Creative & Cultural Skills creates alliance with Skillscene

“Skills alliance to create “world’s best live performance workforce”

Creative & Cultural Skills, the Sector Skills Council for the creative and arts industries has agreed a pact with Skillscene, the live arts organisation. The alliance will see the two bodies joining forces to support development across the technical workforce in the performing arts.

The agreement will help to ensure that training, qualifications and occupational standards are relevant to and meet the needs of the creative and cultural industries – for employers, employees and freelancers.

Skillscene will become the expert body advising Creative & Cultural Skills on industry-based technical standards and the reform of courses and qualifications for the sector. It will also help to shape the development of the proposed National Skills Academy for offstage and technical skills in live music.

“As an employer-led Sector Skills Council we are committed to listening and responding to the needs of the industries we serve,” says Tom Bewick Chief Executive of Creative & Cultural Skills.”

“Through its highly experienced membership, including representatives of major employers and influential trade bodies, Skillscene is well placed to act as an expert panel for the performing arts on technical training issues”.

“Indeed, the task of raising skills and ensuring our world- class stages are served by a world- class workforce is too important to have multiple training organisations with competing agendas. This pact means we will speak with one voice which government and the providers of education and training will find hard to ignore”.

A suite of new National Occupational Standards for technical theatre has been developed by Skillscene’s expert panel. These will be taken through the official approval process by Creative & Cultural Skills and form the basis for new and more relevant qualifications and vocational training courses in technical theatre skills.

Anamaria Wills, Chair of Skillscene commented: “We are delighted to have achieved this new agreement with Creative & Cultural Skills to help strengthen the professional development of technical people working in the live arts. We were champions for the creation of an employer-led Sector Skills Council from the very early days and it is hugely satisfying to be working in partnership with them now for the benefit of the sector. In particular, Skillscene’s pilot programme has proved that there is real hunger for the development of work-based learning opportunities. The partnership with Creative & Cultural Skills means that technical staff can finally have their extensive skills formally validated and developed within a context of agreed performance standards identified and implemented by employers and staff across the sector.”

The two bodies have also agreed to collaborate on a range of other issues including the promotion of diversity in the sector where the current workforce is 95% white.