‘“So, what do you do? Preparing our students for careers’

Description

It is almost two decades since the inception of the Creative Industries(CI) policy in the UK, quickly followed by Australia and many other nations. The ‘creative turn’ in education and broader policy worked on the assumption that creative individuals would lift the overall wellbeing (both cultural and economic) of cities, regions and nations. Many financial reports show the contribution made by artists, writers and performers to GDP. However, an equal number of reports show that those creative individuals earn little or nothing for all their creative work. Despite this, students are still attracted to our degrees. My current research investigates whether there is an alignment between the creative curriculum and subsequent capacity to build a career and make a living; and whether in fact the concept of financial security and a conventional career trajectory matters to creative students, on the whole. The paper combines statistical evidence and the content of interviews with creative writing graduates in two UNESCO Cities of Culture (Melbourne, Shanghai) to suggest ways of better preparing our students for their future careers.

Period	23 Jun 2018
Event title	Great Writing: The International Creative Writing Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	London, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	International