Creative Apprenticeship Programme

The Creative & Cultural Skills Creative Apprenticeship Programme, part-funded by the MLA Partnership, will enable people to choose from a number of work based, nationally accredited apprenticeships. The pilot scheme is the first apprenticeship programme for the cultural sector to be backed by the government and approved by industry. It follows a successful round of trial apprenticeships with employers including the National Trust and the Institute of Field Archaeologists.

The Creative Apprenticeship for museums is in Cultural and Heritage Venue Operations and will be available from September 2008. This new initiative will help museums to train young people to develop the practical skills museums and their visitors need.  Offering an alternative route from traditional postgraduate qualification, the Creative Apprenticeship programme will break down barriers to a museum career, improving diversity and social inclusion.
 
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), has shown its support for the government-backed scheme by pledging funding for nine creative apprentices through hub museums from September of this year.

Tomorrow’s workforce
Many skilled staff will retire in the next few years. To continue to perform well and meet community needs, museums need to attract talent from all sections of the community. Competition is fierce. All service organisations are looking for people with essential skills in areas such as customer engagement, project management, team working, communication, leadership, ICT and creativity. Creative Apprenticeships provide museums with a way to help young people develop the practical skills the museum and its audience needs.

The apprenticeships will provide a way for young people to experience the reality of museum work. They will be mentored by and learn from existing knowledgeable and skilled museum staff passing on their valuable expertise to the next generation. They are a vocational alternative offering young people a chance to earn while they learn through on the job training and work experience, gaining a nationally recognised qualification and the skills museums themselves need to deliver services to the community.

Creative and Cultural Skills aims to create 1000 apprenticeships by 2010.    

The latest Creative & Cultural Skills Creative Apprenticeship brochure is available to download below:
Creative Apprenticeships (March 2008) (1799 kb)