The Careers Team have been on their travels and spent the last week of June in Subotica, Serbia, with teachers and creative professionals from Greece, Serbia, Belgium and the Netherlands. We were taking part in training and codesigning a fantastic project for delivery in schools across Europe, linking students to the creative sector and linking creative skills to careers and employability. Many of us take the creative sectors for granted on a daily basis and sometimes do not see a career in this sector as a viable career. This project is about changing those perceptions as well as exploring the different career paths you can take and exploring and developing skills linked to the sector that can be transferable to any job.

From video games to films, theatre to live music and cultural heritage to fashion, the creative and cultural sector is a massive employer in the UK and Europe and is responsible for contributing billions to the UK economy alone. In economic terms, the creative industries punch far above their weight. Before coronavirus, they were worth £112bn to our economy in 2018, and their contribution has grown twice as fast as the rest of the economy since 2010. In total, the Creative Industries are now bigger than UK Life Sciences, Aerospace and Automotive sectors combined. The UK is renowned across the world for its creative industries and influence on the world and continues to be at the forefront of creative content.

We talk about transferable skills all the time and by using them students should have the confidence and ability to take any career path. In a perfect example of this 20 years ago Mrs Harrison went to Serbia to find and buy frozen peas that were in short supply in the UK. This week was about finding common ground and collaborating across Europe to inspire young people to use their creative skills and to promote the creative sectors. Mrs Harrison said “To find myself back in a country 20 years later in a very different career underlines the fact that you never know where life will take you. Embrace every opportunity life throws at you and keep learning from those experiences and the people you meet along the way”.

Typically the team took great advantage of meeting new people and making links – they even managed to get in the cockpit of the plane and interview the pilot when the plane was delayed! As for Serbia and Subotica- there is a statue in the square of the major Biro Karoly who wanted a great future for Subotica and therefore built buildings that “contained not only bricks and mortar but spirit as well”. That was so clear of the city and the people – it was a great opportunity for the team and for Horizon to represent the UK on an international stage. Hvala Serbia!

As part of the project Horizon has been chosen to run the pilot scheme and next year some of our students will be exploring those industries and meeting some great creative professionals, so watch this space for further update about this project.