Burnham boosts creative industries with arts apprentices

Staff and agencies
Friday February 22, 2008
guardian.co.uk

The government today unveiled plans to create 5,000 apprenticeships in the creative industries, such as the arts and media, over the next five years.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham today announced that five new "centres of excellence" will be launched in film, fashion, animation and the digital media to help people from all backgrounds make the most of their creative skills. The centres will be created in collaboration with leading firms, including EMI, the Royal Opera House and independent TV producer Aardman Animations, the makers of Wallace and Gromit.

The government said it was the first ever comprehensive plan for official support for the creative industries. The strategy is designed to provide the industries with an unrivalled pool of talent to draw upon, and the same formal, structured support associated with other industries.

Burnham said: "Making a career out of your passion and a business from your ideas - that's what we want to help Britain achieve. So now is the time to recognise the growing success story that is Britain's creative economy and build on it.

"The creative industries must move from the margins to the mainstream of economic and policy thinking, as we look to create the jobs of the future."

The BBC, Tate Liverpool, Universal Music Group and Monkeydevil Design are among the first to sign up to offer apprenticeships. Other companies already committed to the scheme include Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the National Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Museums Liverpool.

"Until recently the creative industries were seen as a bit of a Cinderella part of the economy, but things have now changed, as they should. We're second only to the service sector in our contribution to the economy and its good news that the government now recognises our importance", said Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway Design.

More than 1.9 million people are currently employed in the "creative industries", a higher share of the UK workforce than the US, Canada and France.

"The brilliant thing about publishing a strategy for the creative economy is that it recognises how hugely important creativity is to national success," said David Kester, the chief executive of the Design Council. "We can sometimes take for granted that we live in an open society which allows creativity to flourish in our young people and across many diverse professions, such as design, film and music."

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the broadcasting workers' union, Bectu, gave the announcement a "cautious welcome", adding: "We hope that the 5,000 apprenticeships will lead to real jobs at the end of the training period."