Creative Pathways

The creative industries can offer careers that are both stimulating and rewarding, where no two days look the same.

However, we know that many students that may be drawn to such a career often don’t know about the breadth of opportunities in the sector, or require more information and tailored opportunities to help begin their career.

Funded by the Office for Students between 2019 and 2022, the Creative Pathways programme is a new University of Nottingham initiative led by Lakeside Arts to help our students overcome these obstacles and to support diversification and graduate retention in the creative industries sector.  

The programme has two strands of delivery:

CREATIVE PATHWAYS GRADUATE INTERNSHIPS

The UK’s only city-wide paid cultural internships programme – Creative Pathways Graduate Internships offer seven graduates per year the chance to work for six months in one of Nottingham’s leading cultural institutions. 

Successful applicants have the chance to get a wide range of vocational experience, including event planning, organising and delivery; finance and fundraising; budget administration and management; and marketing, publicity, communications and PR – providing them with a significant springboard into a future career in the sector.

The internships run from October to April for three years starting in October 2019. They are exclusively for students from the priority groups listed below. This to ensure that students from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education can fully access the opportunities available to all students and to improve social mobility. To be able to apply, you must be a home fee paying student graduating in summer 2020 from the University of Nottingham, want to gain practical experience to support your future career development in the creative and cultural sector, and meet one or more of the eligibility criteria detailed below:

Eligibility Criteria

• Have been in local authority care/looked after
• Have a declared disability
• Be from a black and minority ethnic group
• Be a mature student (21 or over at the start of your course)
• Be a young carer
• Be under 25 and estranged from your family
• Be in receipt of a core bursary
• Be in receipt of a Nottingham Potential Bursary
• Be a refugee
• Your home address is in a neighbourhood where participation in Higher Education is low.
  • This can be checked by:
    • Enter your home postcode (i.e. where you lived before University) into the 'Contextual offers' postcode checker on the University of Nottingham's website:https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy/applying/contextual-offers.aspx
    • If 'You may be elidible for a contextual offer' displays following searching, this indicates your home address is in a neighbourhood that meets the above criteria.

Cultural Organisations

The internships are based across seven Nottingham's cultural organisations: 

• City Arts Dance4
• Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham
• Nottingham Contemporary
• Nottingham Playhouse
• Nonsuch
• UNESCO City of Literature.
   

Revisit this page for information about the 2021/2022 applications.

2020 Applications Closed

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM CREATIVE ACADEMY

Meet and hear from inspirational individuals, start to understand and build links with cultural organisations, and gain insight into a vast range of careers available in the creative sector.

The Creative Academy is open to all University of Nottingham undergraduates, especially those who have come through a widening participation route to University. Through three events per year held at Lakeside Arts, current University of Nottingham students are armed with inspiration and information to help guide them into a career in the creative sector.

Upcoming Creative Academy dates are: 

• Thursday 22 October 2020
• Thursday 19 November 2020
• Tuesday 23 February 2021

Book for next event here