Creative Graduates Creative Futures

This largest-ever study of the career patterns of graduates from UK courses in art, design, craft and media explored graduates’ experiences of higher education, their activities since graduating, the work they were then engaged in, and their plans for the future.

Published reports from the project

November 2010: Creative Graduate Stories

Creative Career Stories was the second report of the Creative Graduates Creative Futures (CGCF) longitudinal study of the early careers of more than 3,500 creative graduates, undertaken between 2008 and 2010. It drew on findings of qualitative research, providing further insights into creative careers some five to seven years after graduation. It explored, through narratives, the connections graduates made between their courses and careers, in their own words. The timing of the research, during the economic downturn, also offered unique insights into the impact of recession on their working lives and the strategies they employed to continue to work towards their goals. The report contents include: executive summary, introduction, early career experiences and career facilitators, impact of recession on early careers, models for work and portfolio lives, the value of a creative education, future plans and professional development, career stories, and enhancing creative careers – the challenges.

June 2010: Crafting Futures. A study of the early careers of crafts graduates from UK higher education institutions

Crafting Futures was a study undertaken for the Crafts Council. It explored the early careers of more than 600 graduates in crafts subjects some six years on from graduation, drawing on the large body of data from Creative Graduates Creative Futures. It explored the value of a crafts education to the economy through the experiences of crafts graduates as they moved from higher education into work, and compared these experiences with those of graduates in the CGCF study. It also built on and offered comparisons with an earlier study of crafts graduates careers: New Lives in the Making (Press and Cusworth, 1998). The report contents include: executive summary, introduction, survey sample profile, the creative curriculum and work experience, career patterns, further study and learning, career aspirations and motivations, a richer picture of career experiences, and career stories.

January 2010: Creative Graduates Creative Futures

The Creative Graduates Creative Futures report provided a comprehensive exploration of the experiences, activities and contribution of creative graduates and their plans for the future. It set the findings in context, providing expert commentaries from writers and researchers within the sector, and compared the position of creative graduates at the end of the 2000s with a decade before, as evidenced by the Destinations and Reflections report of 1999.

This report contents include: executive summary, introduction, project development and methodology, sample profile, the creative curriculum and work experience, skills development and preparation for work, early career patterns, creative work and portfolio careers, further study and learning, career aspirations and motivations, and creative careers in the 21st century.

To accompany the report, a large body of supporting tables provide more detailed information about the survey sample and a breakdown of responses to the survey.

To read some real life stories gathered from creative graduates during the project click here.