2.1 The Drivers for Change

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2.Introduction

Halpin was engaged by LAMDA to carry out research into the area of entrepreneurship as a route to preparing students for successful careers in the creative industries. Funded by the CET, the project is intended to inform the development of a programme which supports students to develop entrepreneurial skills during their training and increase their employability.

Our project has set out to:

Identify the different pathways that graduates are taking. Understand what students need in order to set up and sustain careers in the creative industries. Establish the ways that LAMDA could support students to develop entrepreneurial skills and encourage them to create their own enterprises.

This final report sets out our methodology, the key findings and makes a series of recommendations for LAMDA to consider.

2.1 The Drivers for Change

It is difficult for all performing arts graduates to manage to create and sustain a successful career in the arts sector; the reality is that

there are too many graduates and too few opportunities. This has been further exacerbated in 2020 by the global COVID-19 pandemic that has effectively brought the performing arts industry to a halt around the world.

There are therefore three key drivers for an increased focus on the development of entrepreneurial skills:

I.Driver 1: Increased Employability In normal circumstances, there are three main routes for LAMDA graduates to improve employability outcomes: • to take more of the available jobs in the industry i.e. to win work at the expense of graduates from other drama schools. • to create new jobs in the industry i.e. new enterprises • to create successful careers in non-performing roles or industries. Whilst the first route is not impossible, it would be challenging. This is because other schools are also going to be focusing on increasing graduate employability and because of the likely ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the industry. The final route is the one used currently by the majority of LAMDA graduates. However, it is widely seen as the second choice when the first one doesn’t materialise; as such, it can be accompanied with a level of dissatisfaction at the return on investment that the student has made in joining LAMDA.

The conclusion is that for increased career success and satisfaction with the LAMDA experience, both the second and third routes have to become more attractive and viable options.

II.Driver 2: A Portfolio Career is the Norm Performing arts graduates will likely need to manage a portfolio career, characterised by involvement in multiple work projects at any one time. As a result, there are many different career pathways and trajectories and graduates are unlikely to have just one primary occupation. Having an entrepreneurial mindset will give them the practical and emotional skills to manage this more effectively.

III.Driver 3: The Creative Sector is Largely Entrepreneurial Entrepreneurial skills will be useful in almost every creative industry role. Because there are very few large graduate employers in the creative sector, the majority of graduates in the industry are likely to be either working for an SME, or working in an organisation which by nature has an entrepreneurial culture.

The step-change in preparing graduates for employment is therefore focused on the idea that education needs to train artists in the broadest sense and to develop those abilities, skills and behaviours to manage a more diverse career.

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