On the 18th of February, the School of Creative and Cultural Industries successfully ran its second Creative Futures Day event, designed to help students navigate their creative career ambitions and reflect on personal goals through a series of informal interactive workshops, events and drop-in CV checks and conversations. By integrating skills-based workshops throughout the day, and introducing students to representatives from the creative and cultural industries, the day generated a range of pragmatic insights about the different attributes that can contribute towards building a successful career in this sector.
The day commenced with CV and Portfolio checks, shortly followed by an entrepreneurial skills workshop run by UCL Innovation and Enterprise which analysed the value of adopting an entrepreneurial mindset for creative work. The workshop highlighted how ideas can be propelled through building connections and networks, and by the end of the workshop, students wrote down their next steps moving forward based on the entrepreneurial instincts discussed during the session.
The next workshop, hosted by creative directors at art and design studio idontloveyouanymore, explored the different components that comprise a compelling pitch and the way that pitching involves strategically communicating with a purpose and audience in mind. Students were provided with the opportunity to pitch among themselves with written prompts and also received feedback on how to constructively communicate their ideas. The session ended with an exciting, interactive ‘speed pitching’ exercise that allowed students to rapidly practice their pitching skills in an informal, interactive manner. This workshop was followed by a career planning and narrative UCL Skills East workshop, which analysed the different ways you can build your own ‘career narrative.’ It demonstrated how reflecting on your personal values and motivations can aid in mapping out your own personal career strategy.
The day ended with a panel that focussed on creative skills, hosted by SCCI alumna Chantal Romain, an Audio Storytelling for Podcast and Radio MA (2025) graduate and audio producer. Chantal facilitated an insightful discussion, invoking our panellists to consider the culmination of skills and past experiences that have led them to their respective roles today.
The panel featured representatives working across the creative and cultural industries:
• Emma Gold, Volunteer and Staff Coordinator at the Roundhouse
• Simon Algie, VP, Global Digital Sales at Fifth Season
• Laverne Caprice, Marketing Manager for Open City Documentary Festival
• Gaurav Raturi, entrepreneur and producer, founder of Filmshake
The panellists implored students to consider the variety of pathways that can lead to a future working in creative careers. For example, Emma mentioned how working in an administrative role in a music and arts venue has allowed her to access different opportunities which allow her to tap into the creative parts of her organisation. She also discussed how experiences from previous roles have provided essential transferrable skills for her current role and emphasised how the scope of what can be explored within a role, can go beyond its official job title. Similarly, Laverne shared the value of finding different pathways into the creative and cultural industries, for example, through taking a short course offered by a creative organisation. What was also noted during the panel was the importance of making the most of the creative resources and spaces that you may have access to while at university.
The panel’s insights on pitching were reminiscent of the day’s earlier pitching workshop: Simon challenged us to think about whether there is an existing audience that you can tap into when generating creative ideas, and Gaurav also reminded us to not underestimate the value of an effective pitch deck, believing that pitching is essential to any room you are entering. The significance of networking also arose in the discussion. Gaurav mentioned how even if an instant connection is not formed at a networking event, networking is still an invaluable skill that can allow you to derive key insights about how an industry works. Laverne also mentioned the power that a LinkedIn message or email can hold.
Shortly after the panel, the audience was invited to put this advice into practice by attending an optional networking reception with our panellists. Overall, the day was filled with fruitful perspectives on a variety of paths that can lead to a career in the creative and cultural industries. The diverse range of skills discussed throughout the day encouraged us to broaden our horizons and reimagine creative futures in practical yet innovative ways.