In today’s world we live surrounded by the outcomes of creative work: social media, marketing campaigns, music, cinema, TV, the list is easy to fill and can become endless! But the same cannot be said about the limited paths that lead to a successful career in the creative industry.
Our mission is to fix that.
Noel Dunne is the founder of Creative Alliance. With an Irish immigrant background, he knows the difficulties of getting into higher education and the barriers that young people who are “different” endure when looking to achieve their goals and ambitions. It was through working in creative projects with communities, organisations and young people, that he became passionate about firing up people’s imagination and understood how fundamental creativity is for us and the connections it enables.
Just as creativity is spontaneous, Creative Alliance is an organisation that simply happened over time. There was no foundational plan, only a strong ambition to make things happen, that allowed the development of a network of industry professionals who were interested in helping young people grow and become the future of the creative industry. That became the driving idea from where an association was born, hence the name Creative Alliance.
The organisation emerged when the directors of Birmingham Artists, Friction Arts & Seeing The Light approached Noel to identify sources of learning and skills funding to provide training for young creatives, so that they could start to earn a living from their creative practice and thinking.
It has been doing the same thing ever since 2005.
The alliance of creative industry employers being on the board of the company continues to exist today including organisations such as Fabric, Midlands Art Centre (MAC), McCann, and Swof Media.
By using learning models and pedagogic strategies, Creative Alliance aims to provide an educational programme that is industry led and delivered by professionals. The undertaking is to have industry leaders training and supporting new talent, to provide real opportunities into work and create a better path into creative education and work, and it has remained successful to this day.
There are many barriers that prevent young people from following a creative career. Some of them have to do with socio-economic circumstances, others with lack of information or guidance. Yet the truth is that the creative sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK, and there’s an abundance of talent willing to be a part of it, dreaming of growing their talents to make a positive impact in their communities. Creative Alliance’s essence is to connect them with workplaces and creative leaders that support their careers, becoming the future leaders of the industry who create alliances by themselves and make a difference.
Being closer to our 20th anniversary, we have taken some time to review our story and review our ambitions and drive as an organisation. We are proud of how far we’ve come, and look forward to continuing supporting the creative industry by providing the best training available for our learners, that is aligned with what employers need and has a real impact on making success in the creative industry more achievable.
Learn more about how we can support your success:
Or get in touch with our team today.