Exposure doesn’t pay the bills: the importance of Living Wage Week and supporting young creatives
- Written byKat Smith
- Published date 16 November 2022
As a creative University with a commitment to social purpose, UAL is dedicated to breaking down barriers to the creative industries through supporting our students and graduates with paid work, partnering with industry and championing the importance of creativity beyond the University.
This Living Wage Week, 14 – 20 November, our community want to remind the industry that paying the creatives of tomorrow with more than just exposure - a commodity often woefully offered in replacement of money - is an imperative step to ensuring the creative industries are open to new talent and honestly reflect the society we live in.
Creativity is pivotal to the success of the UK economy. In 2020, the UK government said that the Creative Industries contributed almost £13 million to the economy every single hour and the sector was almost growing at a rate 5 times faster than the national economy. But in a survey from Creative Access, 47% said financial barriers have ‘greatly’ impacted their career progression in the creative industries - this increases to 61% for those from underrepresented socio-economic backgrounds. Financial status also prevented 82% of people from under-represented socio-economic backgrounds from applying for roles and 58% from taking up a job offer.
“The issues facing young people accessing the creative industries are well documented and nothing new: there is a lack of transparency around recruitment practices, nepotism, and unpaid labour,” says Tessa Read, Creative Shift lead – Academic Enhancement. UAL’s Creative Shift programme builds bridges between industry and education to provide students from underrepresented groups with opportunities to develop their networks, working relationships and future careers in the creative industry. “Barriers to access are more accentuated if you are from a marginalised group with the pandemic further heightening the gaping inequalities in the creative pipeline.”
Only 11.4% of industry jobs are filled with Black, Asian and minority ethnic (B.A.M.E) people, and 11.5% of creative directors are women. The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre also found that class-based exclusion is more pronounced in the creative industries than in any other industrial sector.
“The cost of living crisis is also compounding these issues by applying further pressure to the needs of young people who desperately need an entry point into the working world,” adds Shani-Louise Osei, Creative Shift’s Employability and Progression Programme Coordinator.
How Creative Shift are working to redress the imbalance
Creative Shift’s work centres around making the sector more diverse and supporting underrepresented students to make a living doing what they love. “We do this by facilitating a range of programmes including student-led projects, industry live briefs, workshops, mentoring and funding opportunities,” says Tessa. “We support students to develop their creative networks whilst providing self-led practical tools so that students can affect positive change in their respective communities and become change agents of their own futures.”
This representation is important not only for those within the creative sector, but for those aspiring to enter it. Sat Sehmbey, Employability and Industry Manager for Creative Shift, says that “for a student to see themselves represented within the creative industries allows them to feel like they belong there and that their voice, skills and creativity matter. They are reassured that future opportunities do exist and what they do will have an impact.
Paying all Arts Temps the London Living Wage
Alongside working with industry and developing our students’ skillsets for their future careers, for students and grads looking for work now, our job agency Arts Temps pays all employees the real Living Wage.
Sam Taylor, Associate Director of UAL Arts Temps says that “We want our students and graduates to know, entering a very competitive industry, prone to exploitation, that their skills have value. That’s why we pay London living Wage, and only partner with companies willing to do the same.”
“Our values are centred around sourcing decent, well-paid jobs where UAL students and graduates, who have some serious skills to offer that can make a real impact, can thrive.”
Arts Temps places UAL talent in jobs and within the University and beyond, with the roles offered by Arts Temps being hugely varied, with external job titles including social impact project writer, graphic designer, web developer, photographer and fashion designer.
In house, we work with students and graduates to give them valuable paid experience on a creative project. Mahesh Menon, MA Media and Communication student at London College of Communication, UAL, produced the Arts Temps video you can see below.
“It’s not just a regular job, you get to do something that you’re passionate about and it’s amazing to get paid for doing something you love,” says Mahesh of working as an Arts Temp. “It’s great to gain experience of working for a client and get a taste of how things are going to be once you graduate. As an international student from India, it was really valuable for me to have the opportunity to gain these professional experiences as a student. This project has given me the confidence and experience to start approaching clients in London.”
“Creativity brings beauty and wonder into everyday life. It also builds start-ups and adds sustainable growth to existing companies. It solves complex problems in organisations of all kinds, provides solutions for the great challenges we face, and in doing so, changes the world for good.” - UAL strategy 2022-2032, ‘Because the world needs creativity’
UAL’s social purpose and the Living Wage
Social purpose is at the core of what UAL does. James Purnell, Vice-Chancellor and President of UAL, says of the Living Wage:
“UAL has put social purpose at the heart of our strategy and we will embed it in everything we do. That starts with valuing everyone who works with us and is why we guarantee fair pay through Living Wage accreditation.
UAL’s directly employed staff and contracted staff have received at least the London Living Wage since 2014 and we will continue to apply the annual uplift to the Living Wage. Universities have a unique role in our communities – providing education but also a huge number of jobs. They shape local economies, the supply chain and therefore create economic impact well-beyond our campuses. Therefore, the Living Wage principles are also standard section in our core procurement requirements and template contracts.
We also see the benefits in the wider-creative economy. Arts Temps, our recruitment agency which allows people to recruit our students and graduates, is also Living Wage accredited. This means our students can access work that pays well and employers have access to talent that might have been forced to look for work in other fields with higher wages.”
Support our creatives
To those wanting to support fresh creative talent, recruit our students and alumni through Arts Temps.
Find out more about Creative Shift and get in touch at creativeshift@arts.ac.uk.