Creative & Cultural Skills is an industry-led body which:

• Campaigns for a more diverse sector and raise ambition
• Helps better inform career choices people make
• Ensures qualifications meet real employment needs
• Develops solutions that upskill the workforce
• Produces high quality industry intelligence.

Working with employers

All our work is informed by discussions with industry.

We establish industry working groups to inform our work in Advertising, Crafts, Cultural Heritage, Design, Literature, Music, Performing, and Visual Arts. We work with representatives drawn from a wide range of organisations and occupations across the UK. They bring specialist knowledge and experience to the skills issues facing their industry.

Consultation

We have a number of programmes and initiatives under development and we regularly consult for the government, industry, awarding bodies, and education and training providers. We are committed to listening to the views of everyone working in – or seeking to join – the creative and cultural sector.

Connecting with education & training

We work with the education and training sector to ensure that the courses they provide meet the needs of industry.

By working closely with education providers and maintaining a constructive dialogue between education and industry, we are enabling industry to have a real say in education and training.

We have a close relationship with the Association of Colleges (AOC) Creative and Cultural Group, chaired by Fintan Donahue, Principal of North Hertfordshire College.

The Government's ambition to make this country a world-class leader in employment and skills by 2020 is being realised. We are giving employers a powerful voice in closing skills gaps so they can control the design of training and its delivery, where and when employees need it. We are at the beginning of a new era for collaboration between employers, colleges and trainers. Direct negotiation and delivery of workforce training makes a huge difference in the workplace. — John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Our research

All our work is informed by research. We launched the Creative Blueprint in 2008; this is our sector skills agreement. Our research team works with industry partners and other stakeholders.We have a year round programme of gathering labour market intelligence and reviewing The Blueprint.

The Creative Blueprint is at the heart of everything we do as an organisation. All our flagship projects have been developed in response to Blueprint findings.  We publicly launched the individual nations documents in June 2008 for England, Scotland, Wales/Cymru and Northern Ireland.

Partners

Because we recognise that we cannot achieve our aims alone, we work with a range of partners. We are currently working closely with the Cultural Leadership Programme and the UK Design Alliance.

The role of Creative & Cultural Skills in joining up all the relevant organisations of all types – employers, educators, funding bodies and public sector departments and agencies – is invaluable. The time and energy involved in making and maintaining these connections, and putting forward the needs and special issues we have as a sector, is significant and would of course have far less impact if we did this individually. — Helen Rushby, Head of People Development, English Heritage