Block9 and Create Jobs to launch new scheme for young Londoners

Block9 - best known for their stunning Glastonbury area (pictured) - has linked up with employability programme Create Jobs to announce a new scheme, named Creativity Works: Festival Makers, that will give young Londoners experience in festival production.

The scheme - which is driven by a need to support diverse talent into roles that create a festival - will guide twenty participants through an intense seven-week learning programme, where they will gain skills in set design, programming, sponsorship, marketing and production.

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Participants will also be able to apply for select paid work placements at the Block9 field at next year's Glastonbury Festival.

“We are really excited to be working alongside Create Jobs as part of the Creativity Works programme," explains Paula Clark, Block9's Director of Operations. "The team at Block9 have a real passion for working with young people, helping develop their skills across a number of different disciplines in order to lead on to sustainable futures in the creative industries.”

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Create Job's Director of Employment and Skills, Oliver Benjamin, notes “For young people who are BAME, LGBTQ+, d/Deaf and disabled, and/or from low-income families, getting paid work in the creative sector can be extremely challenging. That’s why we’re excited to collaborate with Block9 on Creativity Works: Festival Makers to provide twenty diverse Londoners with the chance to gain skills in festival and event production with the opportunity to apply for paid placements at the end of the programme."

Benjamin continues, "It's exactly these types of equitable measures that change the status quo - we hope this will open the gateway for other creative organisations like Block9 to challenge the lack of diversity in the sector and find practical solutions which support people from underrepresented backgrounds into paid work.”

The scheme will begin in Spring 2020 and applications will open shortly before; visit createjobslondon.org for more information.

James Ball is Mixmag's Weekend Editor. Follow him on Twitter

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