NEWS: Talent Accelerator pilot launches this autumn

For more than three years, collaborators from across the South East Creative Economy Network have been developing the Talent Accelerator framework. After the set-back of the pandemic, it gets a full launch this autumn.

Talent Accelerator is a programme which aims to get young people passionate about and into work in the creative industries.

The East Sussex pilot programme is for all young people in the county who are in secondary school, college or further and (in or outside the county) higher education. It will offer support to those from areas of high deprivation, rurally isolated locations, and under-represented backgrounds to make sure everyone across the region is reaching their potential and has access to the same opportunities.

The pilot project was developed by always possible for the Skills East Sussex Creative and Digital Task Group, working with the De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex College Group and Careers East Sussex. The programme is funded by and delivered in partnership with artswork.

Talent Accelerator has seven key principles:

CREATING NETWORKS: To establish a local collaborative framework of best practice that scaffolds opportunity, awareness, and innovation around creative skills development at all levels.
ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES: To level the playing field of opportunity, ensuring that children and young people in ALL communities have access to enriching creative skills activity throughout the year.
REAL LIFE PROJECTS: To build capacity in the creative and cultural sector for employers and educators to provide real-world project-based learning opportunities/encounters throughout the year.
ACCREDITING EXPERIENCES: To consolidate and embed delivery opportunities for the Arts Award and Artsmark standards in creative education, connecting delivery to diverse project-based employer encounters.
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CREATIVE SECTOR AND EDUCATION FOR FUTURE PLANNING: To develop strategic and long-term approach to employer/education co-design, so that future project development is joined up, high quality and responsive to need.
ADVOCATING FOR CREATIVE CAREERS: To advocate for all creative, cultural, and digital careers opportunities in East Sussex, promoting positive and joined up message to parents, schools/college leaders and other influential stakeholders.
EMBEDDING CREATIVE AND DIGITAL SKILLS ACROSS THE WHOLE OF EAST SUSSEX: To create better conditions for embedded creative and digital skills at education settings across the whole county, reviewing and addressing cold spots.

These are streamed into the five outcome areas:

EXPOSURE & INSIGHT: (Activity for ages 5-11) focused on inspirational industry encounters with creative practitioners, stories, spaces, and ideas. Enriched ‘behind the curtain’ experiences offer basic knowledge of production processes.
GUIDANCE & AWARENESS: (Activity for ages 11-14) more directly inspires young people toward information through support services/tools for signposting and deeper understanding of local creative economy. Support to access follow up activities and resources (generic and locally specific) and employer presenting routes into education/education/training/employment
CULTIVATE & PRACTICE: (Activity for ages 14-16) focused on independent learning opportunities, including out of hours activities/tuition. Youth networking is a key strand and encouraging/enabling independent participation through outreach and education offered by creative industry providers (including work experience in some instances)
INSPIRATION & COURAGE: (Activity for ages 16-19) centred on authentic creative industries work related experiences. Every encounter should have a real-world element, producing response to live brief challenges, understanding audiences and creative economy life cycles.
PREPARATION & DEVELOPMENT: (Activity for age 18+) positioned around the development of autonomous creative producers/consumers, an emphasis on sector-specific vocations set within a national/international context. Transferable skills and core competencies at this level should set within encounters of both employment and enterprise/self-employment.

It is a delight to see the project launch, in the able hands of the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, who have now appointed a dedicated Project Director.

Richard Freeman, Vicky Tremain and Will Rogers led the always possible team who developed the initial framework and programme design, securing over £400k of investment for the pilot.