From education to employment

Ethnic minority students struggle to find inspirational creative role models, survey finds

Simon Morris, Education Programme Lead at Adobe EMEA

With government funding cuts to the creative subjects in the curriculum announced a few months ago, the future of the industry’s success is in question as aspiring creatives face yet another barrier to pursuing their passions (@Adobe).

Research released by Adobe during Black History Month has shown that UK students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds face heightened barriers to pursuing a creative career when it comes to parental influence, with 52% admitting to this being a deterrent, compared to only 37% for white students.

Additionally almost two-thirds of students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups struggle to find inspirational creative role models, according to the survey of 3000 students and creative professionals.

Supporting the campaign, award winning rapper and actor Little Simz says,

“Greater representation of minority groups is needed to show the next generation that they can make it.”

With 300,000 new jobs expected to be created in the creative industries by 2025 and the data revealing that 75% of students agree that they want a career in the industry, but don’t know how to begin, it’s clear more needs to be done to inspire the next generation of creatives to overcome the barriers they are facing.

Simon Morris, Senior Director of Marketing at Adobe, said:

Our research gives us an understanding of what is holding young people back from embarking on a creative career, despite the number of jobs predicted to be generated by the creative industry. Our goal at Adobe is to highlight the ways young people from all backgrounds can succeed in the industry, and the steps they can take to help them get there. We risk missing out on incredible talent if – as parents, role models, careers advisors, teachers and industry – we don’t equip our young people with knowledge of all the opportunities available to them, and the tools to pursue their dreams.”


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