About us

Creative & Cultural Skills is the Sector Skills Council for Advertising, Crafts, Cultural Heritage, Design, Music, Performing, Literary and Visual Arts. We bridge the gap between industry, education and the government, to give employers a real influence over education and skills in the UK.

Founded in May 2004, Creative & Cultural Skills was granted its licence to operate by the Sector Skills Development Agency on 1st June, 2005. What are Sector Skills Councils?

We are not a quango or funding body, and we are not just here to promote government policy. We're part of the sector we have been established to serve. Our Chairman is Tony Hall CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, and our Chief Executive is Tom Bewick. Our board of directors is made up of high profile representatives from the creative and cultural industries.

Our flagship projects are being developed as solutions to specific skills needs. Find out about how we work.

The important thing about what the skills councils are doing is that we're a bunch of employers who feel passionately about raising skills in the sectors we represent. We're saying to the education providers that these are the sort of skills we need now – help us provide them. That's not happened before, and I think that's a phenomenally important change in the way things get done.
— Tony Hall Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House and Chair of Creative & Cultural Skills