Education & Training Archives | Page 9 of 14 | Bristol Creative Industries

Boomsatsuma has announced the validation of its Film, Photography and Games degrees by Kingston University.

From September 2024, all degrees offered by the Film School and Games Studio in Bristol will be awarded by Kingston University. The validation event was attended by Kingston academics and top industry experts from the photography, games, film and TV world. It marks a significant milestone for both institutions and underscores a shared commitment to nurturing the next generation of creative talent for the creative industries.

Kingston University has a distinguished reputation. The institution, based in Greater London, has received an overall rating of Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in all three categories, which means the University has demonstrated the highest quality teaching standards, while its student experience is consistently outstanding. It is also one of the top 10 institutions in the country across seven subject areas and for film degrees, ranked tenth nationally and second in London.

“I am so pleased that our partnership is now official. It means we can take the next step towards establishing ourselves as Bristol’s first Film School and growing our game art, design and production offer with Kingston School of Art. This partnership comes at a particularly exciting time in boomsatsuma’s evolution and we now look to the future, working with an institution that is both creative, inspiring and dynamic.”

The panel commended the boomsatsuma on their unique offer and in particular the culture of creativity, sense of community and proactive approach to employability. Mandy Ure, Dean of Kingston School of Art, emphasised the innovative approach and benefits of the partnership:

“This new partnership with boomsatsuma’s Film School and Games Studio in Bristol creates exciting synergies between Creative Arts courses across our institutions. It uses Kingston University’s Future Skills approach to equip students with the skills, knowledge and drive to innovate and succeed in a dynamic Creative Industries sector.”

In addition to academic collaboration, boomsatsuma will integrate Kingston University’s Future Skills programmes into the new degrees, enhancing students’ readiness for their future careers and equipping them with the skills needed to succeed.

For more information about boomsatsuma’s new degree courses in Filmmaking: Production, Filmmaking: Post Production, Game Art, Game Design and Production, Photography and Print visit our website.

How to use language to foster stronger, happier, more productive relationships.

The language that an organisation uses in its content, copywriting and comms influences not just how it is perceived, but how it makes audiences feel. It’s a complex, nuanced arena, but there are a handful of golden rules to remember around using brand language that’s appropriate and inclusive.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) aims to make everyone within an environment, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, ability, gender or sexual orientation, feel supported and welcome.

According to Deloitte, companies that embrace inclusivity and inclusive language have 22% lower turnover rates, 22% greater productivity and 27% higher profitability. Externally, those companies have 39% higher customer satisfaction.

Only use race, gender, gender identity, ability, age, sexual orientation, etc. to identify people when strictly necessary, otherwise doing so can draw attention to something about someone’s characteristics that might make them feel different or excluded.

People-first language prioritises the individual. This is an especially useful point to remember when talking about people who have disabilities.

For example, it’s better to say ‘a person with a disability’ than ‘a disabled person’. The former implies that the disability is a secondary characteristic rather than a defining one. But as mentioned in #1, it’s best to simply avoid mentioning disability unless relevant or strictly necessary.

There are a few exceptions to this point. The deaf community, for instance, generally prefers the term ‘deaf person’ to ‘person with deafness’. If in doubt, it’s best to ask.

Terms such as ‘sexual preference’ or ‘preferred pronouns’ can be problematic. ‘Preference’ implies choice, and that can create a false impression. It’s best to err on the side of caution and use the terms ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘pronouns’ instead.

Try to avoid using terms such as ‘bipolar,’ ‘OCD,’ ‘ADHD’ or ‘ASD’ as metaphors, especially in a jokey context. These are real disabilities and disorders. Using their names to refer to things they aren’t can offend people who have them.

Yes, you may often use language with a specific audience in mind, but pronouns are generally best avoided.

When making a hypothetical point – ‘if he or she went for a walk’, for example – the ‘he or she’ clause is unnecessary, and including it can make non-binary, gender non-conforming or genderqueer folks feel excluded.

