Welcome to the latest round-up of creative and cultural careers news from Gina Black (Careers Consultant for Edinburgh College of Art) and Sharon Cant (Employer Engagement Advisor).
We’ve not posted one of these in a while, but we were keen to start them up again – there has been a flurry of activity to support students interested in the creative sector and we’ve been promoting things on an ad–hoc basis as they appear, and we hope you might have been able to access some of the support available. If not, there’s still lots out there to access, and the Careers Service is still here for you – we have been offering remote support, with appointments via Teams or Skype, since March, and these will continue over the Summer and for as long as required.
Of course, there has been lots of coverage of the impact of Covid-19 on the Creative & Cultural sector, and whilst the recent funding announcements by both the Scottish and UK Governments are welcomed, we realise that this is a worrying time for those of you keen to enter this sector. However, a strong message we are hearing from the sector is that future talent is still hugely important to them, and they don’t want people to be discouraged from following their passions. The route in may be a bit bumpier, and potentially more in-direct than usual, but it’s very much still an option to be aiming for a Creative or Cultural Career.
Here are our latest snippets to support you on that journey:
Absorb
- We thought many of you might relate to this short article from the Lecture in Progress archive: How to put yourself out there as an introverted creative. Penguin Random House’s in-house book designer Coralie Bickford-Smith shares her thoughts on how to become more comfortable with self-promotion, keep negative voices at bay, build confidence and believe that you are good enough: Read more
- This reassuring article on It’s Nice That is also worth a share. It looked at how the lockdown is affecting the routines of creative people, and why it’s crucial not to put too much pressure on yourself to be creative in any one fixed way: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/dropbox-creative-routines-kate-isobel-scott-saehan-parc-alexander-coggin-partnership-230420
- Take a listen to PPA Scotland’s Magazine stories for some insight into how the country’s top magazine professionals got to where they are today. Whether you want to know how to make it as a journalist, editor, publisher, commercial director, designer or any other role in this dynamic and exciting industry – the series has some great advice for you: https://shows.acast.com/ppa-scotland-magazine-stories/episodes
Go (Virtually)
- Thursday 16th July is the Creative Edinburgh Summer Party – Creative Edinburgh are always keen for University of Edinburgh students and graduates to join their activities so if you fancy an evening enjoying spoken word performances, curated playlists, interviews and short film, and feeling connected to fellow creatives take a look at the details on MyCareerHub here.
- Creative Entrepreneurs Club are hosting a group discussion on working in the Fashion, Textile & Accessory Industry on 17th July. Details on MyCareerHub here.
- Creative Access have been offering a series of free events in line with their mission to help under-represented communities enter and thrive in the creative industries. The next one is a Q&A on 23rd July, with Baroness Quershi being interviewed by Sabbiyah Pervez, Communities Reporter for BBC Look North and Creative Access alumni. Registration details on MyCareerHub here.
- Creative & Cultural Skills have an event to support anyone interested in working in festivals, particularly stage production – available on both 26th July and 26th August. Full details on MyCareerHub here.
Do
- If you want to make industry connections, remember that people on PlatformOne are there because they want to help, so it’s a great place to start. Some people you might like to seek out include Kirsty Crowe who is happy to give advice on how to get into the interior design industry; Alison Everett – Bookshop Manager at Fruitmarket Gallery; Toni Velikova at Scottish Poetry Library keen to help students with getting into the Heritage sector; and Andreea Georgescu, Senior Digital Media Planner for a top advertising agency in London
- If you are a 2020 Graduate and not sure what’s next, do sign up for the extra support we are offering as part of our 2020 Vision campaign: Graduate support
We hope you have enjoyed this round up – we’ll be back soon with more. We hope you’ve found something to spark your interest in this month’s round-up. Follow us on Instagram and we’ll let you know when the next blog post is published @cccf_edinburgh
Best wishes,
Sharon and Gina
