Common People #0023
More Arts In State Schools! New Tees + Totes!
Ello!
Big news today. Firstly - the summer ‘25 t-shirts and totes are here, designed by Dan Wilson. As always, they’re available for a limited time only. Get yours here.
The message is an important one. Almost half of all British nominees for the Mercury Prize, Oscars and BAFTAs over the past 10 years were privately educated, despite only 6% of the UK population attending private schools.
Decades of government cuts have robbed a generation of state school pupils of a proper creative education. Many leave without realising the value their unique talents and experience could bring to Britain’s creative industries, or even what career paths are available.
That’s why Common People are teaming up with education charity Working Options to deliver 100 talks in state schools across the UK over the next year.
Delivered by creative industry professionals from Working Class backgrounds, the talks will offer an introduction to the creative industries, answering any questions the students have and helping to make industry connections. Commoners from across South Yorkshire, Manchester, London, Bristol, Essex and East Sussex have already signed up to deliver the first round of talks, covering disciplines from advertising and design to music and media. Want to do one yourself? Give us a shout!
Thanks to Working Options and Laura Burch from Work & Class for making it happen.
We’re Celebrating…
The Working Classes have always had ‘high’ culture, the Middle Classes just stole it (BOOM) says ex-editor of The Face Richard Benson in The Independent. Benson has just launched a magazine, The Bee, with Michael Sheen to showcase contemporary Working Class writing.
The campaign to give pie and mash protected status made it to the New York Times last week. Yes, theeee New York Times! And even better, our mate Andy Green from The Modern Cockney Festival, who’s leading the charge, had his portrait taken for the piece. Now that’s style.
Staying with Andy’s for a minute, Crowd DNA founder and Common People champion Andy Crysell has been doing the lord’s work on LinkedIn, calling out research roles that unnecessarily require a degree, especially from companies who spout a load of crapola about supporting talent from diverse backgrounds. This is what proper social media activism looks like!
Andy’s excellent new book Selling the Night is all about how club culture intersects with commerce and the creative industries. It features an interview about Class with our co-founder Tom Armstrong (hi - it’s me, Tom, writing this newsletter, I know, it’s weird, I’m too far into the third person now, I can never get out).
One Creative North is a new pan-northern initiative to grow the creative sectors through access to finance, skills training, R&D and connectivity. Nearly 70% of the creative industries GVA is currently in London and the South East.
Class Therapy are doing great things on Instagram. As well as two digital ‘zines, they’ve put together a guide for therapists to better understand the Working Class experience, covering topics like money and trust.
Mentorship is vital to make the design industry more accessible, says Broadwick Studio’s Nate Thompson in Design Week (Common People gets a mention!)
A new report by the University of Manchester looked at the widening gap between access to arts based on socioeconomic background. Researchers found a 9% increase in the gap between Middle and Working Class people attending a live music performance in the last year.
Are you an artist passionate about youth and community stories and have a link to Camden? The Museum of Youth Culture are looking for an artist in residency (deadline is tomorrow!)
Brighton and Hove is now the 6th worst area in the whole of England for young people not in education, employment or training. BUT our pals at Class Divide are asking the council to do something about it, by commissioning a public review into the appalling outcomes for kids from Working Class and lower socio-economic backgrounds. Sign the letter here.
Pull the Ladder Up, Jack
Today is Social Mobility Day, a national campaign to shine a light on the benefits of a socio-economically diverse workforce.
For what it’s worth, in our opinion, which we accept nobody asked for, ‘social mobility’ isn’t a perfect term.
Celebrating mobility implies that wherever you’ve successfully managed to depart - the land below - is inferior to your new standings, a few rungs up the ladder. Which sounds a lot like the attitudes we’re trying to overcome.
Financial independence is something worth striving for. Not having the bailiffs banging on your door. Being able to put food in the fridge. Those aren’t things to trivialise. They’re life changing. But social class runs far deeper than that.
It’s as much your culture, accent, reference points, friendship circle and outlook. The things that inform how you see the world and how the world sees you. None of that needs to change just because you’ve managed to earn a bit more money. You’re great as you are.
It’s not a big deal. Just a bit of semantic nitpicking. A lot of fantastic work is being done in the name of social mobility by organisations far more committed than us. But to echo an early Common People rallying call: “climb the ladder my arse”.
Common People useful links
Common People is, and always will be free to read. No paywalls. Nada. But if you like what we’re about and want to help the cause, you could upgrade to a paid subscription, or shout about us on socials, or share this with a friend / co-worker, or get us in to do a talk at your office. OR just drop us a friendly word to commonpeoplelikeus@gmail.com.
Until next month,
Much love.
Love the new tshirt. Great newsletter as always 😍