When in doubt or when using a pronoun is necessary, ‘they’ is a good choice. It’s gender-neutral and can be used to refer to an individual or a group, so has all bases covered.

Jargon is often best avoided and it’s a good idea to think before using idioms – not all translate well across cultures.

Using your group as the reference group can imply it’s the norm and that other groups fall outside that norm. Terms like ‘non-white’, for example, imply that white people are the norm and everyone else, a deviation.

This term is best avoided when speaking to or referencing a group that contains non-male members.

If she’s over 18, she’s an adult. And take care when saying ‘ladies’ and ‘gals’, these terms can be patronizing. Good alternatives: ‘Women’, ‘people’.

Similarly, when talking about people with disabilities, avoid using terms like ‘afflicted by,’ ‘victim of’, ‘suffers from’, and ‘confined to a wheelchair’. ‘Challenged’, ‘differently abled’, and ‘specially abled’ are best avoided too.

Including pronouns – he/him, she/her, they/them – in email signatures can help non-binary, transgender and other folk feel more included.

If you’re going to publish content that has the potential to trigger people, it’s a good idea to add a trigger warning to that content. Forewarning people about potentially offensive content can help prevent causing offence.

People with certain disabilities can have difficulty navigating online content. We can all help ensure the content we create is accessible. See our designing for accessibility cheat sheet for useful tips.

Inclusive language best practice is constantly evolving. Periodic refreshers are a great way to stay up to date. Taking a moment to think about how the language you’re going to use is inclusive often goes a long way, too.

A key focus at Bristol Creative Industries is boosting workforce diversity in creative businesses and helping to grow the talent pipeline for our members.

It also showed that increasing diversity and inclusion was a significant priority for six in 10 creative firms, but 21% admitted they were struggling to recruit talent from diverse backgrounds, and 48% wanted more help finding diverse employees from underrepresented groups.

In this post, we outline the initiatives in the Bristol Creative Industries Talent Programme which is focused on tackling those challenges.

If you’re not yet a BCI member, join here to take advantage of the member exclusive initiatives.

Equity, diversity and inclusion training for BCI members

Research shows that diverse teams are more creative problem solvers, bringing fresh perspectives to solutions, against the echo-chamber effect that results when people in a business come from too-similar backgrounds. With a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, employees feel valued and that they belong.

To help Bristol Creative Industries members achieve this, we have partnered with The Hobbs Consultancy to provide on demand equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) e-learning.

The CPD certified online course consists of modules to help you bring about positive change in your business, understand the key challenges in the way for different groups, and explore your own biases and how to overcome them.

The training modules take an in-depth look at different diversity and inclusion topics: race, disability, LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, gender (split into female leadership, masculinity, gender identity), age and social mobility in the workplace.

The price of the training for BCI members is £120+VAT. All profits will be ploughed back into our youth engagement activity.

Developing student talent

We have formed a new partnership with UWE Bristol to support Bristol’s thriving creative businesses and provide enhanced careers opportunities to students entering the industry.

The partnership has been designed to offer insight and career opportunities to thousands studying courses rooted in the creative industries, including marketing, events, filmmaking, photography, media and communications.

It also aims to benefit BCI members, by developing a network of trained students who will make up the future workforce within the region and are ready to enter the industry.

Influencing the curriculum and driving change

We have committed to an annual programme of round tables with key post 16 education providers in the region including colleges, academies and universities.

Our aim is to promote creative careers to staff and career advisers, drive applications to our internship programme and explore how we can promote the creative industries to students already studying.

Opportunity to mentor high potential young people

We have to start engagement at school by raising the profile of the creative sector to a wider and more diverse audience. To do this, we regularly bring together creative business members and future talent through mentoring.

Among the initiatives are a partnership with The Early Careers Foundation (ECF), a social mobility charity that works with young people from low-income backgrounds to ensure that talent and hard work are what determine their career success, not background.

Through its mentoring programme, ECF pairs employees from partner organisations with 16-18-year-olds for monthly hour-long mentoring sessions. In 2024, BCI members signed up as mentors and supported young people in building their confidence, developing their employability skills and offering invaluable professional guidance.

