An education platform to help young people from under-represented backgrounds break into the creative industries has been launched by Ravensbourne University London.
The advertising and creative industries still lag behind when it comes to diversity, with 32% of black talent leaving the advertising industry as a result of lack of inclusion (according to UK Advertising Census: All In).
The free online platform, KICKSTART!, seeks to plug skills gaps in the creative industries by helping talented young people to launch their careers and overcome barriers to entry. It has been created in collaboration with creatives from Studio Blup, The Wilderness Agency, Mother London, Guardian Digital, and Brandmovers.
From designing a brand identity to creating video assets for a social media campaign, a series of short courses will give young creative the tools they need to get into industry.
Professional course contributors come from communities currently underrepresented in the creative industries and have often followed an unusual route into their career paths. Many share the advice that they received or the lessons they learned when kickstarting their own careers.
Ravensbourne has built a reputation of producing some of the finest creative talent in industry. KICKSTART! will provide a platform to plug skill gaps in creative technology, content marketing, and digital communication.
Students from Ravensbourne’s outreach programme will be able to learn for free on the new platform, completing each short course is eight hours long. Course content will be delivered through a mixture of video interviews, tips, tricks, tutorials and industry case studies alongside additional online resources.
For the development of the platform, Ravensbourne University entered into a ‘Knowledge Exchange’ with London-based creative agency, Studio Blup, and their creative director & founder, DINES, who hosts the course alongside Derek Yates, head of work-based learning and curriculum partnerships at Ravensbourne.
DINES, a mentor, philanthropist and entrepreneur who founded Studio Blup in 2005, said:
“There is are a wealth of opportunities in the world of brand communication, content marketing, digital storytelling, and social conversation design. The course will help young creatives to get the best out of themselves and provide them with the tools to grow.”
Derek Yates, commented:
“We are extremely proud of our track-record of producing industry leading creatives and getting them into employment. The new KICKSTART! platform will provide an opportunity to continue the pipeline of students from under-represented backgrounds breaking into industry following their studies.
“Industry collaboration is part of the DNA at Ravensbourne. KICKSTART! is a product of the network of industry partners and alumni that is integral to our learning community at the University.”
A team of Ravensbourne students and alumni helped in producing the content, these included tech start-up Drewl – who produced the films; promo editor at Sky Creative, Michael Bailey – who edited them and three current third year students- who created the branding and visual identity for the whole KICKSTART! platform.
Each Course has 12 steps to work through, and each step asks you to ‘Watch & Learn’ from a filmed interview or tutorial before you ‘Click & Discover’ from a curated selection of online content and then ‘Test & Apply’ what you’ve learnt via a test and an optional task.
More information and sample industry-lead talks from the course can be found here: https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/people-and-stories/news/kickstart
