Production Futures will later this year celebrate a decade of success with the Production Futures Annual Partners Summit at Production Park near Wakefield.
The event, an invitation-only curated programme, will bring together Production Futures’ partners as well as representatives from the education sector and organisations actively building the future workforce of the production industries.
In the ten years of its existence, Production Futures has grown rapidly and now partners with more than 100 organisations, including manufacturers, service providers, trade associations, education providers, and more, to meet the needs of an industry sector short of skills in a nation where, paradoxically, a million young people are out of work.
In the last 18 months alone, Production Futures has grown its audience by 180% and now represents 3,000 highly engaged members from freelancers and students to graduates and career-changers. Its community enjoys access to a truly global network reflected by social media platforms whose followings total more than 66,000 and whose reach is in excess of 230,000 channel views across an average 30-day period. With more than 8,000 in-person engagements in the last 12 months at its On Tour events, Production Futures is driving change and growing significant access.
November’s invitation-only Summit will principally focus on the pro-active work undertaken by partners to design apprenticeships in specific production roles, their help in delivering structured work experience placements, and bringing greater visibility to live pathways into employment. In this respect, the Summit will present a perfect opportunity for partners to share best practice around the creation of access and opportunity.
Production Futures CEO, Hannah Eakins is looking forward with confidence as she reflected on a decade of exponential growth and achievement: “Ten years ago, we started Production Futures because we could see the skills crisis coming. At our annual Summit, 100+ organisations will come together in one room – not to talk about it, but to show what they have done and commit to doing more. Our audience has grown 180% in the last 18 months because the need is urgent and the industry knows it. We’re not waiting for someone else to fix this – we’re fixing it together as an industry.”
The rapid growth of Production Futures in the last 18 months constitutes perhaps the greatest widening of access in the history of the production industries, but according to Eakins, there is no room for complacency and plenty of room for more industry partners: “Our Summit in November is the moment we show the production industry what ten years looks like – and focus squarely on the next twelve months. We want every industry player or association and education-provider who is not yet a partner to join us to help push growth further. The talent pool is vast, and the more the production industry is on board, the more it can count on a supply of highly-skilled, highly-motivated individuals to drive it forward. The message is simply – join us!”
Production Futures Annual Partners Summit on 18 November takes place on the eve of the organisation’s last ON TOUR event of 2026, which will once again welcome more than a thousand young people with a packed schedule, including special guests, talks and panels, industry workshops, and a wide range of hands-on activities.
