Creative industry and arts organisations in Bath and across the West of England have become the largest group in the UK to receive funding to help generate employment opportunities for young jobless people.
The £170,000 from the Creative Employment Programme grant scheme will create more than 140 paid internships and apprenticeships in firms across the region. This second-round funding follows £198,000 awarded to the West last year in the first round. 
The money is going to a consortium led by the Creative Skills Hub team in the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) working in partnership with Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council, the Department for Work & Pensions, UWE Bristol, Business West and 26 creative and arts organisations.
The Creative Skills Hub was created to meet the skills needs of the region’s burgeoning creative and arts sector by establishing a virtuous circle of growth between skills, employers and talent.
Bath’s creative sector is estimated to be worth around £148m – more than its tourism and retail sectors combined – while Bristol’s creative sector makes up about 10% of the city’s economy, employing around 16,000 people.
The latest funding programme aims to provide long-term, paid opportunities for young people to kick start their creative career. The funding helps organisations create six-month-long, 30-hours-a-week positions, which are fully-paid, to for 18-24 year olds who are registered unemployed. It also provides additional funding for organisations offering an apprenticeship to a young person.
LEP creative employment programme manager Nicky Williams said: “It’s really difficult to get that first step on the ladder to a creative career.
“In the West of England, particularly Bristol and Bath, the creative and cultural sector is recognised worldwide for its excellence. It’s timely for the creative industries to recognise the importance of offering paid employment opportunities to bring talent through.
“This funding gives those creative organisations that have chosen to be part of the consortium a helping hand to offer these great opportunities.”
The Creative Employment Programme is an England-wide £15m grant fund which uses National Lottery funding from Arts Council England to create 6,500 traineeships, apprenticeships, paid internships by next March.
Creative Employment Programme director Sara Whybrew added: “We are committed to helping businesses within the arts and cultural footprint grow and diversify by opening up new entry routes for talented young people who may be struggling to enter the world of work. The CEP welcomes the leadership shown by the West of England LEP in helping us drive forward our mission.”
Creative industry and arts organisations wishing to find out more about the consortium or get involved in future bids should contact nicky.williams@woeskills.co.uk.
For more information on the Creative Skills Hub go to www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/people-and-skills.
