Product2 publishersIndependently confirmed3 min readPublished
Apple starts its King's Trust Creative Labs with up to 20 young people at Apple Music Hall
Apple and The King's Trust have launched Creative Labs, a UK skills programme whose first cohort takes up to 20 people aged 18 to 30. The first workshops were timed to the opening of Apple Music Hall, so for now it is a small course built around an Apple venue.
The Product Desk
What happened
- Apple says more Creative Labs sessions and cohorts are planned over the next year.
- The partnership with The King's Trust dates to 2019, and MacRumors says it has extended STEAM programming to schools across the UK.
- Apple is also working with the charity on resources to improve AI literacy and help educators bring new technologies into their teaching.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Because the workshops teach skills on Apple technologies, it is unclear how much of what participants learn will carry over to employers that use other tools.
- decision Each cohort gives at most 20 people close contact with Apple staff, so for next year The King's Trust has to choose between running more groups like this and finding a format that reaches more people.
- exposure By tying the programme to employment in public, The King's Trust has set the measure it will be asked about once the first cohorts finish.
The people in the first Apple x King's Trust Creative Labs cohort had visitors this week [1]. MacRumors reported that Tim Cook and King Charles III came to Apple Music Hall at Battersea Power Station in London to meet them [9][4]. The group had at most 20 people in it [2].
Apple describes the programme in wide terms. It promises young people "meaningful engagement with Apple experts across industries as they explore a variety of career pathways" [8]. The first week was narrower: music industry and creative workshops timed to the opening of Apple Music Hall [4]. According to MacRumors, they teach "valuable, industry-aligned skills using Apple technologies" [5]. Alisha Johnson Wilder, Apple's senior director of Global Community Impact, said the programme means "connecting the next generation of creators and innovators directly with our experts, technology, and mentorship" [10]. The experts and the technology she named are Apple's, and the first workshops ran in an Apple building [4].
In practice, Creative Labs is a small in-person course. Neither report gives a total for the coming year's cohorts, a budget or a target for placements [3]. Jonathan Townsend, The King's Trust's UK chief executive, called it "an exciting new chapter in our partnership that will help even more young people develop the confidence and creative digital skills they need to take their next steps toward employment" [11].
Employment is the outcome he named, and it is harder to report than attendance. Teams that run sponsor programmes tend to treat a full session with senior visitors as the result. For a participant, I'd expect the result to show up months later, as paid work or as a contact who answers email. Some of that work may be at studios that run something other than Apple software.
For a charity partner, or a company thinking of copying the format, two questions sort a programme like this. The first is whether the skills travel outside the sponsor's tools. The second is whether the sponsor will report outcomes, such as placements six months on, or only activity, such as sessions held and cohorts run. Portable skills with outcome reporting make a workforce programme. With activity reporting alone, they make goodwill that still teaches something. Skills tied to the sponsor's tools with outcome reporting make a hiring pipeline. With activity reporting alone, they make a brand event that includes some teaching.
On the first week's evidence, Creative Labs sits in that last box [5][3]. I think The King's Trust is right to take the deal anyway. Up to 20 young people get direct time with Apple's experts in a new venue [2][4], and the price is a curriculum built on one company's technology [5].
What to watch
- Any participant or employment figures from Apple or The King's Trust for the first cohort of up to 20.
- Whether later cohorts move past music and creative workshops at Apple Music Hall into the other industries Apple's announcement mentions.
- Reach figures for the AI literacy resources for educators, the part of the partnership best placed to grow beyond small groups.