Creative People's Centre

Apprenticeships and Internships: The next step to a career in the creative industries

Part of the Depot Artspace’s role over ten years as a community art and music centre this time has been to mentor artists and to offer career guidance, in both an informal and a formal capacity. Before the advent of PACE (Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment), initiated by the Labour Government in 2001 the Depot provided its own arts careers guidance programme, AIMS (Arts Incubator Mentoring Scheme). This programme assisted artists to explore and develop employment opportunities in the arts and in many ways foreshadowed the PACE programme it now offers.

Now in its seventh year of running PACE the Depot has continued to develop and expand its programme as needs and issues are identified, not only among PACE practitioners, but within the creative industries and in response to the demands of an evolving and changing marketplace. The programme now includes a significant module on business practice and marketing, and it also addresses legal issues which are likely to confront creative practitioners, such as intellectual property ownership, contracting and copyright.

While PACE is able to successfully address the identified needs of the significant numbers of self-motivated and focused artists and creative practitioners it has become evident that an apprenticeship or internship programme would benefit those seeking or requiring a more structured and intensive programme which focuses on industry experience and industry knowledge. This would significantly enhance employment opportunities for creative workers as well as meet market needs for trained and experienced creative practitioners. Creative Industries Apprenticeships will also continue to reinforce the credibility of the arts as an occupational choice and an important contributor to the economy.

The paper on Creative Apprenticeships outlines the evolution of the Depot’s support for Creative Apprenticeships.

Creative Apprenticeships09 (299)