As it’s officially holiday season, diversity non-profit Creative Mentor Network introduces brand new merch in collaboration with Studio Moross – stylish, practical and inspirational t-shirts and tote bags that are a perfect present for yourself or a loved one.
Since 2014, the number of students taking up arts subjects at A-level in the UK (drama, music, art) has fallen by 13,000, almost 17% (BBC, 2019). Contrastingly, the UK creative industry is worth over £100bn and is growing at 4x the rate of the UK economy as a whole. That’s where Creative Mentor Network comes in. Young people from lower socio-economic struggle to access careers in the creative industries for a variety of reasons. As we see it there are 6 factors that causing under representation in the creative industries:
- INDUSTRY MISREPRESENTATION IN LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES
- INACCESSIBLE JOB MARKET
- POOR IN-SCHOOL CAREERS SERVICES
- EXAM FOCUSSED CURRICULUM
- CUTS TO ARTS EDUCATION
- INTERNSHIPS CULTURE
The Creative Mentor Network is a non-profit. Social impact is their bottom line, not revenue. All the money made from the sales of the t-shirts and tote bags will be reinvested back into the organisation to make sure its team can work with more young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds across London and support them into careers in the creative industries. Your donation to the Creative Mentor Network community will ensure that the organization can continue to keep everything free and open for their mentee community, 500 young people and growing.
This is a chance to make a change, join the movement and know that you will be helping Creative Mentor Network increase diversity in the industry – plus you get a great new addition to your wardrobe.
All the imagery has been taken from a talented mentee from our programme graduate community, Gifty Dzenyo.
How about from the perspective of Studio Moross?
“We started the process by looking at the driving force of Creative Mentor Network. We found that one of their main goals was helping people improve their own performance by pairing them with experts who have experience and training in the industry. We also looked at what the mentees had to say about their experience with Creative Mentor Network. An overwhelming factor that we noticed, was just how empowered and confident the mentee’s felt as a result of Creative Mentor Network’s support.
We began to visualise the creative journey as a map, with icons as metaphors showing an overview of all the inevitable pit-stops, potholes, hurdles and brick walls that one comes across. In particular, we were drawn to the broken wall icon as we felt this embodied the right message for Creative Mentor Network. We visualised the brick wall as a metaphor for the barriers that exist within the industry – with Creative Mentor Network as the organisation that helps young people to break through those barriers”, a representative from Studio Moross shared.
More about Creative Mentor Network and Studio Moross.
T-Shirts sold at £45, Tote bags at £15. (Prices exclusive of postage and packaging)
Launches Monday 25th November at www.creativementornetwork.org
