A career in the creative industries can open many doors, from fine art, design and photography to film, animation, advertising, architecture, fashion, music, publishing, software, games and digital media. The creative industries are one of the UK’s biggest success stories, contributing an estimated £145.8 billion to the economy in 2024 — around 5.5% of the whole UK economy — and growing faster than the economy as a whole. This means that creative subjects are not just enjoyable or personally rewarding; they can lead to real careers in a fast-growing and internationally important sector. The government has also recently signalled a renewed focus on creativity in education, with plans to strengthen arts and culture in schools, give creative subjects greater recognition, update GCSEs from 2029 onwards, and review A-levels in relevant subjects from the early 2030s.
“The modern world doesn’t reward you for what you know, but  
for what you can do with what you know.” - Andreas Schleicher 
Recent research by Andreas Schleicher, who leads the Programme for International Student Assessment at the intergovernmental economic organisation OECD, told a House of Commons inquiry that he believed young people could benefit more from the skills gained through creativity than test-based learning. He stated that “in the fourth industrial revolution, arts may become more important than maths.” 
“We talk about ‘soft skills’ often as social and emotional skills, and hard skills as about science and maths, but it might be the opposite,” he said, suggesting that science and maths may become ‘softer’ in future when the need for them decreases due to technology, and the ‘hard skills’ will be “your curiosity, your leadership, your persistence and your resilience.”
Mr Lax's Guide to Choosing the Right Fine Art Degree
The creative industries include more than drawing and painting. Below are are just a few fields in which students studying art may wish to pursue: 
  • 3D Design 
  • Advertising, Marketing and Media   -   60 sec interview
  • Animation 
  • Architecture   -   60 sec interview
  • Art Gallery Curation & Management 
  • Art Therapy 
  • Arts Administration 
  • Ceramics 
  • Concept Artist
  • Conservation 
  • Fashion and Textiles   -   60 sec interview 1   /   60 sec interview 2
  • Film and Television 
  • Fine Art
  • Game Design   -   60 sec interview
  • Graphic Design 
  • History of Art 
  • Illustration    -    60 sec interview
  • Interior and Spatial Design 
  • Jewellery Design   -   60 sec interview
  • Landscape and Garden Design
  • Medical Illustrator and Forensic Artist
  • Media   -   60 sec interview
  • Photography & Videography   -   60 sec interview
  • Product Design   -   60 sec interview
  • Printmaking
  • Stylist 
  • Teaching and Lecturing 
  • Theatre Set and Costume Design
  • Urban Designer
  • User Experience (UX) Designer   -   60 sec interview 
  • Visual Effects Designer   -   60 sec interview
  • Visual Merchandiser 
  • Web Design 
Many students have gone on to study art, photography or other similar creative degrees at university at the following destinations: 
BBC: Jobs that use Art
Discover! ... a career in the creative industries
Student Art Guide
BBC: Creative Careers Guide
The Art Career Project
Prospects: Career advice
Creative Industries Council
    
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Other useful websites:
​​​​​​​Art Cyclopedia
There's a career for you in the Creative Industries
The Creative Industries are full of exciting opportunities. They need all kinds of people with all kinds of skills. No matter your background or education, there are affordable and accessible ways to get started. Explore roles that suit your interests using our Career Finder tool below.
Feeling inspired? See how you can turn your hobby today into tomorrow's career by clicking on the image below...
Hear from people who work in various different creative careers at the government's 'Skills for Careers' website:
Get career guidance from Creative Access:
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University of the Arts London:
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