Greater Manchester risks losing the working-class culture that helped define it as a global creative city unless urgent action is taken to reverse decades of cuts to arts education, a new inquiry has warned.
Drawing on surveys, focus groups and over 150 hours of interviews with working-class creatives from the region, the Class Ceiling report, published this week, found that access to creative careers is increasingly shaped by background rather than ability.
While interest in creative subjects has risen among younger pupils, the inquiry found that take-up stalls once students reach GCSE level, meaning early enthusiasm is not translating into qualifications or careers.
GCSE entries in arts subjects fell by 42% between 2010 and 2024, following years in which creative subjects were sidelined after the creation of the EBacc.
Teachers told researchers that schools are trapped in a “curriculum straitjacket”, with limited time, funding and staff available to support arts subjects, now that more academic subjects have been labelled as ‘core’.
Several linked the decline of creative subjects to rising disengagement among pupils, including higher levels of truancy, suspension and behavioural issues.
One headteacher interviewed for the report warned that “too many kids hate school”, arguing that creative subjects were often the only areas where some pupils felt confident or motivated.
The consequences stretch far beyond education. Only 8% of TV and radio workers are from working-class backgrounds, and fewer than half of working-class creatives (43.6%) say they earn enough to make a living from their work, with many relying on second jobs.
The inquiry also found that just 21.9% of respondents personally knew anyone working in the arts while growing up, underlining how heavily the sector depends on informal networks.
Formal entry routes remain scarce, with just 0.5% of all new apprenticeship starts in the creative sector despite huge demand. When Co-op Live advertised five creative apprenticeships last year, it received 2,304 applications – around 460 per role.
Inquiry co-chair Avis Gilmore, former deputy general secretary of the National Education Union, called these statistics a “scandal” and argued that a lack of accessible formal entry points has led the arts sector to become “more elitist, not less.”
Claire Costello, Chief People and Inclusion Officer at Co-op, said: “Our Co-op believes everyone, whatever their background, should be able to access opportunities in the arts and creative sector throughout Greater Manchester.
“Apprenticeships can provide a ‘stepping stone’ for future careers; that’s why Co-op is encouraging Greater Manchester employers to share unspent apprenticeship levy funds to raise £3 million over 3 years to support 200 new apprenticeships in the arts and creative sector throughout Greater Manchester.”
Authors of the report argue that education cuts are helping to turn the creative industries into what they describe as a “playground for the privileged,” where family support and private schooling increasingly determine who gets in and who stays in.
The inquiry also highlights mounting pressure on the region’s creative infrastructure.
The North West has seen the highest number of permanent grassroots music venue closures in the UK, with Arts Council core funding reduced by nearly £124 million since 2011, and 50% of recording studios are considering closure within the next 12 months due to rising costs.
In Greater Manchester alone, one provider of affordable studio space reports a waiting list of more than 300 artists.
Together, the report argues, these trends risk hollowing out Manchester’s creative ecosystem and driving working-class talent away from the city altogether.
The inquiry warns that without urgent intervention, Greater Manchester could lose the distinctive cultural identity that helped fuel its recent economic growth.
The report’s authors call for arts subjects to be fully restored in schools, paid early-career roles, expanded apprenticeships and greater regional investment, alongside measures to tackle low pay and precarious work.
They also urge policymakers to treat creativity as essential public infrastructure rather than an optional extra.
For a region internationally associated with working-class creativity, from music and comedy to television and literature, the report concludes that rebuilding access to arts education is not just about protecting creative careers but about safeguarding the future character of the city itself.
Read the report here.
Featured image: Unsplash/Surya Prasad
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