Job opportunities in the creative industries

The arts embrace a wide range of activities including music, opera, dance, drama, literature, craft, and visual art and design. Because there is a lot of collaboration among arts practitioners, you will find it useful to understand how creative skills are applied in a range of employment.

The audio-visual industry has seen growth in recent years and is dependent on the skills of the workforce being kept up to date, particularly in the use of ICT. Rapid technological developments mean that graduates need to constantly maintain and enhance their skills to ensure continued employment and to keep competitive in an increasingly global market.

Other areas of art and design, particularly fine and applied arts and crafts, are more reliant on opportunities supported through public sector initiatives. For example, government departments, such as the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in the Republic, have strategic aims for increasing participation in and improving access to the arts. This can mean improving the quality of arts infrastructure or promoting and celebrating creativity. These strategic initiatives are carried out in collaboration with the respective Arts Councils of Northern Ireland and the Republic who themselves work with a range of arts organisations to deliver world-class arts and cultural facilities.

Other Government departments, particularly those involved with education, enterprise and employment, aim to ‘harness’ creativity, bringing it into the mainstream of cultural, educational, training and economic areas. The skills of artists and designers are in demand in a range of sectors, such as education, enterprise and culture, where creativity and entrepreneurship are seen as central to meeting the challenges of a global economy.