Written question WQ85634

A number of Welsh Government initiatives support pathways into culture and other sectors.

Over £1bn of funding was committed to the Young Persons Guarantee over the 2021-22 financial and academic years. Jobs Growth Wales Plus Programme (JGW+) offers a wage subsidy and a more extensive offer of bespoke training and development. Our newly launched ReAct+ Programme has been expanded to all 18–24-year-olds that are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The Working Wales service provides a single, simple route to support, coupled with professional independent careers advice. Since 1 November 2021, 4,729 16-24 young people have accessed this service and 2,249 were NEET.

We have also committed to creating a 125,000 all-age apprenticeships places over the next five years.

In addition, there are a number of initiatives specific to our cultural sectors.

Create is the Arts Council of Wales’ (ACW) main National Lottery funded programme, supporting a number of priorities including nurturing creative talent. ACW supports a number of different projects that focus on community engagement and participatory activity with young people. This ranges from giving young people their first experience of arts activity to festivals or productions providing performance opportunities, masterclasses or workshops. Larger projects may also provide work placements, so Create can support both artistic and industry pathways.

Also supported by ACW, Criw Celf develops and nurtures young talent in the visual and applied arts. It is aimed at school-aged children and actively contributes to the Welsh Government’s More Able and Talented (MAT) agenda. Criw Celf allows young people to develop their artistic skills working alongside professional artists in a variety of gallery and site-specific settings.

The Welsh Government's Fusion Programme continues to deliver opportunities through culture for individuals and communities in areas of economic disadvantage, encouraging collaboration between culture and heritage organisations and bodies such as local authorities. The Fusion Challenge Grant Scheme is delivered by Fusion coordinators in areas across Wales, with local and national partners including the National Library of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, ACW and Cadw. The programme has provided funding for other initiatives such as Young Promoters provided through ACW, Kids in Museums, the Cultural Ambition Programme, online volunteering training and Arts Award trainers.

In music, our new National Music Service will have a key role to play in supporting opportunities for young people to perform and pursue career pathways in the creative industries. The National Plan for Music Education, published in May, includes within its programme strand ‘Making music with others’ a range of support provision for performing and creative industries pathways, which is being progressed in partnership with key organisations including Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Creative Wales and ACW.

Creative Wales has supported 17 skills projects since January 2020. These included career entry level initiatives such as the Criw shared apprenticeship scheme as well as upskilling career opportunities provided by NFTS Cymru Wales and the Stepping Up project. Creative Wales has worked with organisations including BBC Cymru Wales, S4C, ITV Cymru Wales and Channel 4, for example on the Culture Connect Wales diversity project. A three-year Creative Skills Action Plan will be launched in the coming months which will include transferable skills as a priority area.