With school holidays offering many young people the opportunity to take part in creative activities, it’s often a time when interests grow, and future ambitions begin to take shape.
Whether a young person is already engaged in the arts or just starting to explore, there are many different pathways into a career in the creative industries. However, for many families, these routes can feel unclear or uncertain.
Recent research from Netflix and the National Youth Theatre found that 89% of parents from working-class backgrounds would be unlikely to encourage their child to pursue a career in the creative industries. Building understanding and confidence among parents and carers is an important step in helping more young people feel supported in exploring these opportunities.
Parents Unscripted is a new series from Discover! Creative Careers, created in collaboration with organisations across the creative industries. The series shares the perspectives of parents whose children now work in the sector, offering honest reflections on their journeys.
We’re proud to have collaborated on one of the films in the series, developed alongside Discover! Creative Careers and the National Theatre. In this film, Angela Jumbo, mother of actor and playwright Cush Jumbo, reflects on her child’s journey into the industry and shares her perspective as a parent.
You can watch the other films in the series here!
We know that when parents and carers feel more confident about creative careers, it can make a real difference to a young person’s ability to pursue them.
By sharing these stories, Parents Unscripted aims to open up conversations, challenge misconceptions, and highlight the many routes available across the creative industries.
We encourage teachers, industry professionals and partners to share these films with their networks, whether through newsletters, social media, or conversations with young people and their families.
Helping more families understand the opportunities available in the creative industries is a vital step in supporting the next generation of talent.
Find out more about Discover! Creative Careers here.
Find out more about the National Theatre Skills Centre here.
Work experience offers practical, hands-on insight into the theatre industry, helping you build skills, confidence, and a clearer understanding of different career pathways. It’s an ideal first step when exploring a future in theatre. As an initial step, we recommend getting in contact with your local theatre to see if they offer any work experience opportunities.
While many people associate theatre careers with performing, there are a huge number of offstage roles that make productions possible. From stage management and lighting to marketing, producing, costume, sound, and technical theatre, work experience allows you to explore these departments and discover which areas interest you most. Taking part in work experience placements can provide a range of valuable benefits, including:
Understanding How Theatres Work:
Working within a theatre environment allows you to see how different departments collaborate to bring a production to life. This perspective is incredibly valuable if you're considering a career in the sector.
Developing Practical Theatre Skills:
Work experience often gives you the chance to assist with real tasks, whether that’s supporting technical teams, observing rehearsals, helping front-of-house teams, or working with marketing and administration departments.
Building Confidence and Professional Skills:
Being part of a professional environment helps you develop communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills that are essential across the creative industries.
Making Connections in the Theatre Industry:
The theatre industry is highly collaborative. Work experience placements can introduce you to professionals working in the field and help you begin building a network within the industry.
Strengthening Future Applications:
Whether you're applying for drama school, university courses, apprenticeships, or entry-level roles, work experience demonstrates enthusiasm, initiative, and commitment to the sector.
Many theatres and arts organisations across the UK offer work experience placements, shadowing opportunities, and youth programmes. Availability and application processes vary, but the following organisations regularly provide opportunities for young people interested in theatre careers:
London
South of England
Midlands
North of England
North of England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
You may also want to check the websites of theatres local to you, as many venues offer placements throughout the year or during school holidays.
Work experience is one of the most valuable ways to begin exploring opportunities in theatre. It provides a clearer understanding of how productions are created and how different departments work together behind the scenes.
Whether your interests lie in technical theatre, production, stage management, marketing, or theatre administration, gaining offstage experience is an excellent way to start your journey in the industry.
A paid summer work and cultural exchange opportunity for creatives aged 18+.
Camp America offers a paid summer opportunity to live and work at an American summer camp for 9–12 weeks, with performing arts and creative roles available across camps in the USA. This is more than just work experience - it’s a chance to use your creative skills while living the full summer camp life!
Creatives from all backgrounds are placed in roles where they can teach, lead and inspire young people through acting, singing, dance, music, technical theatre and production, while also being part of a wider camp community. Alongside your role, you’ll take part in classic camp activities, build international friendships and experience everyday life in the USA. While we work with specialist theatre and performing arts camps, performing arts roles are available across many different camps, not just specialist ones.
This opportunity is ideal for those who:
Camps generally run from mid-Jun to mid-August – but this can vary by camp and location.
