Working class people are still hugely under-represented in the arts
— The Panic! Report (2018)

WORK UP was created to address the balance of working-class representation in the arts and media.
Our goal is to work with existing organisations, educators and students to increase access and visibility in the creative industry, for those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Because if you don’t know, you don’t know!

WC representation is the most underrepresented workforce in the industry.

2018 WC groups accounted for:

18.2%                         Music, performance, and visual arts
10%                            Actors
12.4%                         Film, TV and Radio

Socioeconomic factors mean that possible job opportunities in all aspects of the arts are not available simply because the potential participants are not aware they exist, or do not feel that they are realistic to them.

Unpaid work is found to be “endemic”.
Reports from “Create London” also found the creative industries are mostly upper middle class and with very different cultural tastes from the rest of the population. The authors say this presents another barrier for people seeking work in the sector in the form of ‘cultural matching’, in which people who do not have shared tastes of specific social groups are excluded.