Pennsylvania: Multimedia Producer Apprenticeship

Photo by Big Picture Alliance, courtesy of Pennsylvania Creative Industries

Apprenticeships are a growing state workforce development strategy that can boost the supply of trained workers available to key industries while helping workers attain higher earnings and greater career growth. A major benefit of these kinds of apprenticeships is that one can “earn as you learn” through on-the-job training and job placement. Nationwide, almost 700,000 registered apprenticeships exist, often for skilled trades such as carpentry, masonry and plumbing. But apprenticeship programs are growing in other sectors as well, such as health care and information technologies.

State arts agencies have a long history of supporting apprenticeship programs in the folk and traditional arts, as a cultural preservation strategy. But new opportunities to formalize apprenticeships as a creative workforce development pathway are emerging. Pennsylvania Creative Industries, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I), is seizing that opportunity by launching the Multimedia Producer Apprenticeship.

The Multimedia Producer Apprenticeship will expand the strategic benefits of traditional apprenticeships to new fields and promote creative careers. Through this first-of-its-kind, year-long program, apprentices will emerge highly skilled in the creative, technical and business aspects of multimedia production and will be placed at entry/junior level, quality jobs in the fields of film and media, broadcasting, digital marketing, interactive design and journalism.

Pennsylvania Creative Industries provided seed funding for the apprenticeship proposal development through its Creative Catalyst Grant Program. This funding enabled Big Picture Alliance, a Philadelphia based nonprofit that works with marginalized youth on filmmaking and digital media arts, to develop and implement the required Standards of Apprenticeship for Multimedia Production, the program-specific standards for the state. These standards outline the terms and conditions for the recruitment, selection, employment, training and supervision of apprentices within a particular program. All state-certified apprenticeships in Pennsylvania adhere to and align with National Guideline Standards—the national model for apprenticeship programs—to ensure safe, consistent and practical apprenticeship programs.

Big Picture Alliance will implement the Multimedia Production Apprenticeship with ongoing support from L&I’s Apprenticeship Training Office, and in partnership with more than a dozen local media companies and organizations.

In addition to serving as a model for other creative industry apprenticeship programs, the Multimedia Production Apprenticeship demonstrates the role state arts agencies have in strengthening the economy and fostering vibrant communities. For more information on state arts agency programming and the creative economy, contact NASAA.