We were also delighted to take part in the 2024 Discover! Creative Careers Week, an industry-led initiative designed to provide young people aged 11-18, from England, with encounters and experiences of the creative industries through in-school, workplace and online opportunities.

In partnership with Speakers for Schools, several Bristol Creative Industries members provided virtual work experience sessions covering PR, marketing, advertising, film, TV and more. Find out what happened here.

Now that the March equinox has passed and April is in full swing, it’s officially the season to delve into all things spring cleaning. We’re starting the series off with that task many of us may dread. Why is it important to tidy your email inbox, anyway? Preachy productivity phrases are a dime a dozen when it comes to inbox wisdom and you’ve probably heard a lot of them already (cue the ‘a cluttered inbox creates a cluttered mind’ and ‘have a place for everything and everything in its place’ etcetera etcetera).

Let’s cut to the chase: there’s very little harm an organised inbox can do and a wealth of practical and mental benefits. We hear you – it can be an annoying or tedious task that may feel like a time waster at first. But (and here’s some hypocrisy from us pulling out one of those phrases) you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. That is to say, sometimes it’s not possible to accomplish something worthwhile without adverse effects elsewhere. Luckily the adverse effects here are mostly just a bit of screen fatigue, time spent, and dwindling patience.

So if you put aside the time and effort, you’ll reap the rewards of a freshly organised inbox. We’ve written about Outlook, but the principles apply to any email service. Without further preamble, here are some of our top tips for organising your email inbox:

We’ll keep this updated as we go because you’re never too old to learn something new (oh look, another of those phrases!). If you’re hitting the flow of your professional spring cleaning then keep an eye out for our next instalments in this back-to-basics, 101 series.

Professional Apprenticeships are thrilled to unveil ApprenTech, our latest leap forward in cultivating the next generation of technology professionals through comprehensive apprenticeships. We have always strived to bridge the gap between aspiring tech talents and the industry’s evolving needs. Today, we’re excited to announce an initiative that not only continues this legacy but also takes it to new heights.

ApprenTech is designed to be more than just a program; it’s a movement towards creating a sustainable, skilled workforce that can navigate the complexities of the technology landscape and solve the skills gap!

With our Ofsted Outstanding rating as our backbone, we’ve crafted two new distinct pathways: Software Developer Level 3 and Level 4 Apprenticeships. These programs are tailored to meet the industry’s demands – whether it’s nurturing new entrants with foundational skills or elevating existing employees to software savants. This is in addition to our existing offering of Marketing, IT and other apprenticeships.

For Companies: ApprenTech offers a unique opportunity to cultivate your in-house talent, reducing recruitment costs and fostering a culture of loyalty and innovation. It’s not just an investment in skills but in the future of your organisation.

For Aspiring Tech Professionals: Embark on a journey that promises not just skill development but a clear path to career advancement. With ApprenTech, your ambitions to progress are a reality.

As we launch ApprenTech, we extend an invitation to tech companies and aspiring professionals to join us in this transformative journey. Together, we can redefine what it means to be equipped for the future of technology.

For more information on how to get involved, pop our team a message at [email protected]

Together, let’s build a future where technology and talent converge to create endless possibilities.

Bristol Creative Industries is thrilled to launch a partnership with The Early Careers Foundation (ECF), a social mobility charity that works with young people from low-income backgrounds across the country, to ensure that talent and hard work are what determine their career success, not background.

Social inequality is a huge problem in the UK, with family wealth at birth (not IQ, race, or gender) still the most accurate predictor of future financial success. The Early Careers Foundation is committed to ensuring that talent, not background, is what determines a young person’s career success.

One of the Foundation’s initiatives is its Mentoring Programme, which pairs employees from corporate partner organisations with 16-18-year-olds from the organisation’s school partners for monthly hour-long mentoring sessions.

