How We Work

Industry Working Groups

We have established Industry Working Groups for Advertising, Crafts, Cultural Heritage, Design, Music, Performing, Visual & Literary Arts. They are made up of 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.

The Working Groups work strategically to define the skills agenda, improve workforce development and identify future skills needs.

Consultation

We are committed to listening to the views of everyone working in - or seeking to join - the creative and cultural sector. 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.

Connecting with Education & Training

There is no shortage of people wanting to work in the creative and cultural industries, and no shortage of training offered. But are students getting the skills that employers are looking for?

There are good examples of world-class training out there - but there are also many courses that employers are telling us are not relevant. These qualifications do not provide the skills that employers say they need.

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.

At the moment we have a slightly fragmented relationship between industry and academia and there are not enough connecting points between the two. Academia has a lot to do in terms of creating bridges within the sector.
— Professor Stuart MacDonald, Head of Gray's School of Art,
Robert Gordon University

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

The creative and cultural industries are complicated. How do you define a sector that includes theatre directors, artists, music publishers and taxidermists, to name but a few! Until now, no reliable data has been available. We carried out the first baseline study of Advertising, Cultural Heritage, Design, Music and the Performing, Visual and Literary Arts in 2006.

"The Footprint 06/07" is a comprehensive map of how these industries work. For anybody looking for authoritative data on the creative and cultural sector, the Footprint is an invaluable resource.

Our research underpins everything we do. We can't develop practical solutions to the skill issues facing our sectors without knowing where the gaps are. The Creative Blueprint is the action plan setting out what workforce skills are needed and what needs to be done. Find out more here.

Our research team regularly works with industry partners and other stakeholders.

Recent projects include:
Higher Level Skills for Higher Value with the Design Council
This addressed skills gaps in the design sector;
So what do you do? A New Question for Policy in the Creative Age with DEMOS
This provides the argument for policy development in the creative and cultural industries;
Understanding the Skills Needs of the 2012 Olympic Games
A consortium of six sector skills councils has identified relevant training and skills needs in the lead up to London 2012.

We are currently working with the Cultural Leadership Programme developing the Powerbrokers' Study. This will examine the situation of black and minority ethnic leadership in the cultural and creative sectors.

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