As part of our continued commitment to the creative industries and to European collaboration, we are joining forces with four top creative education organisations to develop a project to address the creative skills gap between education and industry.

D&AD, together with ADCE, Fab Lab Barcelona – IAAC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), University of Oulu and the Kersnikova Institute, and within the framework of the European Union Erasmus+ Programme, have been awarded funding to develop Bridging the Creativity Gap (BCG).

We’ve long been aware of the challenges that students and young graduates face when they finish their studies and need to quickly adapt to a fast-pacing creative industry. Programmes like our Creative Express and High Potentials are crafted especially to accompany young creatives and help them make these first steps under guidance from industry leaders. These are, however, yearly opportunities with a specific timeframe and limited capacity, so we wanted to do more.

Also, having identified this, ADCE members and Award Partners D&AD invited us to work together to address the issue. Although we are still in the early stages of the project, which started in January 2021 and will finish at the end of 2023, we couldn’t wait to introduce its main objectives and, of course, our fantastic partners. We look forward to sharing more updates on the project as it develops, but for now, here is our blueprint.

Paul Drake, Foundation Director at D&AD reflects on how the project took shape: “Bridging the Creativity Gap came about because the project partners shared the same concern; that what is often taught in creative education is not providing some of the key skills the industry, and those wanting to work in it, needs. The partnership provides a great opportunity to bring together industry insight with educational expertise to develop innovative learning materials that will enable students and tutors to learn new subjects, rarely taught.”

Drawn on a detailed analysis of needs from D&AD and Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE), Bridging the Creativity Gap aims to produce a series of virtual learning programmes which will draw upon innovative learning methodologies, industry leaders and subject experts. All will be available free of charge to tutors, students and a wider community looking to develop skills such as ideation & critical thought, entrepreneurial mindset and knowing industry processes in advertising, branding, visual communications, graphic design, service design, product design and interactive design.

In Bridging the Creativity Gap, D&AD, ADCE, Fab Lab Bcn (IAAC), Kersnikova Institute and University of Oulu have partnered to attain the following objectives:

• Produce a Learning Curriculum encompassing those skills demanded by the creative industry to enable the prosperous incorporation into the industry and career development.
• Explore a global-local framework for shifting the content of learning and the mechanisms by which it is delivered to more closely mirror the challenges of the creative industry.
• Design, create and validate interactive OERs (videos, podcasts, tutorials) to properly address the skills gaps among BCG target groups.
• Promote creative industry tutors’ professional development, adapting their key competences to the new challenges (e.g., digital and technological innovations)
• Showcase, disseminate and replicate proven methodologies, tools, and practices for the EU creative education and training ecosystem.