i’ve been meaning to blog about the creative diplomas since the creative coast event in september. a post on this blog highlighting the government report on education for creative industries got me thinking again, so here’s my thoughts on the idea…

a quick intro to the diplomas first: it’s a national scheme in which local education authorities apply to run specialised diplomas for gcse age pupils instead of the traditional qualifications. given the scarborough borough’s existing creative and digital scene and existing creative strengths within local schools, it was decided that the borough would first apply for creative diplomas. in addition to core subjects such as maths and english, students will be able to create a mix of projects that encompass and combine various creative skills. i would have loved to learn this way when i was at school.

this is exciting for the creative industries in scarborough as it provides a near seamless route from secondary school through college, university and into the creative industries. it’s almost the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle as we already have great creative courses at yorkshire coast college and the university of hull scarborough campus. with creative coast we’re trying to facilitate meetings between these establishments and local practitioners to provide a mentoring scheme. add the incubator units in the creative industries centre (opening 2008) and scarborough is looking at becoming a perfect place to study and start a creative business.

so what’s the catch? well in return for having this new generation of savvy creatives in the town, the schools will need a fair bit of input from creative professionals - in providing input to course content and offering workplace experience for teachers and students. and most of this will have to be given for free.

there are two problems with this: the majority of scarborough’s creative scene is made of individuals, and the first issue is that many work from home - that pretty much rules out work placements. the second is that when you work on your own, finding time to give away for free can be difficult - every hour you spend with a work placement or in a school is an hour you don’t earn a wage and contrary to popular belief, most self-employed creatives don’t really earn that much.

if the creative diplomas is to work, it’s going to require some creative thinking to overcome physical obstacles, some learning about the nature of creative businesses from the schools and some real generosity on behalf of local creatives.

and i do think creatives need to be more generous, particularly those who do manage to make a living doing what they love. i’m reminded of a conversation a couple of years back at yorkshire coast college. i’d been working with some students on the graphic design course and myself and a representative from another local creative business were asked if we’d mind coming in to talk to some assessors. for some reason he saw this as an opportunity to slag off the standard of students in general and declared that his business would never employ students fresh out of college as they ‘weren’t up to speed’. instead they always advertised outside of scarborough and only within the industry. i suggested that it was businesses job to take students and teach them how to apply their skills in the workplace but my argument fell on deaf ears. i was embarrassed that another local company would not only declare this opinion in front of assessors at their local college, but that they even thought it at all. if everyone thought like this how would anyone ever get their first break? did he not remember his first job and how someone generously taught him?

i hope that he is very much in the minority in scarborough - on gut instinct and the evidence of the people i’ve met through creative coast i’d suggest he is. so creatives of the north yorks coast, it’s time to put your mouth where your money is and open your doors and your hearts to a future generation of creatives. it could be the best investment you ever make. it’s unlikely you’ll make any money out of it, it will probably cost you money - but there’ll be a lot of grateful young people as a result. that’s time well spent in my book.