The creative industry is notorious for being exclusionary, for its lack of genuine access. If you don't agree, then I am hard-pressed to believe that you might be complicit.

What is one piece of lucrative advice that is assured to work for those trying to succeed in creative industries? Work absurdly hard or be contingent on genes and talents? How does one best demonstrate themselves to get ahead in the game? Do brilliant ideas hold value in a world where many form impressions on the sort of shoes you wear, or your proficiency level in a certain coloniser’s language?

The veracious answer, much to the chagrin of many, boils down simply, to privilege: The privilege of being born into a high-income (blessed) socio-economic family based in a ‘first world’ nation; the privilege of having access to study in private schools and colleges that furthers the way your demeanour gets rendered—the way you speak, the way you dress, the way you learn to swirl your wine; the age-old privilege of nepotism, of knowing established professionals (or even better, being related to them) who pull purse strings and grant favours of experience; the privilege of being unaffected by unpaid internships; the privilege of being driven to the workplace vs. having the only option of taking a means of public transport—the list is depressingly varied and bitterly endless.

This privilege defines, dictates, and categorises how creative job positions get filled and fostered, and how a majority of people in fields from fashion, advertising, and publishing, to music, architecture, design, arts, photography, filmmaking, and more, get to ‘succeed,’ facing little to no impediments; this is the same privilege that arranges resources and access routes for a niche section of people. The disparity is real and ongoing, and the systems that mitigate it, are ample and prevalent.

UK-based charity Creative Mentor Network is on an ambitious quest to recalibrate the creative industries towards becoming more socio-economically diverse, accessible, and inclusive. They partnered with global creative agency AnalogFolk, to launch their 60-page, tongue-in-cheek book succinctly named Making It In The Creative Industry: A Practical Guide, filled with sarcastic advice that pieces together the myriad invisible yet very real, very serious, and some impossible barriers that aspiring creatives from low socioeconomic backgrounds encounter while attempting to land a job and flourish in the competitive global creative gamut.

Rendered in cardinal red and paper white flat backgrounds, the slender book is structured like a manual of sorts, with sardonic yet hard-hitting bits of advice backed by serious statistics, and accompanied by crisp, ironic illustrations by award-winning artist Toby Leigh (Tobatron). According to its creators, the book holds up a mirror to the creative industry, addressing the reality of how economically marginalised sections of society face trouble getting their foot in the door, while others are presented routes largely unencumbered. As per the publishers, the proportion of people hailing from lower socio-economic backgrounds working in the creative industry has more than halved since the 1970s, lessening from 16.4 per cent to just 7.9 per cent. Why so?

“The sad truth is that most of the ‘advice’ you will read has actually been helping a certain section of society ‘make it’ for a long time. We’re working to change that—so it’s simply your talent that matters rather than who you know, where you live and the privileges you can afford,” mentions their press statement. 

From ‘Presenting Yourself,’ to ‘Networking,’ the book is sectioned into chapters that throw in statistics such as: “children of people who work in film and TV are 12x more likely to work in those fields”; “While unpaid placements allow young people to build their experience before applying for their first roles, they’re inaccessible to those who can’t afford to work for free.”

Finishing the book in under 10 minutes (and ending up relating to most of it), I am compelled to share some of its many brilliant proposals: Making It In The Creative Industry: A Practical Guide recommends time travel as an effective solution while advising how to combat the requirement of having two years of experience for an entry-level position; despite most not knowing what they are doing (including higher-ups in a workplace), they are comfortable pretending as if they do—so, to counter the crippling imposter syndrome that plagues many creatives, while attempting to fit in, AnalogFolk and Creative Mentor Network suggest emitting "boisterous arrogance outwardly" at work, and to "walk purposefully around the office holding your laptop open, carrying a coffee. If you always look like you're on the way to a meeting, no one can make you join a meeting"; the culture of social and after-hours ‘work-drinking’ is fabled, as most important decisions are not made in meeting rooms, but in pubs and bars. “So, it is imperative that you are a drinker. In fact, skip all meetings and sit in the pub all day. Not a drinker? Then you’re not a team player.” Sounds about right.

