With Discover! Creative Careers returning this November – and growing into a month-long celebration – we’re reflect on what our 2024 programme achieved across Hull and East Yorkshire.
2024 marked the first time Hull and East Yorkshire as a region participated in Discover! Creative Careers Week. HEY Creative coordinated a programme that brought together schools, businesses, culture and community partners, all focused on one clear priority: championing creative careers and the skills that underpin them – whatever industry a young person might want to go into.
The campaign reached young people directly through an extensive network of careers, education, care and community partners across the region, ensuring connections and opportunities both in and out of the traditional classroom setting.
Cultural organisations across the region got involved by sharing resources and opportunities to help young people connect with creative careers. The Warren, a young people’s organisation funded annually by Arts Council England, shared videos like this one throughout the week.
Businesses signed up to the Hull & East Yorkshire Creative Charter were supported to amplify the message across their networks. Further, five regional business leaders were spotlighted as advocates for creative skills, generating over 6,000 social media engagements and securing coverage from the BBC.
At the heart of the week were 11 Creative Careers Showcase Events in schools across the region, developed in collaboration with Generation Hull and East Riding Cultural Education Partnership. These included talks, workshops, presentations and more, covering a broad range of topics that matched school priorities, from print-making and drama to ‘monetising your music’.
The response from teachers spoke for itself:
“The students were so focused, interested and produced wonderful outcomes. They really understood the opportunities that are available at KS4 choices and the diverse nature of where a creative subject such as art can take you in the world of work.”
“The workshop gave them ideas and options for the future that they have probably never considered a possibility”.
Max May, Chief Officer at HEY Creative said “In Hull and East Yorkshire, we believe all children and young people have a right to thrive through creativity. The Discover! Creative Careers programme and the week of activities has been a fantastic opportunity for us to engage the whole region in developing the skills and talents we need in Hull and East Yorkshire.”
We’re proud of what the region achieved together in 2024, and we’re looking forward to building on it again this year, as the national initiative broadens from a week to the whole month of November.