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New research by Dr Orian Brook and colleagues has revealed the extent to which the creative industries remain elite professions.

In a new report, Dr Brook – who works in Social Policy at the School of Social and Political Science – and research partners explored the social inequalities in creative higher education, and the relationship between creative education and creative work.

The Sutton Trust report – A class act? Social mobility and the creative industries – highlights the increasing significance of having a degree for work in the cultural and creative industries. It shows that:

• Having a degree is disproportionately more important for underrepresented groups.
• There are stark overrepresentations for those from the most affluent backgrounds (defined in this research as those from ‘upper-middle-class’ backgrounds).
• Those who were privately educated also disproportionally occupy top roles in this sector. 

Among those aged 35 and under, there are around four times as many individuals from middle class backgrounds as working class backgrounds in creative occupations. Yet, while just 20% of the UK’s working class individuals in employment have a degree, three times as many working class people in creative jobs have one. The Sutton Trust said this underscores the importance of equal access to higher education for all young people. 

The research, which was carried out by University of Edinburgh Chancellor’s Fellow Dr Brook with partners Dr Dave O’Brien, Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Manchester, and Dr Mark Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Methods at the University of Sheffield, also found:

Access to creative education and professions

• Education and class background have a huge impact on people’s ability to reach the top of their creative profession. Across television, film and music, high-profile figures in the creative industries are much more likely to have attended private school than the UK population. BAFTA-nominated actors are five times more likely to have attended a private school, at 35% compared to the national average of just 7%. 
   
• Classical music is a particularly elitist profession. 43% of top classical musicians have attended an independent school (over six times higher than average). Additionally, 58% of classical musicians have attended an arts specialist university or conservatoire, and one in four attended the Royal Academy of Music for undergraduate study. These institutions are dominated by students from the most affluent backgrounds. 12% attended Oxbridge. 
   
• However, pop stars appear to better reflect the education backgrounds of the UK population as a whole. Only 8% were privately-educated, and 20% attended university, both close to the national averages. 
   
• 64% of top actors have attended university, with 29% attending specialist arts institutions (including conservatoires). 9% attended Oxbridge and a further 6% attended other Russell Group institutions.
   
• Access to creative degrees in subjects such as Music and Art is skewed towards those from upper-middle-class backgrounds at the most prestigious institutions. At four universities – Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College London and Bath – more than half of students on creative courses come from the most elite ‘upper-middle-class’ backgrounds. 
   
• The universities with the lowest proportions of creative students from working-class backgrounds are Cambridge and Bath (4%), Oxford and Bristol (5%), and Manchester (7%). At each of these universities, the percentage of creative students from working-class backgrounds is lower than for students on all other degrees (6% at Oxford and Cambridge, 7% at Bath and Bristol, and 19% at Manchester). 
   
• There is also a stark class divide in specialist institutions such as conservatoires and higher education institutions specialising in music and the performing arts. The Royal Academy of Music (60%), Royal College of Music (56%), Durham (48%), Kings College London (46%) and Bath (42%) all have very high proportions of privately educated students studying creative subjects. All of these institutions have higher proportions of privately educated creative students than Oxbridge (32%). 
   
• Over 50% of Oxford, Cambridge and KCL’s music students come from ‘upper-middle-class’ households, and for six Russell Group institutions this proportion is between 40-49%.

Calls to improve access to the arts

To tackle this inequality, the Sutton Trust is calling for a range of measures to improve access to the arts, such as introducing an ‘arts premium’ so schools can pay for arts opportunities including music lessons, ensuring that conservatoires and creative arts institutions that receive state funding are banned from charging for auditions, and adding socio-economic inclusion as a condition of employers receiving arts funding. 

The Sutton Trust is also developing a partnership with the British Screen Forum, which aims to address socio-economic diversity through targeted skills and career initiatives.

Dr Brook said: “It’s clear that if we want all sectors of creative work to be accessible to people who aren’t privately educated or from upper middle class backgrounds then the government needs to rethink the performance measures - such as the EBACC/Progress 8 -which disincentivise schools from resourcing creative subject and wider activities. This should be a priority as part of the government’s ongoing curriculum review.

“HE institutions need to consider how their admissions and assessment processes disadvantage students from less wealthy backgrounds. And creative employers should address the precarity, low pay and reliance on unpaid internships in order to improve access to creative careers for people regardless of their backgrounds.” 

Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said: “It’s a tragedy that young people from working class backgrounds are the least likely to study creative arts degrees, or break into the creative professions. These sectors bear the hallmarks of being elitist – those from upper-middle-class backgrounds, and the privately-educated are significantly over-represented.

“Britain’s creative sector is admired around the world, but no child should be held back from reaching their full potential, or from pursing their interests and dream career, due to their socio-economic background. It’s essential that action is taken to ensure access to high quality creative education in schools, and to tackle financial barriers to accessing creative courses and workplace opportunities.”