Creative Mentor Network does not fail to remind us that frankly, “it’s not about the quality of your ideas, it’s about the quality of your contact list, accent and shoes. Good luck,” and “if familial nepotism isn’t an option, consider attending the same elite university as the boss. The options are, truly, endless.* (*Depending on the size of your family & budget.”) Brilliant!

Cynicism and sarcasm aside, the book is brave as it tries to drive home, a pertinent issue. It is also serious about inciting and demanding change. A ‘call-to-arms,’ Making It In The Creative Industry: A Practical Guide is hoping to start dialogues, and put in place avenues that form a more inclusive and accessible creative industry. To start off, the book is free and available to download on Creative Mentor Network’s website. More importantly, the UK-based charity founded in 2014 is incentivising through its mentorship program, where established creative professionals are paired with emerging talents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds looking to get into the creative industry. It has also distributed 250 limited edition copies of the publication to key figures across the industry, urging them to become mentors with the initiative.

“Mentors receive a minimum of eight hours of training to ensure they are set up to support the young people they are matched with, and to provide them with the necessary skills to be an inclusive mentor, coach, and leader. Over the last nine years, Creative Mentor Network has matched over 1,500 mentoring pairs and worked with companies from across the creative industries,” shares the charity, who were recently nominated for a Business Charity Award with their partner Sony Music UK, for their ‘Positive Influence’ mentoring programme.

Katie Thomson-Greene, managing director of Creative Mentor Network says: "Whilst some people may be able to laugh at themselves, we understand this book may challenge people’s perspectives and make them feel uncomfortable. If that's the case, it highlights that change needs to happen more. For too long, the industry has been dominated by people from higher socio-economic backgrounds who have not faced the same barriers as those from less privileged backgrounds. From unpaid internships, network-driven recruitment and even awareness of the jobs that exist, there are too many invisible barriers that many people don't think about but are making it even harder for the young creatives in our community."

Our hope is that this book will shed light on these barriers and inspire individuals and businesses to act towards creating a more diverse and inclusive industry. We envision an industry that values individuality, creativity, and skill above nepotism and homogeneity. This book is a call to action for anyone who shares that vision. – Katie Thomson-Greene (managing director, Creative Mentor Network)

Colin Byrne, regional executive creative director (Europe) at AnalogFolk shares, "Creative industries can and should reflect our cultural landscape and the communities we live in. There’s a hotbed of undiscovered talent out there that’s not getting a look in or being considered properly. The talent is losing out, the creative community is losing out, and we are doing a disservice to the people we are creating for. That's why we are so proud to work with Creative Mentor Network to highlight the importance of driving change and creating a more inclusive and accessible industry for everyone.”

STIR reached out to Byrne, Jake Doran (senior creative, AnalogFolk), who is also one of the authors of the book, and Miles Zilesnick (head of marketing, Creative Mentor Network), to know more about Making It In The Creative Industry, which attempts to hold systems accountable, calling out the blatant lack of socio-economic diversity that continues to hamper the growth of inclusive avenues, and strives to transfigure the creative industry for the better.

Jincy Iype: “Creative Mentor Network has published this book to hold a mirror up to the creative industry.” What formed the genesis of this manual? Why now, and why was sarcasm chosen to effectively communicate your intent?

Jake Doran: When we were thinking of what advice would be useful to someone trying to enter the industry, we realised that sadly, the best advice would be ‘try and be rich and well-connected’—which is obviously, terrible advice, but it’s worked for a huge proportion of the industry!

We took that initial spark and thought, 'what if we made a whole book of advice that’s full of uncomfortable truths and bad advice?'

To make someone laugh, you have got to hit on something that they can relate to—there has to be some truth to it. If we can make someone laugh at the absurdities and exclusivity of the industry, then we have got them engaged with the problem and thinking about it.

Miles Zilesnick: The creative industries have a problem with diversity. You are twice as likely to make it in the creative industries if you come from a professional background than if you come from a lower socio-economic background. We wanted to raise awareness about these problems and help us recruit new mentors. We wanted something that would stand out and make people think about the problem differently. The book was the perfect answer to this.

