Creative Careers Festival
The creative sector is broad and it encompasses an enormous range of talent. The sector includes a variety of roles in areas such as tv and film, heritage, music, journalism, and other creative industries, with different entry requirements and skill sets needed to succeed.
Many Oxford students are passionate about the creative sector. To support this, the Creative Careers Festival in the 4th week of Hilary term features a series of engaging panel discussions, featuring expert career advisors and inspiring guest speakers who will share valuable insights and experiences. These sessions are designed to motivate and guide you as you explore your next career steps, offering practical advice and inspiration from professionals who have succeeded in the creative industries.
Creative Careers Festival: 9 - 13 February 2026
HILARY TERM: 4TH WEEK
Below is the list of online and in-person events for the Creative Careers Festival.
About the sessions
Monday 9 February
Expert Q&A: How to Be a Freelancer
Online event, 12:00 - 13:30
Curious about freelancing but not sure how to begin? In this Q&A, you’ll hear from an experienced creative freelancer who has built a sustainable career in the sector. They’ll share clear and practical insights into how freelancing really works, including how to find clients, set your rates, manage your time and income, and build a portfolio.
Creative Careers Festival Keynote: Breaking into the Creative Industries, with Margaret Burgin - Head of Careers at ScreenSkills
In person at the Careers Service, 16:00-17:30
Join us and our keynote speaker to launch our Creative Careers Festival 2026. This is a unique opportunity to hear about Margaret's personal career journey, advice about entering and navigating careers in the creative industries and a discussion about current and future trends in the sector.
Margaret Burgin – Head of Careers at ScreenSkills
After working for BBC Worldwide and then as a journalist for the BBC, Margaret joined the team which moved the BBC into Salford as Future Skills Manager where she helped to provide careers advice for new staff and those moving up to Manchester from London. She also led on the careers programme for schools, colleges and universities to attract young people to consider working in Salford in the future. Margaret joined ScreenSkills as Head of Careers in 2018 where she led on a BFI funded programme to attract 10,000 new entrants into the screen industries. ScreenSkills is the skills organisation for screen in the UK - that’s film, TV, visual effects, animation, games and immersive - and it currently has over 300 trainees on its own Trainee Finder programme which places trainees on placements in High-end television and film drama productions. ScreenSkills also provides training and e-learning for screen and offers bursaries for training and equipment.
Tuesday 10 February
Expert Panel Discussion: Marketing, Branding and Communications Careers
Online event, 12:00 - 13:15
During this session the panellists will share their career journeys, offer advice on breaking into the field, and discuss key topics such as: the different roles that exist within the sector; what skills and attributes you need to succeed; and how to be gain valuable experience while at university through societies, internships, projects, and volunteering.
Expert Panel Discussion: Music Industry Careers
Online event, 17:00-18:15
Join this session for an engaging discussion where experts will share their career journeys, offer valuable advice on skill development, and provide insights into securing work experience and job opportunities within the dynamic music industry.
Wednesday 11 February
Expert Q&A: Podcasting Careers, with The Rest Is Entertainment Producer Joey McCarthy
Online event, 12:00 - 13:15
Join us for a unique opportunity to hear from the producer of popular The Rest is Entertainment podcast Joey McCarthy who will reveal tips and tricks on how to get into podcasting and producing.
Joey McCarthy - Podcast producer, Goalhanger
Joey trained as a journalist at Goldsmiths, University of London and then became a sports documentary producer in 2019 with Goalhanger Films. As the media landscape evolved during the pandemic, Goalhanger transitioned into a podcast production company.
Joey is now a producer of two separate podcasts as Goalhanger: The Rest Is Entertainment (Richard Osman, Marina Hyde) and We Have Ways of Making You Talk (Al Murray, James Holland).
Expert Q&A: How to Write for a Living, with 'Magpie Lane' Author Lucy Atkins
Online event, 17:00 - 18:15
Do you dream of making a career out of writing? Whether it’s crafting compelling fiction, delving into non-fiction, creating academic works, or even shaping storylines for games, this event is for you. Join a published author as she shares her experiences of breaking into the industry and making a living through their craft.
Lucy Atkins
Lucy Atkins is a British feature journalist, Sunday Times book critic and the award-winning author of five novels and several non-fiction titles. Her debut novel, The Missing One (Quercus 2014), was a UK bestseller, and The Night Visitor (Quercus 2017) has been optioned for television. Her Oxford-based novel, Magpie Lane (Quercus 2020), was a Book of the Year pick for the The Guardian, The Telegraph, Good Housekeeping, and BBC Radio 4’s Open Book. Lucy has judged the Costa Book Awards and written features or reviews for most UK broadsheets. Her newest novel, Windmill Hill, was published in 2023. Before becoming an author, Lucy worked for Amnesty International (UK), and then the Times Literary Supplement. She studied English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and was a postgraduate Fulbright Scholar to the USA. She has lived in Boston, Seattle and Philadelphia, and is now based in Oxford. She is a tutor on the MSt in Creative Writing at Oxford and regularly supports writers in workshops and writing retreats.
Thursday 12 February
Expert Panel Discussion: TV & Film Careers
Online event, 12:00 - 13:15
Join us for our exciting panel event about careers in the screen industries. This is an exclusive and unique opportunity to hear from professionals across TV and film talk about their careers, offer advice about developing relevant skills and finding work experience and jobs. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions.
