ERIC

How are young people meant to enter the creative industries if they know nothing about them? 💁♀️ Careers education in schools is incredibly limited, especially when it comes to creative roles. So industry needs to do more to help young people learn about their options. Today I had a look through the ERIC app and immediately found loads of careers resources to help young people build their knowledge as well as their confidence. Shouldn't more creative organisations be doing stuff like this? We need to stop leaving Gen Z to figure things out for themselves and give them the information they need to become creative leaders.

❌ Not all scientists work in traditional labs! ❌ A new £37 million UK initiative is tapping into the expertise of chemists 🧪 to explore and preserve cultural heritage ⚱️. ------------------- This perfectly highlights how scientific skills are invaluable in creative industries - whether analysing ancient materials or preserving art. It's a reminder that not all students studying chemistry at school or uni will end up working in Big Pharma, space or traditional research labs. With universities and institutions like the National Trust and Tate participating, chemists are playing a crucial role in preserving history and telling stories from the past. We at ERIC LOVE ❤️ a clear example of how science and creative industries intersect! 🤝 ------------------- #creativeindustries #science #stem #creativity #culture #heritage #creativecareers #creativeindustry

💥 Andy Serkis says there's a huge problem with Film & TV apprenticeships 💥 He believes they aren't training people effectively. Ultimately, the young people and employers are both being let down by the government who have designed and executed apprenticeships poorly design. His company The Imaginarium has worked with Coventry University to create a training scheme that he says is doing the job that an apprenticeship should... What are the main issues with apprenticeships in Film & TV? 👉 Not flexible enough 👉 Hidden administrative costs 👉 Not in line with industry skills shortages So, people in Film & TV… do you agree that the design of current apprenticeships aren't sufficient? Should we be doing a Serkis and experimenting with our own training schemes to yield better results, or should the onus be on government to make a better version of what already exists? #creativeindustries #screenindustries #apprenticeships #training #apprentice #screen #creativecareers #skills

Factory international have trained 🎉 1,000 PEOPLE 🎉 in creative skills. And guess what… 60% have found paid work in the art sector. If that isn’t success, I don’t know what is 🤷♀️ --------------------- The free courses run by Factory International at Manchester's flagship arts venue, Aviva Studios, teach skills such as production lighting, sound mixing and stage set design. Katy Egan-Daynes, who runs one of the courses, said their success showed "you don't need to go to London, it's going on here in Manchester". EXACTLY. --------------------- We’re lucky enough at ERIC to work with Factory International, (shoutout to the FI team we work with; Gary Briggs, Sameed Rezayan, Alex Downie, Ilona Bartlett, Amber Calland, Kiran Sethi, Natalie Forrester) and we applaud their commitment to not just being an incredible creative venue, but also being a community builder, a skills provider and an equal opportunities activist. This is definitely a success story worth shouting about! #creativeindustries #creativecareers #training #skills #employability

Factory international have trained 🎉 1,000 PEOPLE 🎉 in creative skills. And guess what… 60% have found paid work in the art sector. If that isn’t success, I don’t know what is 🤷♀️ --------------------- The free courses run by Factory International at Manchester's flagship arts venue, Aviva Studios, teach skills such as production lighting, sound mixing and stage set design. Katy Egan-Daynes, who runs one of the courses, said their success showed "you don't need to go to London, it's going on here in Manchester". EXACTLY. --------------------- We’re lucky enough at ERIC to work with Factory International, (shoutout to the FI team we work with; Gary Briggs, Sameed Rezayan, Alex Downie, Ilona Bartlett, Amber Calland, Kiran Sethi, Natalie Forrester) and we applaud their commitment to not just being an incredible creative venue, but also being a community builder, a skills provider and an equal opportunities activist. This is definitely a success story worth shouting about! #creativeindustries #creativecareers #training #skills #employability

This is why creative careers education is vital! Not just for young people but for their parents as well. If this many parents are unaware of the huge amount of job roles in the creative industries, how can we expect young people to know about them? Working in the creative industries means so much more than being in front of a camera or being an artist and creative organisations have a responsibility to tell people that. Creative organisations are too reliant on young people knowing what career paths are open to them and how to reach them. But how can they know that if they've never been taught it?

