Creative Careers Academy Reflections

We welcome Creative Careers Academy members Alex, Di'mond and Teresa to reflect on their experience of working at Somerset House, the impact the scheme had on their career trajectory and their ambitions for the future.

The Creative Careers Academy at Somerset House offers London Living Wage paid work placements for underrepresented young people looking to break into the creative industries. Participants work at Somerset House for nine months, spending half the time working with one of our teams, and the other half working at one of our resident creative organisations based in the building.

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Alex Williams

What have been the key moments in your early creative career?

One key moment in my early career was the struggle to find work. Before rerouting into the administration side of the arts I was a freelance contemporary dance practitioner, which I loved. Because of the lack of support for freelancers and my urge to make some change in the sector, I began to look for work in the operational side of performance. Before starting at Somerset House, I was applying for entry level roles for over a year with majority of organisations not even acknowledging my application. This was really damaging towards my faith in the industry and the people who lead it.

Just before I was about to give up on the arts, Somerset House offered me a learning opportunity on the Creative Careers Academy and for me it was a defining moment in my career to keep me on a creative path. I remember it as a key moment because I finally felt seen.

How would you describe your experience of working at Somerset House?

I would describe my experience at Somerset House as transformative. The supportive environment, the opportunities to upskill and learn from cultural change makers, make this a special and unique place to be a part of. The programme is so rich in content and combined with countless amount of learning experiences, allowed us to tap into different roles within the creative industries so that we could start to figure out where we see ourselves within this sector.

Somerset House’s Creative Careers Academy is rare in it’s vision to allow young people to truly investigate the different types of roles within the industry, to explore different responsibilities within the arts and to incorporate our own creative practice into our future jobs. I find it difficult to sum up my experience at Somerset House in words, but for me every time I reflect back it generates a feeling, a feeling of hope.

What is unique about the creative community at Somerset House?

Somerset House’s creative community gave us access to people and organisations that no other organisation could. The huge number of resourses and ideas that sit under one roof, make this house a space for creativity to flourish and for young people to explore without boundaries.

Why is it important to encourage the next generation of creative talent?

Future generations bring new ways of thinking, new ways to create and ultimately news ways of living and being. They are to be celebrated, heard and to be involved in conversations that are happening in our cultural organisations now.

Describe your creative career ambitions?

Ultimately my creative career ambition is to ensure that we create space and time for artists and creatives to research, develop, explore and delve into their creative practice. I’m looking to enhance my skills in fundraising, producing and engagement to create sustainable and accessible creative environments for artists.

For creatives to produce rich work you have to ensure that they are supported in their everyday life. Financially and mentally they need to be supported, so that they can create work that reflects conversations of the societal landscape and engage communities in these conversations. I want to enable these conversations, and to do that we need to nurture artists and people to create first.

If I was to place myself in a future role, I’d really like to be a part of a governing body like Arts Council England or the British Council, so that I could build relationships and partnerships with various organisations both here in the UK and internationally with artists to protect the future of our cultural landscape.

Teresa Fan

What were / have been the key moments in your early creative career?

I have a couple, because I’m a sentimental person! Of course, it might just have the first time I ever picked up a second-hand camera at a store. A friend was kind enough to show me the ropes and give me great advice about which DSLR camera to purchase and even went with me to the store to purchase it.

My most memorable moment has to be the opportunity to work so closely with the marketing team at Somerset House, where I was able to get a press pass and take photos of The Internet for the Summer Series gigs in 2019. I’ll never forget that!

How would you describe your experience of working at Somerset House?

Honestly? The best nine months of my career. I felt that the community at Somerset House was really welcoming and during my time there I was given so many opportunities to meet different people from the unique Somerset House community and develop new skillsets. Not to mention a real love for my photography and the different ways I could go about it.

I loved being part of a cultural hub, being able to go ice skating with my team and write about the ‘Kaleidoscope’ exhibition, an exhibition on immigration from artists’ and photographer perspectives. Which really allowed me to connect with my upbringing, childhood and past.

For me, Somerset House opened up my eyes to how artists, creatives and businesses can use different business models and funding streams which I’d never known about before. I gained a new perspective on career paths and side-hustles like never before. I also spent time working with the new shared work space – Somerset House Exchange. Overall, it was truly a great experience where I met a lot of wonderful and hard-working individuals, who I still keep in touch with.

What is unique about the creative community (our whole eco system) Somerset House?