Join one of RADA’s upcoming Open Days for an inside look at our Foundation Degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management.
You’ll have the opportunity to meet our students and staff, explore our training spaces, visit technical departments, and find out more about life at RADA including funding, student support, and career pathways.
Open Days 2025-2026:
At RADA, we enable exceptional technicians, managers, designers and makers to thrive through world-leading, industry-focused training that blends hands-on experience with professional practice.
Whether you’re exploring lighting, sound, props, scenic art, or stage management, our open days are the perfect chance to discover how RADA can help you become a highly skilled and creative theatre-maker.
A CPD opportunity for teachers to embed drama and creativity into their teaching, through working with a Bristol-based theatre company, Travelling Light.
Want to shake up your physics lesson but need some inspiration? Join Travelling Light on an exploration of how to incorporate more Drama into your classroom. Find out how a team of artists and teachers used arts-based learning to refresh their existing curriculum, whilst supporting pupil oracy, emotional literacy and wellbeing.
Key aims of the session:
Slots available in Bristol (8th Dec), Weston-Super-Mare (9th Dec) or Bath (11th Dec).
Please note, this is for teachers only.
Through in-house productions, industry based placements and hands-on training, you’ll learn all relevant skills relating to the work of the production technician in theatre, events, film and TV.
With technology at its core, this course offers practical, hands-on training in a variety of high-end lighting, sound, and video systems – skills that are in high demand for the theatre, events, film and television industries in Wales and across the rest of the UK.
You’ll have classes given by leading professionals operating at the top of their field, alongside several production placements, both based at the College and with our industry partners here in Wales.
With your placements, developing your expertise for a technical career in the creative industries is only one part of it. These experiences will also help you to build communication and team working skills that are essential to thriving in collaborative environments.
After graduation, you could take on roles such as a production electrician, lighting technician or programmer, sound and system engineer, video operator or programmer, among many more.
Our Level 1 Diploma is an inspiring first step into the world of music and performing arts.
Our UAL Award in Music (Level 1) is an inspiring first step into the world of music creation. We will be studying how to create music, utilise studio equipment, work collaboratively with others, and plan, develop and complete creative projects across a range of different genres, media and uses.
Picking a different focus every half term, we will be delving into the world of sound effects, creating a multi-genre class album, getting to grips with studio and stage equipment, and investigating the sound and music of film and video games.
Regardless of whether you’re a beginner with a strong interest in music, a well-practised musician or a keen home studio enthusiast, there will be something here to sink your creative teeth into.
Looking for new opportunities, need support with a personal project, or just after some advice?
Book a quick chat with the RicNic team to get unstuck, ask questions, or explore your next steps. We can help with everything from career planning and freelancing to opportunity-hunting, CV reviews, and more.
Our team brings a wealth of experience in event and theatre production, new writing development, and creative careers—and we’re connected to a broad network of industry professionals ready to offer shadowing, mentoring, or a helpful chat. Using proven coaching techniques, we’ll help you clarify your goals, find answers, and leave the session with a clear set of actions—plus our practical advice along the way.
This exciting course provides an exceptional opportunity for anyone drawn to the world of theatre
You will explore the back-stage and on-stage disciplines of theatre. With a strong emphasis on personal creativity, the course provides a unique view of performance and production. It is a rewarding alternative to the traditional ‘A’ Level route. Equivalent to 3 ‘A’ Levels, it links theoretical preparation in lectures and workshops with practical classes.
Based on the idea of repertory theatre, students undertake public performances and musical/dance showcases. Students have been prize winners in the Northern Ireland Inter College Performing Arts Competitions.
The course is based in the Foyle Theatre complete with dressing rooms, costume store, stage craft and property workshops. AV equipment are of the highest professional standard. Whether working back-stage or performing onstage, you will gain an invaluable insight into the world of theatre and develop professional skills in both public performance and technical support.
This course is suitable for 16-18 year olds wanting to work in television, film or the theatre, either in performance or technical support. Employment within the industry not only depends on talent, but also a sense of determination to succeed.
You will experience different performance styles, try out new ideas and gain an understanding of the performing arts industry at Barnet and Southgate College. Projects are largely based on practical assignments and performances, with some written exercises and evaluations.
You will study some of the following areas of performance:
There will be a series of practical assignments varying from informal small group presentations to larger public performances.