Volunteer to be a mentor and support young people

Thanks to this new partnership, we’re thrilled that Bristol Creative Industries members can volunteer to be a mentor to one of these high potential young people using the Foundation’s expertly designed resources to support building their confidence, developing their employability skills and offering invaluable professional guidance.

The Foundation does the leg work – covering the cost of your enhanced DBS check, running comprehensive training sessions and providing expertly designed resources to structure each session – so that the only ‘eligibility’ criteria is that you are enthusiastic, happy to share learnings from your own professional experience and crucially, committed to at least 10 months of mentoring sessions.

Please note that you need to be a Bristol Creative Industries member to take advantage of this exciting opportunity. If you’re not a member, join today.

Projects – of all sizes, in all sectors and with various budget constraints can put the most cool headed staff member under pressure. With various stakeholders involved, tight deadlines, organisation management and staff availability alongside budget and time constraints; the presence of a skilled project manager to guide the effort and ensure alignment among all participants is crucial for project success. Organisations employing various project management methodologies excel in sticking to budgets, adhering to schedules, meeting scope requirements, upholding quality standards, and realising the benefit of how a successful outcome can make to a business.

Develop your staff in project management, and drive your business forward through a part funded Project Management Skills Bootcamp.

Delivered in Bristol over 10 weeks, this part funded course will equip your staff with the skills needed to support and ultimately lead projects.

Suitable for people looking to upskill their staff and is under pinned by the Association for Project Management (APM), Project Management Qualification (PMQ) and will reference the APM Book of Knowledge (BoK) 7th Edition. For employers wishing to upskill their employees, this course will be discounted by 70% as part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Plan for Jobs. The course will be spread over 10 weeks, comprising a mixture of face-to-face/remote participation, requiring day-release one day each week. This is an ideal opportunity to upskill individuals in your team to drive your business forward.

The aim of the course is to provide learners a core understanding and appreciation of project management. Together with some practical applications of learning and how current practices impact project management; it will develop learners understanding of core project management principles and emerging practices.

By completing this Project Management Bootcamp, your employees will get a greater understanding of key elements of project management, such as:

On completion of the course learners may wish to formally pursue the PMQ and information will be available to support this.

Those looking to explore project management with data will have access to Microsoft supported courses in Azure Fundamentals, Azure AI Fundamentals, Azure Data Fundamentals.

Project management principles and practices are heavily influenced by data. The use of data analysis, statistical interpretation and artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging aspect of project management. The impact of AI in Project Management has been globally recognised. Over 80% of respondents to the Project Management Institute (PMI) “Pulse of the Profession”, 2019 survey report stated that organisations are seeing an impact from AI. With project professionals expecting the proportion of projects they manage using AI to jump from 37%.

At the end of the course there will be a series of guest speakers from industry who will discuss the future of project management. Participants attending the course may wish to explore data in projects in future courses at the West of England IoT, details will be available at the end of the programme.

Evidence from employer to confirm that the training provided via the Skills Bootcamp has resulted in either a new job role or an enhanced role for the employee that now utilises their new skills gained via this Skills Bootcamp.

Creating An Inclusive Workforce

Weston College is a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Centre for Excellence (1 of 4 in the whole UK) and a Queen’s Anniversary Prize winner for our outstanding inclusive practice. Within easy reach of Bristol and Somerset, located in North Somerset – you have access to a huge pool of untapped talent.

These accolades highlight that we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise which we’re keen to share with employers. Through Autism, Dyscalculia, Dyslexia and Mental Health Toolkits to Neurodiversity training and Conscious Inclusion workshops; Weston College is here to support all employers with attracting, retaining and investing in new talent.

Into work helps 16-24 year old’s find a sustainable route into employment that may have not be easily accessible due to many factors. Students With Special Educational Needs And/Disabilities want to work but are limited with options. Proving employers with the support, training and toolkits will not only open doors for young adults out of work but drive forward your ED&I goals.

Financial support is available for employers who take on someone with a disability through Access to Work and every learner will be supported by a trained Job Coach to ease interaction, transition and expectations.

