Invisible Doors Report: Barriers to (Re)-Entering the Creative Sector
The front cover of Rising’s new Invisible Doors Report
This is a momentous day. We’re stoked to share our new Invisible Doors Research Report, commissioned by 4Skills and Channel 4 Creative Equity.
Our new report, Invisible Doors (2025), exposes the barriers to (re)-entering the creative industries in Bristol and the South West, presents a bold roadmap for urgent, radical change, in the sector.
Over 35 pages, Invisible Doors reveals the persistent barriers faced by individuals trying to enter and re-enter the creative and cultural industries in Bristol and the South West of England. The research uncovers critical challenges around access, equity, and employment practices in the sector and proposes radical interventions to create a more equitable sector at every level across multiple sectors from film and TV, theatre and visual arts to design, writing and journalism.
A group of Rising’s community during a lab. Photo cred: Olumide Osinoiki
Commissioned by 4Skills and Channel 4 Creative Equity, the Invisible Doors Report was developed over three years from 2022 - 2025 through extensive community engagement, industry consultation and the forming of a steering group made up of freelancers, SMEs, education providers and organisations working across Bristol and the South West.
The report takes its name from a metaphor used by one of the interview participants, who spoke about not being overtly discriminated against but instead feeling like there were “invisible doors” that they couldn’t see or access but their peers could.
A two-page spread of the Invisible Doors Report
The report offers a timely and urgent critique of the creative and cultural sector's harmful practices when working with freelancers and the impact it’s having on the workforce. It highlights how lack of education, structural barriers, precarious employment practices, and gatekeeping continue to limit opportunities for those from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds in particular.
“WHERE THERE IS CRISIS, COMES A CHANCE TO INNOVATE AND REBUILD”
If you share Rising’s vision for a more equitable creative sector, and want to support our genuinely youth-led movement, please consider making a donation https://www.rising.org.uk/our-why#donate
CARING WORK CULTURES TRAINING: EMBED EQUITY IN YOUR WORK
Thinking about how you can embed equity in your organisation and / or your work?
During this 4-week training we'll explore how to embed care in every phase of the your work - from access and recruitment to generative conflict and policies made for people.
We'll share the successes (and failures) Rising have had implementing these practical tools, the positive impact it's had on our business and how we've supported companies of all different sizes to embed care.
