Who the heck are you?
We’ve been around for a bit; in fact, when someone asks me how long I’ve been a designer, it haunts me to think it’s been over 14 years. In my heart I’m still in my early 20s. Art is my Career (AIMC) has existed since Covid (do we still measure time based on when Covid was?!). Sat on a park bench in the hour window we had to have our daily walk, a fellow creative and I thought, 'With all this negative media about the creative industry, what can we do to inspire young people?’ - Especially young people whose education was about to be affected by the global pandemic.
From a one-off careers event held at Spark:York, a fire was lit inside my stomach – I only found the creative industry because of a random friend of a family member connection (you know those ones where it is someones cousin twice removed's ex-husband's best friend), but, if that person hadn’t been in my life, god knows where I’d be today.
But it got me thinking, what about those young people who don’t have a connection? That, teamed with the decline of arts education in schools, was the catalyst for the creation of AIMC. I’m not saying we’ll change the world, but if we can have a positive impact on one young person, and that person goes on to see the potential in their creative talent and has a successful career – it's all worth it.
Some people get into business to make money, and I won’t lie, that was a big motivator for me at the start. I also wanted to have more freedom and live the life LinkedIn often portrays of agency owners. Soon, I came to realise if I did that – I became part of the problem. What was I really giving back to an industry that built me as a person? What was I really doing to better the industry I love for the next generation?
And so, long story short, I decided to start an agency that gave back. I invest profits from commercial work to help fund arts education resources for schools and educators. I run workshops in my local area to educate people on the creative industry and spark inspiration. I give as much time as I can to talk at schools, events and careers fairs, and, possibly one of the most enjoyable parts, I run a fully funded internship programme giving students or recent graduates a chance to experience the industry, earn a wage while doing so, work on real-life briefs and integrate them into the industry, to hopefully give them a helping hand to start their careers.
So, as I’m writing this in my local Weatherspoons, patiently waiting for my chicken nuggets to arrive (because I’ve got the classic diet of a 7-year-old), I hope you’ll take some time to look at our case studies, see the types of clients we work with and see how together, we can make design projects have a bigger impact.
P.S – that's me below, looking whimsically into the future! Although my hair might not be the same colour for any two months, if you see me, come say hi!
