Our vision

– to make the UK the world's creative and cultural hub

Our mission

– to turn talent into productive skills and jobs
 

Our five strategic objectives

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 employer needs
• Develops solutions that upskill the workforce
• Produces high quality industry intelligence.

Our values

• Passion — our passion and commitment to everything we do matches that of the people who work in our industries
• Flexibility — being open minded, embracing difference and knowing that "one size does not fit all" when it comes to developing solutions
• Empowerment — increasing a person's confidence and courage so they can expand their horizons
• Respect — to act with integrity and respect for each other and work with an open-minded approach to diversity
• Simplicity — being clear about our purpose, direct in our communication and remain concise and jargon free
• Responsibility – being accountable and taking full ownership for our work.
   

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.

Working with employers

All our work is informed by discussions with industry.

We establish industry working groups to inform our work in Craft, Cultural Heritage, Design, Literature, Music, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts across the UK. 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.

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 Donohue, Principal of North Hertfordshire College.

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