At a time when experienced workers are more likely to be considering leaving the creative industries, or have already left, the sector must take steps to retain underrepresented talent, a new report has urged.
The fourth annual Thrive report, published by Creative Access (CA) on 23 July, found that job insecurity and financial challenges were the most common reasons professionals are seeking more stable industries, issues that are particularly acute for those “who have already overcome significant hurdles to enter the workplace”.
The report surveyed individuals from underrepresented backgrounds and employers in the arts industries, as well as a mix of those who had and hadn’t used services or received support from CA.
It found that career progression is “in crisis for underrepresented creatives”, with only 42% saying their careers had progressed in the last 12 months, while 87% of those surveyed hadn’t received a promotion in the past 12 months, and 83% hadn’t received a pay rise.
Suggesting that these barriers to progression mean that often skilled talent are leaving the industry, the report called for consistent support for underrepresented groups, since “short-term quick-fix interventions are not enough”.
An industry ‘eating itself alive’
The most significant barriers cited were lack of space within the organisation to progress (24%), financial barriers, such as lack of funds for training (20%), and location (15%).
A junior theatre industry worker surveyed commented, “It feels like the industry I was part of is eating itself alive and not economically fruitful to pursue anymore.
“It’s made me massively rethink my career and what I even want to do as I could barely afford to live from the income from my last two jobs.”
The report pointed out the consequences of the propensity within the creative industries to hire project specific freelancers for the minimum time needed to maximise budgets.
This approach, it said “creates momentum and flexibility that suits many freelancers” but noted that “people from underrepresented groups tend to be disproportionately disadvantaged”.
Examples include disabled talent “who don’t have a long enough contract to justify costs of carers and can’t get access to work payments in time” and primary carers “who can’t get access to work payments in time”.
The report recommended providing role and salary transparency to allow applicants to make informed decisions and examining pay gaps to help employers see when, where and why talent from underrepresented groups are leaving.
The ‘optimism dip’
Other key trends highlighted by the report included “a sharp drop” in arts career optimism, “gridlocked” career progression and a positive increase in DE&I spending.
The report found only 31% of individuals interviewed, not including those receiving CA services, felt optimistic about their career progression, down from 66% in 2022.
For those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, just 26% felt optimistic about their career progression.
In looking at the state of DE&I in the sector, 44% of respondents confirmed that their organisation had increased spending on DE&I in the last 12 months, increased from 2024’s proportion of 35%.
However, 5% of organisations – and 14% of larger organisations – reported decreased spending on it.
The majority (60%) of these attributed it to economic uncertainty, while the rest said it was due to changing priorities within the organisation.
”Anti-woke’ agenda’
Despite the increased spending, the number of organisations of those reporting improvements in the representativeness of the workforce has stalled since 2022.
In 2024, over half (55%) of respondents from the books, publishing and journalism sector reported that representation in their workforce had increased, but in 2025 that figure fell to 33%.
For music, theatre, dance and visual arts there was a slight increase from 48% to 50%, and similarly for film, tv, and radio, which rose from 53% to 56%.
The issue remains stark for all sectors when it comes to increased equity in progression and rewards, where only 6% of those in film, TV and radio reported an improvement, and 13% in books, publishing and journalism.
The report attributes the changing DE&I landscape to a variety of factors, including “the current ‘anti-woke’ agenda being pursued in US politics, market shifts, sustained financial squeezes and the exponential rise of AI”.
Alongside being proactive about retention, the report also recommends delivering effective wellbeing practices in the workplace, adopting AI inclusively and delivering allyship at a time when “it is undeniably hard to be a person from a minorities background right now”.
“Despite the wave of positive change in recent years regarding disability inclusion, anti-racist practice and levelling the playing field for working class talent, the creative sector is feeling the financial pinch and there is a danger that this progress will be lost.”
