Digbeth-based Creative Alliance is celebrating yet another successful year, receiving a trio of award nominations for work in the creative and cultural sector.
The leading vocational learning provider has received recognition both regionally and nationally for its outstanding contribution to further education. Locally, it has been shortlisted in the prestigious Birmingham Awards’ ‘Contribution to Education’ category as well as the Birmingham Post Business Awards’ ‘People Development’. On a national scale, Creative Alliance has been acknowledged by Social Enterprise UK, being announced as a finalist for their ‘Education, Training and Jobs’ accolade.
Noel Dunne, Director of Creative Alliance, said:
“It’s been a fantastic year for all of us at Creative Alliance. We are passionate about enabling talented young people to unlock their full potential and watching them succeed is what makes us do this job. To be recognized by such prestigious awards committees is a real honour, and we just hope that we can continue to keep up the good work.”
The winners of these awards will be revealed next month. Creative Alliance is no stranger to awards ceremonies. The organization has previously won the Social Enterprise West Midlands Award for ‘Growth Company of the Year’. As well as this, it was named a Gold Award Youth Friendly Employer by Youth Employment UK and winner of Apprenticeship4England’s ‘Apprenticeship Provider of the Year’ just last year. In addition they are the training provider for the winners of the national competition for apprentice employer of the year award who are Blue Moon Creative.
Creative Alliance aims to enable talented young people to get into learning, training and working in creative roles, offering opportunities to work for prominent companies such as McCann, Birmingham Rep, the RSC, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and WAA, amongst others. They work collaboratively with both young people seeking their first steps into this highly competitive sector and employers looking to expand their businesses with new creative talent, through apprenticeships, internships and traineeships.
In the past 12 months, the company has enjoyed a succession of high-profile partnerships with organisations such as IPA, Arts Connect West Midlands, and Birmingham City Council. One of the company’s most prominent affiliations has been with the BBC on Make It Digital, a countrywide initiative that aims to get the UK excited about digital creativity. Through traineeships, young people are encouraged to learn new skills in all areas of digital media, before being placed in a work environment with a company suited to them. The eight-week course consists of five weeks’ training followed by three weeks industry experience, and is set to help 5,000 young people boost their digital skills and get a foot on the jobs ladder. Creative Alliance was chosen as the company to pilot the national programme, taking young adults from varied backgrounds but with no Higher or Further Education qualifications and educating them through a mix of theory and practical learning. The trial yielded superb results, with 50% of trainees being in employment just four weeks after completing the course.