There’s just such a unique community at Somerset House which is almost indescribable to those who may not know what already goes on inside. There are so many branches to it, but somehow they all fit together. As soon as Covid-19 is over I can’t wait to go back to visit the beauty of the Skate annual winter ice rink or the innovative and often unique exhibitions that go on. In the creative community, people don’t shy away from being themselves, whether that’s at work, being themselves or creatively.

Why is it important to encourage the next generation of creative talent?

It’s so important that new generations can dream big about putting out their talent, creating their ideas and flourish in a society that can often prioritise formal education and specific subjects. I find that, having talked to younger people, sometimes this idea of the perfect job can create confusion about what to study next, whether to go into higher education or a role that is a '9-5' office role.

The biggest takeaway from my time at Somerset House and with the amazing support and mentorship I learned that it’s never too late to pursue one’s creative talent, or a creative career for that matter. Creative arts and culture makes up so much of the UK’s annual income, and without creative talent there will be a decline in culture, new visions and new perspectives.

Describe your creative career ambitions?

I’m really passionate about making an impact in culture and communities and creative problem solving in my role at TikTok. But outside of work, my ambitions still stands in photography and creative shooting, where I have more control over style and experimental backdrops or outside playing with lighting. My biggest ambition is ensuring there’s diversity, and representing that in my photography or the podcast I co-host called High-Expectasians. High-Expectasians started as an off-shoot from the Asians in Britain Instagram account, which I am a creative producer and resident photographer for, detailing and representing the lives of Asians from various ethnicities in Britain. As soon as Covid-19 ends I’m looking forward to engaging with the community more - since a lot of Covid-related racism took place this year, I feel this community has since grown and found strength in one another. I’m really looking forward to more future events and meeting others who make their mark here.

Di'mond Sharma-Joseph

What were the key moments in your early creative career?

I have been lucky to have had a very exciting and varied time thus far in my creative career. Highlighting specific moments of value is very difficult but I believe that gaining experience within organisations who value the engagement of their audiences has been extremely meaningful for me. My experience so far has seen me in rooms with individuals I have admired for years and individuals who go on to inspire my perspective today.

Encountering such wide ranges of individuals and being within organisations that value their voices (from primary school children, actors, community leaders and freelance workers) has been key in my understanding of what really makes the creative world tick. Seeing work that we have produced in other countries is both exciting and an experience that will continue to remind me of the importance of creative thinking.

How would you describe your experience of working at Somerset House?

Working within Somerset House is a very unique experience. Whilst being surrounded by beautiful architecture and stunning, ever-changing, art work there is an extremely heavy history that is flowing underneath the surface. Though this can be complicated to navigate on a social and political level, the building also gave me a wonderful amount of hours of self-reflection and a more in-depth creative understanding as an artist and writer myself, both due to this history and in spite of it. There is a constant discovery of hidden nooks and never ending hallways that, whilst sounding somewhat mediocre, spark heavy realisations and spaces for real personal work to be done.

Within Somerset House it is impossible to go a day without encountering someone who is an expert of a different discipline. The eco-system of Somerset House is complex yet extremely harmonious, with offices and individuals feeling as if we are all a part of the same family.

I met a number of wonderful minds during my time in Somerset House who I continue to work with on projects outside of the building - the environment fosters understanding and close collaboration in a way that supports meaningful progression rather than collaborations of convenience, never to be considered again, which is not always easy with so many organisations working within such close proximity.

Describe your creative career ambitions...

Throughout my next steps, and in my long term creative career, I’m hoping to further efforts to make the creative industry a more meaningful and accessible sector for individuals who, for a number of reasons, may have felt that they do not have access to the industry. I’m looking at continuing this work through community engagement and participation opportunities within a number of dynamic organisations and educational teams, as it is becoming more evident that meaningful change can only occur when the affected communities are having their voices heard and considered during decision making and programme shaping.

Why is it important to encourage the next generation of creative talent?

The next generation of creatives are the ones that are going to dismantle the systems that continue to oppress those from vulnerable and marginalised communities. Their viewpoint is inexplicably valuable as it is not shaped by the systems that are currently in place but instead comes from a place of personal and community experience and understanding, that involves more empathy and meaningful approaches to work.

This unique perspective will allow for a complete reimagining of the creative space and all the things that seem currently unchangeable. The next generation of creative talent are the ones that won’t wait for their turn but will instead demand it, valuing their own worth, the worth of their work and the causes that they are fighting for - this makes them an incredible force for change and unapologetic creative expression.