Graduate Schemes in the Creative Industries
Online event, 13:30 - 14:30
This session will cover graduate schemes that exist in the Creative Industries, across sectors such as Marketing & Communications, Media & Journalism and Publishing. We will look at how graduate schemes are typically structured and recruited and how/where to find them. We will also cover what approach to take if there aren’t any suitable graduate schemes in your chosen role type or sector.
Expert Q&A: Journalism Careers, with Journo Resources Founder and Journalist Jem Collins
Online event, 17:00 - 18:00
Get advice and top tips from Journo Resources Founder and Journalist Jem Collins to help you work out whether you would like to go into journalism and how best to go about that. Do you need a master's? What can you do at Oxford to improve your chances? What can you put in your applications to get you noticed?
About Jem Collins
Jem Collins is the founder and director of Journo Resources, an award-winning social enterprise that helps journalists at all stages of their careers. As the UK's leading journalism resources, Jem and her team create unique tools to help people move forward in journalism and build a better, more inclusive journalism industry. Outside of this, Jem focuses on journalism stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told, especially those that include solutions. Her work has been features in a range of outlets including Stylist, Positive News, The i Paper, Metro.co.uk, Pink News, and more. Jem focuses on stories that might not otherwise be told and those that include solutions. Jem is also a long-serving trustee of the Student Publication Association, a charity which supports student journalism, helping to drive its transformation into a sustainable charity that supports thousands of young people with resources every year.
Friday 13 February
Expert Panel Discussion: Culture & Heritage Careers
Online event, 12:00 - 13:15
Join us for our exciting panel event about careers in the Culture and Heritage sector. This is an exclusive and unique opportunity to hear from professionals across the sector, talk about their careers, offer advice about developing relevant skills and finding work experience and jobs. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions.
Dr Mai Musié -Ancient Historian and Public Engagement professional
Mai currently works for the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange as a senior manager for research, evidence, and policy. In the last 15 years Mai has worked for Swansea and Oxford universities on access, public engagement, and knowledge exchange projects and programmes. In addition, she was the ECR Fellow at SAS between 2022-2023, exploring Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement in research and beyond. Mai’s research explores race and ethnicity in the ancient world, investigating how the ‘other’ is represented in ancient Greek and Roman literary sources. Mai is well known for her public engagement and outreach work and was awarded the 2019 Classical Association Prize, given each year to the individual who has done the most to raise the profile of Classics in the public eye. Mai sits on a number of advisory boards including the NCPPE’s Inclusion Advisory Group – Racial Equity and the Archive of Performances of Greek & Roman Drama. She is the co-founder of Classics in Communities, a trustee of Actors of Dionysus (and former trustee of Classics for All, and The Roman Society), and a series editor for Women in Ancient Cultures, Liverpool University Press.
Dr Gemma Plumpton - Executive Assistant to the Director, Chatsworth House Trust
Gemma is the Executive Assistant to the Director of Chatsworth House Trust, the charity that cares for and shares Chatsworth house, garden, parkland, and much of the Devonshire Collections. In this role she supports the Director to implement and achieve the charity’s strategic ambitions for the coming years, while supporting and leading a variety of projects including the charity’s new international loan exhibitions programme and digital/immersive projects. Gemma completed her doctoral research in February 2024, supported by the AHRC through a collaborative doctoral partnership between the National Gallery, London, and the University of Leeds. Her thesis was entitled ‘Collecting Continental Old Masters for Harewood House, Yorkshire: British cultural heritage and aristocratic survival, 1916-1947’. Prior to this she completed a Masters thesis on the scholar-dealer James Byam Shaw (1903-1992) and his support for institutional collection. Gemma previously worked at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Harewood House Trust, Leeds. Her current role at Chatsworth House Trust builds on her interest in country houses and their future, and the compatibility of private ownership and public benefit.
Alice Purkiss - Heritage Partnerships Team Lead at the University of Oxford
Based within the Humanities Division, she works with colleagues across the University to build interdisciplinary research collaborations with a range of partner organisations in the UK heritage, museum, policy and advocacy sectors. This includes the award-winning National Trust Partnership that she co-founded and has led since 2018. Beyond her Divisional role, Alice co-leads the Oxford University Heritage Network, is Co-I on the Kickstarting Heritage Innovations project, is a guest lecturer on the Said Business School’s MBA programme, and Fellow of Kellogg College. Outside of the University, Alice engages with the UK heritage, cultural and research sectors at local and national levels, including as a Trustee for The Heritage Alliance NGO, Chair of the Oxford Preservation Trust Awards, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Clore Leadership Ambassador, and member of the UKRI Talent Peer Review College. She has a background in the cultural sector, with experience of working in major UK museums and small, private heritage organisations across research, curatorial and commercial roles.
Practical Next Steps for Your Creative Career
Online event, 15:00 - 16:00
Practical Next Steps for Your Creative Career is the final session of the Creative Careers Festival and is designed to help you turn inspiration into a clear, realistic plan. We will recap the biggest themes that have come up across the week, then focus on what to do next. This will include practical ways to build experience and momentum, whether that’s finding work experience and freelance opportunities, developing your portfolio, improving your online presence, or getting involved in creative projects at Oxford.
