HOW AND WHERE ARE CREATIVES ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY?

Listen. We all know the stereotype. Creative by day (and night), freelancer when the work comes in, barista when the rent's due.

There are two versions of the creative industry.

The one you see online. And the one everyone is actually living.

Spend five minutes on LinkedIn or Instagram and apparently everyone's "excited to announce" something. A new campaign. A new studio. A dream client. Someone's landed a huge collab. Someone else has become a Creative Director before they've hit 30.

Then you speak to actual creatives.

One designer is freelancing while working three days a week in a coffee shop. A musician is editing podcasts because streaming pays for about two Pret sandwiches a month (in this economy).

There has never been an easier time to call yourself a creative — and never been a harder time to earn a living from it.

We wanted to find out what creative careers actually look like in 2026. Who's making money? Where's it coming from? And are there still opportunities for people trying to break in?

FIRST, THE BAD NEWS.

According to the Office for National statistics, the number of vacancies for March to May 2026 is just over 700,000 jobs. Out of this number, there are currently 12,000 jobs in the arts sector.

Compared with the same period a year ago, the industries with the largest percentage decreases in vacancies across were of course, the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, down 25.2%.¹

Alongside the official labour market data, we also took a look at live job-board listings to get a snapshot of current hiring activity in the creative industries.

^{(Obviously, these figures may be inflated and are not directly comparable to ONS vacancy data, but they are still useful as a directional indicator of where hiring is most visible)}

Current live advertised jobs (UK)

By creative industry

Food / Hospitality	20,000+	58.0%
Fashion	8,000+	23.2%
Music	3,000+	8.7%
Art	3,000+	8.7%
Photography	420	1.2%
Dance	59	0.2%

Figures marked "+" are open-ended; chart uses the stated minimum for each.

That being said, low vacancy numbers don't mean there aren't opportunities. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 people working in the creative industries are self-employed.² As employed roles fall, the number of roles for self-employed individuals and freelancers are rising.³

Always a silver lining.

In fact, the government released the ‘Creative Industries Sector Plan’, an 80-page document released in August 2025, with aims to significantly increase investment by 2035.⁴

SO WHAT’S THE GOOD NEWS?

Business investment is targeted to rise from ~£17 billion to £31–35 billion annually by 2035. A dedicated £150 million will go towards the Creative Industries Growth Fund (which will go towards screen, music & games). There will also be an expansion of support through the British Business Bank and finance schemes for creative SMEs.⁴

WHAT ACTUALLY CHANGES?

A few things keep coming up across the plan:

1. More funded creative businesses = more hiring

The expectation is growth in small studios, production companies, agencies and creator-led businesses.

Which usually means:

more junior roles
more mid-weight roles
less “wait for someone to leave before you get a job”

2. AI might not be stealing our jobs, but it will be here to stay

The assumption in the strategy isn’t “AI will take creative jobs”.

It’s more like: every creative job now includes AI in some form (unfortunately).

So instead of pure specialists, demand shifts towards people who can:

produce faster content
work across tools
direct output rather than manually build everything
blend creative + technical thinking

3. Creative jobs are moving outside London

There’s a big push to grow creative clusters across the UK.

So instead of everything sitting in London, growth is being encouraged in:

film production hubs
regional studios
gaming and digital teams
music infrastructure

Which means you might not have to move to London after all.

Manchester is already proven as a cultural hub in the North and is fast becoming an international hotspot

4. There are skill gaps everywhere (which is good news if you’re early career)

The plan repeatedly points to shortages in areas like:

screen production
digital design
technical creative roles
live events 👀
music production

Translation: companies can’t fully staff these roles properly yet, so they’re more likely to hire and train.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES?

Here's where we think new opportunities are beginning to emerge.

Fashion

Fashion is shifting towards content-heavy and digital-first work.

So you see growth in:

digital fashion design
e-commerce creative roles
content + social creatives
brand partnerships roles
3D product visualisation

Music

More infrastructure to support artists.

So roles like:

artist marketing
sync licensing
live events production
audience growth / digital strategy
label + platform partnerships

Art / culture

More digitisation, more audience work, more programming.

So:

digital curators
exhibition producers
arts marketing
audience engagement roles
cultural programming

Photography

Less standalone photography, more embedded content production.

So:

commercial content creators
brand photographers
social-first visual roles
studio production support
retouching / post work

Dance

More crossover between live performance, media, and commercial creative work, with fewer traditional company-only roles.

So:

movement directors (music videos, ads, film, TV)
commercial dancers for campaigns and brand content
choreographers for artists, tours, and digital content
performance / motion capture work (film, games, tech)
teaching, workshops, and community dance facilitation

Food (the crossover category)

Not officially “creative industries” in policy terms, but very much part of the creator economy.

So you get:

food content creators
brand chefs / culinary creatives
hospitality marketing roles
recipe + media production

Here’s some openings and opportunities that may tickle your fancy

This week’s selection brings together roles, open calls, and funded opportunities across the creative industries. A mix of early-stage entry points and senior or project-based work.