Pleased To Meet You – Part Three: Who We Are
At Creative Alliance, we’re specialists in the creative and cultural sectors. This means that we can find and support the next generation of talented young creatives, including graphic designers, digital marketers, web developers, lighting, stage and sound technicians, film and broadcast production assistants, and front of house assistants in galleries, museums and theatres. All of these can be found amongst the many entry level roles on offer in our sector.
We’ve been doing this since 2004 from our base in the Custard Factory in Birmingham. Because of the way we work, we can cover pretty much the whole of the Midlands: from Tewkesbury to Stoke and from Hereford to Nottingham.
There are currently 10 of us who work full-time from our base in the Custard Factory, as well as 10 freelance associates. These associates include our apprentice assessors – they are practicing creative professionals themselves, and include being an assessor for us as part of a portfolio of roles they have as a freelancer. This way of earning a living is very common in the creative industries.
All of our assessors are fully trained and we also have trained teachers (including myself) in the team. We update our learning every year and keep a log of our professional development. Just like any school or college, we’re inspected by Ofsted, by the Skills Funding Agency and by the Qualification Awarding Organisations like EdExcel. We’re part of a group whose last Ofsted Inspection was a Grade 1, which is Outstanding.
We’ve also achieved the Matrix ‘Kite Mark’ for the quality of information, advice and guidance we provide young people about learning, training and working in the creative industries.
We’ve won awards for the work we do. Just last year, Creative Alliance won the national Social Enterprise UK award in the ‘Education, Skills and Jobs’ category, plus a national Apprentices4England Award as well as being highly commended in the Birmingham Post Business Awards for People Development.
We’re the perfect place to start if you’re looking to get your foot in the door of the creative and cultural industries and to find your first creative, digital or marketing job.