Thursday, 16 May 2019
Nottingham Lakeside Arts at the University of Nottingham has today (Thursday 16 May 2019) been awarded £293,315 in funding from the Office for Students to encourage and enable its students to pursue a career in the creative industries.
The funding for this ground-breaking and collaborative project will support the delivery of an annual Creative Pathways programme — the first of a new and exciting enterprise of grants.
Originating from the Office for Students’ Challenge Competition fund, this new programme of funding from Creative Pathways offers two key strands for students qualifying through the University’s Widening Participation agenda — internships for graduates; and the delivery of a ‘Creative Academy’ for undergraduates, featuring talks by inspirational thought-leaders in the creative sector, workshops with visiting creatives, and opportunities to engage with regional cultural sector leaders, all aimed to upskill and inform students of the potential for good careers in the cultural sector.
The creative industry sector is one the fastest growing parts of the UK economy, valued at £101bn annually, and new research from the Creative Industries Federation show that offering the right sort of support could unlock even more significant growth.
Encouraging creative talent
Shona Powell, Director of Nottingham Lakeside Arts, said: “We are delighted to receive this new tranche of funding which will enable us to build on our enormously successful track record of operating externally sponsored internships.
“We’ve seen a number of previous Lakeside interns go on to occupy leadership positions and all are clear that their internship was integral to develop vocationally-relevant practical skills and sector-relevant knowledge, helping them to secure permanent positions within the creative industries.
“This generous backing will allow us to upscale our internship programme and to create a collaborative learning community, and encourage new and exciting opportunities to retain graduate talent in our region.”
Creative Pathways will aim to deliver internships across seven of Nottingham’s cultural organisations — City Arts, Dance 4, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Playhouse, Nonsuch Theatre, UNESCO City of Literature and Lakeside Arts.
Its launch of a new Creative Academy will seek to address a lack of knowledge or good careers in the cultural sector in part caused by a continued period of declining support and delivery of creative subjects at secondary school level.
Forging partnerships
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of the Office for Students, said:
“This funding will help universities and colleges find ways to remove barriers to local graduate employment, broaden the choice for those local graduates, and help ensure that students are getting the right skills to enter rewarding work.
“It’s good news for graduates, universities and local employers in search of highly-skilled, work-ready graduates.”
Launching in May 2019 and with student engagement from October 2019, Creative Pathways will work closely with the University’s Widening Participation and Careers & Employability teams to identify and target the student beneficiaries. The internships will be open to applications from University of Nottingham students who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Arrived at University from low progression neighbourhoods and/or schools which have not a strong record of progression to higher education.
- Have a disability.
- Attended Sutton Trust and/or Nottingham Potential Summer Schools.
- Are care leavers.
- Or are from areas of high levels of socio-economic deprivation.
All those engaging with the scheme — 21 interns and 450 Creative Academy Participants over three years — will benefit longer term through access to the Creative Pathways Learning and Support Network. This will enable a virtuous cycle of delivery and support across the three years of the programme, whereby an alumni network of graduate interns can contribute to the Creative Academy programme and in turn become mentors for future interns.
This generous backing will allow us to upscale our internship programme and to create a collaborative learning community, and encourage new and exciting opportunities to retain graduate talent in our region.
Nottingham Lakeside Arts
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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