Creative Future is a catalyst for change, nurturing underrepresented artists and writers to harness their creativity, build confidence, develop their careers, and inspire others. Founded in 2007, we are proudly led by individuals with lived experience of the barriers our communities face, ensuring our support is authentic and deeply rooted.
We champion talented individuals who encounter significant obstacles to accessing the arts due to mental ill health, disability, socioeconomic background, gender identity, or as members of communities experiencing racial inequity. By providing platforms, opportunities, and tailored support, we help them share their stories and creativity with new audiences.
Through our work, we actively tackle inequality and social injustice in the arts and culture sector. Join us in building a more inclusive and vibrant creative landscape where every voice is heard and celebrated.
Our Vision
A world where the arts are inclusive, diverse, representative and accessible to everyone.
What Do We Mean by Underrepresented?
Underrepresented refers to a person or group of people who are insufficiently or inadequately represented. Creative Future nurture and promote the talent of underrepresented creative people, artists and communities facing barriers and inequality to opportunity. We seek diversity throughout the UK arts and cultural sector and a world where everyone is equally represented.
At Creative Future, we celebrate and promote the rich work, cultures, and communities of queer, Black, Brown, disabled, neurodivergent, learning disabled, working-class, Traveller, and survivor artists and writers. We are dedicated to amplifying voices that have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in the arts, ensuring their stories and creativity are recognised and valued within the cultural sector and across society.
Our Mission
- Build a bridge between the margins and the mainstream.
- Celebrate and support underrepresented writers & artists voices and their creative work.
- Nurture the talents of underrepresented creative people and unlock creative potential.
- Create and drive equitable access to the arts.
- Improve wellbeing through creativity.
- Influence sustainable and positive change in the sector.
Our Core Values
- Empower – underrepresented people to develop their voices and share their creative futures.
- Excellence – support artistic excellence
- Inclusion – champion and drive inclusion and fairer representation in the arts and culture
- Challenge – committed to confronting supremacy by championing anti-racist practice and taking positive action against all forms of discrimination.
- Kindness – fostering a culture that is people-focused and has well-being at the centre
- Listen – welcome feedback, reflect and make changes for the better.
What Other Organisations Say About Us
"They provide a continuous pathway from artistic engagement to professional artistic practice delivering high quality art and writing workshops, mentoring, national events and follow on opportunities."
"We have consistently been impressed by their nurturing, welcoming approach which creates bespoke and meaningful pathways to integration and success for people facing multiple, complex and compounded issues. Creative Future is unique in that it combines its expertise in aiding hard-to-reach people with high-quality, professional artistic standards."
"I’ve been really impressed by the work of Creative Future in helping support marginalised artists to develop skills and confidence – confidence as an artist, and also growing self esteem as work is exhibited and skills developed. I wouldn’t hesitate to refer more clients to your very valuable and well-placed service."
"It has been a pleasure to work with such a valuable, dynamic and unique charity."
"Creative Future workshops enable us to offer a wider range of activities to our service users that we couldn’t otherwise offer. The Creative Future tutor has a depth of experience and level of expertise that we simply don’t have in the staff team."