Government backed campaign reaches almost 80,000 young people

9 Dec 2025 01:09 PM

Almost 80,000 young people have taken part in employer-led experiences in the Creative Industries as part of government campaign

Almost 80,000 young people were reached as part of a government-funded, industry-led programme month of activity to demystify careers in the creative industries and inspire young people of working class and underrepresented backgrounds.

Discover! Creative Careers Month, part of an industry-led year round programme, ran throughout November and gave 79,134 young people aged 11 to 18 direct experiences with creative industry employers. The month aimed to demonstrate that there are career opportunities for people from a wide range of backgrounds across all regions of the UK, not just London and the South East.

The month of encounters and awareness-raising activities connected young people with industry professionals to show them just what careers are on offer - from working backstage at a concert venue or theatre, to developing the latest gaming technology.

Coordinated by industry hosts across the creative industries and supported by industry-led skills charity ScreenSkills, the activities crossed all subsectors of the creative industries and included a range of influential organisations throughout the UK.

Creative Industries Minister, Ian Murray said:

Discover! Creative Careers Month is completely aligned to what this Government believes in - improving access for people of all backgrounds, and creating earning power and economic growth across our regions.

It’s encouraging to see just how many young people it’s reached already, and to think about the potential for the future.

ITV Academy, a training and development arm of the broadcaster, supported Discover! Month with numerous events, including a Coronation Street storytelling workshop in Manchester, where young people were given a tour of the set and encouraged to develop their writing and plot development skills.

Sonny Hanley, Director, ITV Academy, said,

The ITV Academy is dedicated to inspiring the next generation, and Discover! Creative Careers Month has been the perfect platform for this. We were proud to support the month with a range of events across the UK, including at Coronation Street in Manchester and at our London offices for ITV’s 70th birthday. Through each of our events, we gave students a tangible look at the production journey from idea to transmission. It is vital we continue to demystify the industry and prove that a career in television is accessible to everyone.

The programme was supported by games industry access charity, Into Games, who delivered workshops across 30 secondary schools in London, Brighton, Birmingham and Hartlepool, where video game developers gave students an insight into the sector’s opportunities and worked with them on a series of creative tasks.

Elsewhere, in the South West, theatre careers charity Get Into Theatre coordinated workshops on backstage roles across various theatres and music venues including Bristol Old Vic, Bristol Hippodrome and St George’s.

Young person, attendee of an immersive VFX workshop, said:

Actions speak louder than words… when you come to the office, meeting the people…seeing the work environment, you can now envision yourself in it.

Mary Rose, Head of Discover! Creative Careers said:

This year’s Discover! Creative Career Month has seen the biggest number of industry hosts to date opening their doors and sharing their expertise. We are so incredibly grateful to them for inspiring the next generation and helping to build a stronger, more inclusive future workforce across the UK.

Our expansion of the Discover! Creative Careers programme over the past year, has not only seen record reach during November’s Discover! Creative Careers Month, but an expansion into Scotland and Wales delivered by Into Film.

The opportunity for every young person to explore our creative sectors and develop the skills needed is at the heart of Discover! Creative Careers and I thank all the industry professionals, students and teachers who have taken part and made this our best year yet.

The Discover! Month programme was amplified this year by a Government campaign that reached millions of young people and parents online, driven by a mix of paid media, digital content, regional events, ambassador amplification and high-profile industry support. The campaign, delivered in partnership with ScreenSkills and CreativeUK, generated 100 million impressions and 18.5 million total video views, and visibility translated directly into record engagement on the Discover! Creative Careers platform. 

Website visits rose by 341%, attracting more than 42,000 users, the majority of whom were new to the site, and a large proportion from outside London. 

Key partners, including the BRIT Awards, UCAS, Channel 4 Skills and Co-Op Live publicly supported the digital communications campaign through social media amplification, and #DiscoverCreativeCareers, #DiscoverCreativeCareersMonth and #CreativeCareersMonth achieving a combined reach of 5.5 million and 67,500 interactions. 

The Discover! Creative Careers campaign will continue to engage young people and their parents in priority regions across the UK, through new and existing partnerships such as UCAS, and marking key milestones like National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week.

Click here for the full press release