The young person will be working for you, for free with the hope that you see the immediate benefits to opening your talent pool. Not only will it reduce recruitment costs but will improve reputation, benefit each employee and your retention rates will improve. 20% of the UK customer database have a disability, open up your doors to a a productive, motivated and effective team.

To talk through how you can support a young person into employment, get in touch today by contacting [email protected]

To celebrate World Book Day, we aked members of the Bristol Creative Industries LinkedIn group to share their favourite books for creative businesses and entrepreneurs.

We’ve included links for Amazon but why not support local shops and buy from a independent Bristol book store? There are great lists of Bristol indie bookshops here and here.

I highly recommend Time to Think by Nancy Kline. It taught me a lot about the value of listening and giving others positive space to develop their own thinking.

Heather Wright, Bristol Creative Industries co-chair and founder of Springboard Creative

How to be Everything. A useful insight into wearing many hats and making all the hats into a career which works for you.

Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers is great for the procrastinators amongst us, and I quote The Secret by Rhonda Byrne pretty much on a daily basis! I’m a big believer in the power of a positive mental attitude.

Alli Nicholas, Bristol Creative Industries membership and operations manager

For me, effective creative work should be based on an understanding of how the audience thinks. Kahneman’s book really opened my eyes to a whole new way of understanding customer behaviour, i.e. the importance of psychology.

Survival Skills for Freelancers by Sarah Townsend. A great book covering every aspect of freelancing that you can think of and more! Love all the comments from real freelancers that are included too acknowledging that different freelancers have different experiences, likes and dislikes and that’s OK.

I also like The Freelance Introvert because it gives me hope when I have regular wobbles about whether I’m confident enough to make a freelance writing business work.

I was recently at the Arnolfini and came across my current read in their bookshop. Creative Hustle is a real gem for those curious about blazing your own path whilst making work that matters. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

Julian Davis, Curiosity UnLtd and Bristol Creative Industries board director

If you haven’t already, read Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. It celebrates creativity with total honesty about how it “happens”. Short, punchy and simple. That’s always good in my book!

In my experience, we creatives are generally a quiet bunch. That can cause problems for freelancers in particular who generate most of our business from our connections. So many hate the idea of networking, but know it has to be done. It’s why I wrote Meet, Greet and Prosper, a short practical booklet about how to meet people at networking events.

When you analyse where most of your business comes from, it’s invariable by recommendation and introductions. Traditionally, new clients just seem to come from no where, but it can happen a lot more when you know how. That’s what my book, Rapid Result Referrals, focusses on. It explains in simple language how to discreetly let everyone in your network know you’re on the lookout for new clients.

Roy Sheppard, conference facilitator and founder of FreelancerSupport.online. (see Roy’s BCI profile here)

The government’s 2024 Spring Budget takes place on 6 March. Bristol Creative Industries members share what they would like to see in chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s speech for creative businesses.

“One thing we’re not looking for from the spring budget is a handout. After many conversations and hearing discussions at industry events, I don’t believe most businesses want this either. I set Distinctive up about three months before the not-so-mini budget in 2022. That single event made trading harder for our clients and us, deterred investment and had real life impacts on our colleagues.

“Given this context, another tax cut won’t touch the sides. What I’d like to see from the spring budget, first and foremost, is firm commitment to supporting things vital for sustainable economic growth and enabling us to plan effectively. Whether you call the state we’re in a ‘technical’ recession or not, that’s clearly not happening yet.

“If the economy is to stand a chance of growing sustainably, it needs investment in sectors like green technology, renewable energy, affordable housing, skills, and education. We also need a sustainable funding settlement for local authorities who are on the brink of financial collapse. Handouts grab the headlines, but they won’t address these fundamentals.

“It’s going to take more than one budget to change things for the better. But the government has a crucial opportunity with this budget to set a positive path, for an innovative, resilient creative sector and the broader economy.