We knew we needed to be brave to get people's attention. We didn't want to shame people, and we trusted this type of humour would help people understand why we exist, see the problems in their everyday lives, and want them to be part of the change to fix them. 

Colin Byrne: We had to not only reach but resonate with a highly sophisticated yet somewhat cynical audience, so hitting them with the harsh truth in a way that was both mocking and hilarious (in my humble opinion) seemed just the ticket.

Jincy: Could you explain how the sectioning, as well as the format and illustrations integrated, inform the book’s resolve?

Jake: The sections are tied to the information covered in Creative Mentor Network’s training courses for new mentors. They have a great module about the barriers faced by young people trying to get into the industry—things such as education devaluing creativity, how London-centric it is, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds being less likely to have existing connections to the industry and less-inclusive hiring practices—it gave us a natural structure for the book.

We were also really careful to make sure that it’s not just a book of jokes—each page is backed up by some data or research giving context to the problem in question.

For its format, we were inspired by early-learning books, like the vintage Ladybird publications, as well as the more pompous, self-help tomes written by so-called ‘thought leaders.’

We were lucky to bring Tobatron on board to illustrate. Tobatron is the alter-ego of Toby Leigh, and he has this amazing instructional style that feels like a natural fit for a ‘how-to’ guide. So, much of the humour comes through from the illustrations on their own, whether it is a tiny dog relieving itself on a MacBook or someone hiding in the office toilets.

Colin: We wanted to identify the biggest barriers young people come up against when trying to break into the creative industries, and so this dictated the sections; unfortunately, there are many more barriers than those we highlighted, and the book could have been twice the length. The excellent illustrations by Tobatron really landed the irony while making it a beautiful book that creative leaders would happily have on display.

Jincy: An altruistic choice—making the book accessible. Does it perhaps urge its readers to become part of its inclusive solution this way? What does this solution, campaign, and mentoring programme entail, which hopes to remodel the creative industry?

Miles: Our goal for the book and this campaign was to raise awareness about the problems that exist and encourage more people to be part of the solution. For us, we are looking for creative companies to partner with so we can work together to make the creative industries more socioeconomically diverse.

The book's conclusion, and call to action, asks people to head to our website and talk to us about what they can do and how to get involved with our work. Because of this, we wanted the book to be as easily accessible as possible. So, while it is free to read on our website, people may also purchase limited edition, physical copies through us, or digital versions on Kindle, to make a donation, and support us too.

Our programmes educate people to understand the barriers that exist and train them to be inclusive mentors and leaders. We match them with a young person from our community to mentor over a structured programme. This gives our young a stronger chance of making it by facilitating one-on-one support and helping them increase their networks while helping companies transform their processes and culture to be more inclusive.

Colin: We wanted the recipients to think, 'this is so true' and 'that is me—I need to do something.'

Jincy: ONE piece of advice for making it in the creative industry.

Jake: Don’t be tempted to mould yourself into what you think the industry is looking for. You’ll only end up having the same ideas as everyone else. Develop your own voice, find like-minded allies, and be unapologetically yourself.

Miles: For those looking to make it, work on building your networks and connections. Find a mentor, go to networking events, and meet new people. This will help you find opportunities and build confidence. For those looking to help others make it, put yourself in their shoes to help you be as inclusive as possible. Give people time, talk to them, and listen, so you can understand more about them. 

Colin: Never give up.

Project Details

Name: Making It In The Creative Industry: A Practical Guide
Publisher: Creative Mentor Network
Created by: AnalogFolk
Printed by: Generation Press
Illustrated by: Tobatron
Creatives: Jake Doran, Claire Henderson and Phoebe Attridge
Design Direction: Darren Custance-Jones
Designers: Eve McQuaid & Nina Pitrakou
Producer: Natalie Dobbin
Executive Creative Director: Colin Byrne
Senior Strategist: Cordelia Diamond
Associate Client Partner: Simon Haithwaite