Brand Insights: How LCC Changemakers Turn Employability into Real EDI

In the creative industries, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are often spoken about as values. But when employability brings students and industry together, the gap between rhetoric and reality becomes clear.

The Brand Insights pilot offered participants a direct look inside creative organisations – how they operate, who they employ and the dynamics of studio culture. What seemed like an exploratory employability visit quickly revealed deeper issues. Representation was uneven. Inclusion didn’t always match the narrative. Access alone wasn’t enough. Thus, without critical reflection, employability risks reproducing the inequities it aims to challenge.

This is where the London College of Communication (LCC) Changemakers: our alumni and student partners, stepped in.

LCC Changemakers: The Missing Link in Employability

Kevin J Brazant , Senior Educational Developer and coordinator of the LCC Changemakers, emphasises the importance of lived experience as part of student co creation:

“LCC Changemakers lead creative, justice-focused projects, co-design resources and work collaboratively across the institution to embed racial and social justice into learning and practice.” (LCC Changemakers Blog, 2024)

In this pilot, the LCC Changemakers became the missing link; transforming an innovative careers provision into a tool for cultural change. Rather than just observing, they assessed, questioned and highlighted where inclusion and representation were falling short, regardless of the harmonious narrative that was being pushed.

Insights From the LCC Changemakers

Lara Geary: Relevance and Preparation

Lara stressed the importance of relevance and preparation. Seeing a workplace in action helps graduates connect learning to professional practice while prompting studios to rethink their approach to diversity.

Her reflections align with constructivist principles, where connecting experience with prior knowledge deepens learning (David, 2015). She also highlighted the sector’s ongoing imbalance, with workforces that still do not reflect the UK’s diversity, shaped by persistent representation gaps and a reliance on freelance and unpaid entry routes that reinforce inequality (McCabe, 2025).

Nieves Mingueza: Experiential Learning

Nieves emphasised the value of experiential learning. Observing workflows, engaging with staff and connecting theory to practice allow learning to come alive.

This approach echoes Kolb’s experiential learning model (1984) and bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy (1994), both of which highlight interactive, reflective learning that prepares graduates for creative work.

Zarifah A. Zamri : Organisational Readiness

Zarifah highlighted the need for organisational readiness. Studios must be open to feedback from alumni and student partners and recognise them as contributors, not observers.

“Embedding social and racial justice is a continuous, collaborative process. Students can guide this transition from learning to becoming the industry.”

Her perspective resonates with Marian Taylor-Brown et al. (2022) and Banks (2017), who argue that justice-focused practice requires sustained commitment.

Chiara Portinari : The Power of Dialogue

Chiara centred her insight on the role of dialogue in meaningful learning, drawing on Paulo Freire’s reminder that education is created “not by A for B… but by A with B, mediated by the world” (1970). Freire is unequivocal: “Only dialogue… is capable of generating critical thinking.”

In company visits, this becomes practical. Creating space for open discussion shifts the experience from passive observation to shared learning, allowing students to question, respond and influence the environment in real time.

Chiara is also leading a project within the LCC Changemakers model that frames evaluation as a reflective and dialogic process — positioning students not just as participants in employability work, but as contributors shaping its development.

Insights Into Action: Making Employability Work

The LCC Changemakers demonstrated that employability is not just about access – it’s about accountability. They identified gaps, reframed expectations, and opened pathways for meaningful change. They are the quality assurers the employability space has been missing.

To strengthen employability in the creative industries, we must:

• Involve alumni and student partners in designing and evaluating employability initiatives.
• Make EDI central to every engagement, not an add-on.
• Use lived experience to shape opportunities, ensuring pathways into creative careers are inclusive, reflective, and transformative.

Want to see more of the LCC Changemakers’ work in action? Check out their blog here to explore how insight turns into impact.

When the LCC Changemakers are given a seat at the table, employability becomes more than a career tool – it becomes a mechanism for lasting cultural change.

References

• Banks, M. (2017). Creative Justice: Cultural Industries, Work and Inequality. Rowman & Littlefield.
• McCabe, H. (2025). Participation, diversity and inclusion in cultural and creative industries. POST
• Brown, M.T., Ntigurirwa, H., Gordillo, A., & Rose, M. (2022). From Grassroots to Systems Change: Art for Social Justice. Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 52(5), 308–322.
• David, L. (2015). Constructivism. In Learning Theories.
• hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge & CRC Press.
• Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development.
• LCC Changemakers Blog. Accessible: https://lccchangemakers.myblog.arts.ac.uk/