We compiled these numbers because we know the reality. We live it. This is what the creative industries look like when talent is not enough — when getting in is not what you can do, but who you know, where you come from, and what you can afford.
Only 8% of people working in film, TV and radio are from working-class backgrounds. The lowest in a decade.
60% of workers in those same industries come from managerial and professional households.
The proportion of working-class actors, musicians and writers has halved since the 1970s — despite 48% of the UK identifying as working class.
18.2% of the workforce in music, performing and visual arts is working class. A third of the UK workforce has working-class origins.
Under-35s from middle-class backgrounds are four times more likely to work in the creative industries than their working-class peers.
69% of people in key creative roles — actors, dancers, artists, writers — have a degree. Only 26% of the entire UK workforce does.
A BAFTA-nominated actor is five times more likely to have attended a private school. 31% of top figures in TV, film and music are privately educated, compared to 7% nationally.
At Cambridge, 4% of creative arts students are from working-class backgrounds. At Oxford, 5%.
48% of under-30s in the creative industries have done an unpaid internship. Nearly 9 in 10 creative workers have worked for free in some form. Unpaid work is described as “endemic.”
Those earning over £50,000 in the industry are the most likely to believe it is a meritocracy.
Less than 1% of all new apprenticeship starts in the UK are in the creative sector.
In areas like Darlington and Blackpool, less than 1% of the population works in arts and culture. London holds 31% of all creative jobs in the country.
These are not opinions. These are facts. And behind every percentage is someone who was good enough — but never given the chance to prove it.
neunmagazine.com 