“As with many businesses in the South West, recruiting exceptional talent is a key priority for Varn, so investments in digital skills training programs are crucial going forward. We are focused on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and how search marketing will be evolving, so I hope to see initiatives from the government around education and investment to recognise that we are in an era of constant change.

“Allocating resources to establish AI-focused programs in schools and universities will help prepare our future creative and digital workforce. I’d love to see initiatives and apprenticeships tailored to AI and technology fields, in order to incentivise students to pursue learning in these critical areas.”

“While the past few years have been an incredibly exciting time for the creative sector in Bristol, we are currently grappling with navigating emerging technologies, rising costs, and increased competition.

“I’m hoping for more grant provision for evolving businesses to invest in team training and development, specifically in use of AI, automation and new tech. This is critical to helping Bristol retain its innovative creative reputation on a national and international stage, while helping to continue to attract and retain talent in the city.”

“Working within the digital space, we’re always striving to innovate, particularly to bridge the gap between tech and physical, providing people with new and personalised experiences. As tech evolves at pace, the creative industries within the South West must have access to the new techniques, new languages and innovations needed to ensure they remain relevant.

“Our hope for the Spring Budget is that there will be further investment into supporting access to that tech, not just for those already working in the industry, but also ensuring inclusive access to the critical emerging talent coming into the sector.”

“It would be great to see a clear and strategic plan for the creative industries, notably arts and culture, that supports investment in skills and infrastructure. There needs to be a multifaceted approach across funding, facilities, business development and planning to nourish a thriving local arts and culture ecosystem. This requires collaboration across government agencies and community stakeholders.

‘The government’s creative industries sector vision published in June 2023 needs proper goals and funding if it is not to become an empty promise like Like Build Back Better and Levelling Up.

“At this stage in an election year however, it’s probably too late. The budget will inevitably focus on tax incentives to meet the expectations of traditional conservative voters.”

“I would love to see a centralised portal of financial support available for the UK creative sector. Huge pots of money exist, all managed by separate entities – from Innovate UK to Arts Council England and Digital Catapult.

“We’re creatives at heart, not financiers or MBA holders, and it can be challenging enough to find them, check eligibility, and see what they’re able to fund – and that’s before you’ve even started the application.”

Russell Jones, JonesMillbank
View Jones Millbank’s profile here

Relevant post: Guide to funding for creative businesses in the West of England

“We believe that AI has amazing potential as a complementary tool for the creative industries. We have seen the hype around this technology soften at the start of 2024 – primarily because people are realising that it takes time and effort to learn how to get good results. This is why training is such a vital part of realising the full value of AI.

“We think a fund to support recruitment and training of early careers talent into creative services, targeted on increasing digital/AI skills, would help ensure that the UK’s creative sector remains world leading and provide a valuable avenue for younger generations to acquire the skills they’ll need to navigate a digital future.”

“With ESG and sustainability a key focus for many of our clients, we’d like to see the government put in place measures which will support and incentivise investment in net zero, particularly for smaller businesses who are facing financial constraints.

We’d also like to see research and development tax breaks prioritising sustainability-focused industries, such as renewable energy, mobility and facilitating the circular economy. With the right investment these sectors can be the growth engine of the UK; and Bristol is already leading in many of these areas. The budget is an opportunity unleash more of this potential.”

“We’re officially in recession, but the truth is that we’ve been feeling the effects of a difficult economy for a long time, as smaller business owners as well as consumers.

“What I don’t want to hear in the budget discussion is how many “tough decisions” have been taken. As business owners, we understand tough decisions and take them most days! There are over 5 million businesses like mine which are often called the “backbone” of the economy, so we need to be respected, understood and supported. I don’t want to be used as a political pawn.

“I’d like some policies aimed at helping us to grow. Moves like an increase in corporation tax and a decrease in dividend allowance will affect the smaller business community disproportionately. When I get together with fellow small business owners, there’s a strong sense of support. I’d like to see that sense coming through from the government and wider business community.

“The consistently late payers that put small businesses under pressure are the large corporates, in my experience. I would certainly like a clamp down on late paying, which can be crippling.”