, we also appreciate our own role in offering career-long support – particularly when talent is self-employed and lies outside the safety net of an organisation.”