🚨Young people know nothing about careers in the creative industries🚨 So why don’t companies do more to teach them? —------------ On the ERIC app we have tonnes of articles from creative organisations, trying to teach young people about the roles available in their industry. But not enough companies have realised how important this is yet. Young people often aren’t even taught about the basics of the creative industries, so how are they supposed to know about specific career paths or entry level roles? Creating resources that ensure young people have access to even the most base level information goes a long way towards helping them find their place in the creative sector. To demonstrate, I’ve pulled together five of my favourite articles from the ERIC app that aim to give young people a bit more knowledge. —------------ Scripted vs. Unscripted: What’s the difference?🤷♀️ - ITV Ever wondered how a book is made?🤔 - Penguin Publishing Group Books What actually is VFX, Animation & Games?👾 - Escape Studios What does a Set & Costume Designer ACTUALLY do?🧐 - Royal Shakespeare Company What’s it like to Intern at a West End Theatre?🎭 - Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass Trust —------------ Each of these articles give young people insight into the world of the creative industries, whether it be general info like the book publishing process, or more specific info like what a set designer actually does. Each helps Gen Z learn more about their creative options and position themselves to jump on the career ladder.

Why are we pretending that a career as a content creator isn’t achievable, sustainable or respectable? 🫠 ------------- UK MD of YouTube, Alison Lomax, wrote an article recently highlighting the organic growth and power of the creator economy and how everyone tends to underplay or overlook it’s potential. This sentence in particular struck me: “Trailblazers like Brandon B, Sidemen and Eleanor Neale run businesses that generate millions of pounds of annual revenue and support many well-paying jobs.” 💪 So much of the time, young people are told that content creation is a dead-end dream. But actually, I’m seeing growing evidence that it’s far more lucrative and possible than many are led to believe. ------------- Here are some headline facts that Alison laid out that might help illustrate the reality of the creators on YouTube: 💥 In the UK alone, 15,000 YouTubers employ other people to work on their channels 💥 It’s a huge export for the UK; 85% of our creators’ watch time comes from overseas 💥 YouTube’s low barrier to entry means that anyone, anywhere can build a thriving creative business connecting with people all over the world. 💥 In 20 years, tens of thousands of Brits have built creative careers via YouTube ------------- So… should we be more open to content creation as a career option for our students or kids? What do you think? 👇

Why are we pretending that a career as a content creator isn’t achievable, sustainable or respectable? 🫠 ------------- UK MD of YouTube, Alison Lomax, wrote an article recently highlighting the organic growth and power of the creator economy and how everyone tends to underplay or overlook it’s potential. This sentence in particular struck me: “Trailblazers like Brandon B, Sidemen and Eleanor Neale run businesses that generate millions of pounds of annual revenue and support many well-paying jobs.” 💪 So much of the time, young people are told that content creation is a dead-end dream. But actually, I’m seeing growing evidence that it’s far more lucrative and possible than many are led to believe. ------------- Here are some headline facts that Alison laid out that might help illustrate the reality of the creators on YouTube: 💥 In the UK alone, 15,000 YouTubers employ other people to work on their channels 💥 It’s a huge export for the UK; 85% of our creators’ watch time comes from overseas 💥 YouTube’s low barrier to entry means that anyone, anywhere can build a thriving creative business connecting with people all over the world. 💥 In 20 years, tens of thousands of Brits have built creative careers via YouTube ------------- So… should we be more open to content creation as a career option for our students or kids? What do you think? 👇

DON'T GIVE UP. ONE DAY, YOU'LL LOOK BACK AND BE GLAD YOU DIDN'T. I used to love and use BBC Bitesize Careers when I was growing up, but back then, there were hardly any resources focused on careers in the creative industries. Samantha Hornsby and I had the idea for a creative careers-focused platform nearly 10 years ago, and we're just as passionate now as we were then. Today, seeing ERIC nominated for Best Employment Advice alongside BBC Bitesize and the National Careers Service is a powerful reminder of why we keep going. We’re making a difference, disrupting a space where more needs to be done. 💪 💪 💪 #awards #founder #ERIC