This is the write up of the key discussions and recommendations from the breakout group discussions at the 11 July 2024 YU conference: ‘Overcoming employer challenges and championing graduates across Yorkshire’.
Session 1 of ‘Supporting Creatives’ breakout group focused on how universities can better support students transitioning from education to creative careers, highlighting gaps and strengths in current practices.
Key questions:
- What are we already doing well?
- Where are the gaps?
- What does good support look like?
- How do universities prepare students for their transition into employment?
The discussion emphasized bridging the gap between academic structures and the realities of creative careers, with a focus on mental health, entrepreneurial skills, and continuous industry engagement.
Key discussion points and recommendations from session 1:
1. Offering flexible career paths: students, particularly in creative fields, often follow non-linear paths. Universities should offer alternative career routes, beyond traditional placements, for those with mental health challenges or additional needs. These routes should include freelance or entrepreneurial options, not just traditional placements.
2. Enhancing support systems and skills development: employability advisors and personal branding workshops are useful, but more focus is needed on preparing students for real-world challenges, such as pricing, negotiation, and marketing themselves as freelancers or entrepreneurs.
3. Integrating mental health and wellbeing: there’s a critical need to integrate wellbeing and mental health support with career development, especially for creative students struggling with perfectionism and failure anxiety.
4. Strengthening industry connections early: engaging students with live briefs and early exposure to industry professionals are essential for students to gain practical experience and build networks and relationships. This should happen throughout the course, not just in the final year.
5. Entrepreneurship and freelancing: there’s a growing need to embed entrepreneurial skills into curricula. Universities may need to balance / address academic resistance to change with the demand for relevant business skills, especially in creative industries where freelancing is common.
6. Supporting transition to graduate life: students can face identity loss and confidence issues after graduation, necessitating more comprehensive support for transitioning into professional life.
7. Fostering external collaboration: ongoing partnerships between universities and companies, external consultants can provide students with real-world opportunities and exposure to professional networks.
Session 2 of the breakout group discussion explored the significance of both physical and digital spaces for creative students and graduates, focusing on how these spaces can foster creativity, entrepreneurship, and support for business start-ups.
Key questions:
- What are the top space and support requirements for student and graduates – are these different?
- Is the business start-up space that creatives need different than that for non-creative?
Key discussion points and recommendations from session 2:
1. Offering distinct creative spaces needs: creative students and graduates often require distinct spaces compared to non-creatives, such as studios or collaborative environments that support innovation and artistic expression. These should be available both during and after university. Examples of existing spaces include: Yorkshire Artspace, University of Leeds Nexus, Bath Spa Emerge, SHU ILab, Sticks and Glass Student Industry Insight Days, Leeds Beckett Business Incubation
2. Providing post-graduation and transition spaces: a recurring question was where students go after graduation. Universities should consider offering continued access to creative spaces and experiential learning opportunities for graduates or explore alternatives such as renting desk space or utilizing underused corporate offices.
3. Tailoring freelance support: freelancing requires a unique skill set in resilience, time management, marketing. Creative freelancers need access to tailored resources and mentors who can guide them through these challenges.
4. Promoting collaboration through industry partnerships: partnerships with industries, such as Leeds Beckett’s industry insight days, provide students with valuable real-world exposure and opportunities to learn from professionals in their field. Programs that offer collaboration between universities and industries (e.g., Salford Media City) help bridge academic learning with industry needs.
5. Securing funding and incubation support: matched funding (e.g., Arts Council support) and business incubation programmes can help creative start ups thrive.
Both sessions emphasized the need for tailored, ongoing support, practical industry exposure, and specialized, adaptable spaces that caters to the unique needs of creative students and fosters collaboration, professional growth, and entrepreneurship.
Session leads:
- Roger Bateman, Head of Department of Art & Design, Sheffield Hallam University
- Andrew Jones, Head of Careers, Employability and Enterprise, Leeds Arts University
Follow up: the next meeting of the YU Creative Group will be on 21 October 2024. The current work programme of the group focuses on the following tasks:
- Shorter term, task & finish approach to a practical output on creating a compendium of resources to complement the YU Inclusive Recruitment Guide on hiring creative students & graduates.
- Longer term ambition for a joint strategic communication for a ‘Creative Yorkshire’ a vision for a healthy, prosperous and sustainable creative sector in Yorkshire.
If you’d like to find out more about the work of this group or would like to engage with it, please get in touch with Monika Antal.
