Creativity is learned not born
The creative industry, which includes the arts, performing arts and media disciplines is, in fact, the fastest growing industry in the UK and one which generates billions of pounds a year.
Many people view most creative subjects such as art and design, media studies, performing arts and drama as ones which do not lead onto successful careers, but it may surprise you that there are over 3 million jobs in the creative industry in the UK as we speak.
Key facts about the creative industry
1. The creative industry generates £100 billion a year to the UK economy.
2. Employment is growing at four times the rate of the UK workforce as a whole.
3. The number of jobs reached 3.12 million in 2017 meaning the creative industry accounts for 1 in every 11 job roles.
4. 1 in 8 business in the UK is in the creative industry.
5. 67million is created from musical theatre alone.
6. The cultural and arts sector is currently supporting 6,500 apprenticeships.
7. The arts and culture society contributed over 10 million to develop the creative industry, meaning there is a huge scope for individuals to land a creative job role and successful career.
8. The government has planned to invest £33 million towards virtual reality video games and augmented reality projects and related technologies.
Extensive employment opportunities within these creative categories
The scale of opportunities is huge and whether you have an interest in writing articles or creating websites, you can find a group that you fit into:
Advertising and Marketing
Architecture
Crafts
Design
Fashion
Film, TV, Video, Radio and Photography
IT, Software and Computer Services
Publishing
Museums, Galleries and Libraries
Music, Performing and Visual Arts
Can creative people go into other sectors of work?
Yes. Creative skills can be used in all areas of work and is very much a multi-disciplinary approach.
Sometimes it may seem that creative work is limited to drawing, painting, performance and the like, but in fact, it expands out to various sectors including the IT industry for games designers, where it is essential to have knowledge of computer coding, programming languages and maths skills. Many of those students would study A Levels Maths, Physics and Computer Science or BTEC in Computer Science, and still be part of the designing and developing of characters and visual aspects of the game, depending on the role.
Other overlapping sectors include Business, where reaching out to audiences to promote a service or product through websites, leaflets and other various social media platforms requires creative skills. The engineering industry is also another multi-disciplinary sector with creative people needed for designing mechanisms who also have strong maths skills.
There are many big organisations that recruit creative talents for specific fields, below are a few examples:
Design — Jaguar Land Rover, Harrods, AKQA, Big Activ
Publishing — Bloomsbury, HarperCollins UK, Oxford University Press, Penguin Random House.
Advertising — AMV BBDO, Grey London, Leo Burnett, McCann
Read more about creative industries and careers here:
www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk
4 benefits of creative work
1. You can enjoy flexible hours
Many creative jobs are not the usual 9-to-5 schedule. The focus is more on project work, with many people choosing their own hours particularly freelancers. You may be able to work from home, in your own workspace or studio, a café or even in the park. You can make your own decisions about work and often create your own agendas.
2. Become a creative problem-solver
Creativity is about developing, generating and expressing unique ideas. Once you hone these skills you will find that your problem-solving skills have improved as you find new ways to look at problems and creative ways to solve them.
3. Creative collaboration
Sometimes the best ideas are formed with others in the room. Different perspectives and visions can make an idea come to life. Therefore being part of a creative team of experts from different fields, including your own, can be rewarding.
4. A healthier brain with your unique thinking
Creative thinking keeps your brain active as you generate innovative ideas, problem solve, design and create. Research has also shown that creative thinking can reduce your chances of cognitive and memory problems at a later stage in life.
“I’m just not a creative person”
Do you ever think this about yourself? Many psychological theories suggest that creativity is a skill you can learn throughout your life, not just something you are born with.
As an individual, you are already a unique thinker with your own views, perspectives and visions, whether this is something known to others or not.
There are many ways to bring your thoughts and ideas to life through developing your creative thinking:
Try the 30 circles test to boost your creativity
Tips on how to develop a creative mind
So the next time you find yourself overthinking an idea, don’t. Simply jot it down as no idea is a bad idea and keep going. Remember that successful people have often tried many different ideas and approaches to their work before becoming successful.
Creativity Vs Technology
Read experts views on the impact of innovative technology on the creative industry.
Many creative professionals have spoken about the fast-paced advances of technology and how this is taking a big step towards automation in many fields such as science, technology, engineering and maths, as well as within many analytical roles.
Many are of the view that creativity cannot be automated nor can it be created by a machine. Individuals will still be required to tell a story in detail, make changes to the way things are presented or written, cater for individual needs. As these types of skills are unique to every creative person, automation of these skills cannot be achieved.
As a result, it is strongly felt that creative roles will be highly valued more so than ever before.
However, other views argue that many creative roles will be complemented with the use of technology for example film making using multiple cameras for live productions than just one cameraman and using the internet for all sorts of media. It is thought that technology will open up both learning and future career opportunities for people rather than hindering any human creative processes. It is argued that technology will complement rather than replace the creative roles.
insight.futurestudents.csu.edu.au
Whichever field of expertise you find yourself in, remember that creative skills can be learned and will most likely be sought after in the future. Creativity is as unique as you are, whether you are a problem solver, analytical, organised or wildly creative, your unique way of thinking and ideas are always fresh to the next person and may be used as a starting point to develop something quite fantastic.
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