Non Linear

Free creative careers course blending tech, industry practice, and purpose for east Londoners aged 18–35

Non Linear is a free, practical foundation course for the creative and digital industries. Written and co-delivered with higher education specialists and industry partners, the programme focuses on a mix of stackable creative habits and practices, processes and skills that are the anchor point for career joy.

Non Linear is underpinned by 6 key methods:   

  • Participate - Engage, understand, shape community
  • Purpose - Motivations drive now and next
  • Process - Technical skills development (creative computing, content creation) 
  • Practice - Apply, test, improve with, and in, industry
  • Play - Create, fail, have fun
  • Pause – Reflect, evaluate, rest

Participants (you!) will graduate with a combination of broad industry experiences and be ready to tackle the everyday requirements of the commercial creative landscape. You will also develop a portfolio piece that deepens a craft and technical skill - reflecting who they are creatively.

You will work both collectively and independently, exploring the dynamics of the professional eco-systems involved in delivering high quality work, while at the same time defining and refining their own unique voice and creative ambitions. 

Each participant will be supported through peer group sessions, accountability partners and will have access to an industry mentor, who will sit alongside the specialist careers support team at A New Direction.

The programme will run Monday 10 November 2025 – Friday 27 February 2026 with course activity mainly taking place Monday – Wednesday and will include a blend of in-person workshops at the Good Growth Hub located at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and virtual learning workshops.

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  • What to expect?

    Chapter 1 – Culture x Participation

    This first segment of the course will drill into Participation and Purpose. Activity aims to build engagement and shape the culture of the cohort and collaborators – our employer partners. Chapter 1 will set the scene focusing on learning the norms and behaviours of industry including what’s expected, the peculiarities, the skills of the sector – the sets of behaviours required – and will dive into how participants align lived experiences with industry expectation.

    Masterclasses from industry partners will look into creating content with AI tools, understanding roles in production and how to try and fail with workshops from the Failsafe collective.

     Guide Timeframe: Wed 12 – Fri 28 Nov  2025

     

    Chapter 2 – Craft x Education   

    The Creative Computing Institute is the delivery partner for this strand and will deliver workshops that provide content creation and creative computing learning.  

     This section will include how-to technical insights on making content with support of AI tools. This will include learning how to code, craft digital experiences and explore machine intelligence.  

     Participants will have choice to refine portfolios and or build a web platform, practice digital skills to mock employer briefs.  

    Guide Timeframe: Mon 1 - Wed 17 Dec  2025

    Chapter 3 – Industry 

    The final chapter will collaborate with a core group of employer partners around providing practical work experiences that provide opportunities for learners to apply what they’ve learnt in the first two chapters. This is about having the chance to show up and have a go and a range of junior roles including:

    • Running assistant roles to learn about product assistant opportunities 
    • Creative assistant roles to learn about brand campaign and UX insights  
    • Freelance opportunities including videography 

    Timeframe: Mon 12 Jan – Fri 27 Feb  2025

  • Who is it for? 

    The course is funded by LIFT, the amazing employment and skills initiative that supports residents from Camden, Islington and Hackney. This is the target group and more specifically we are interested in those who are aged 18-35 years old, those who are interested in the exploring the creative sector or those looking for career shifts. Our cohorts are mixed-ages and abilities – those who might be college or university leavers to those who have had some experience of the sector and in need of more support.

    The programme is looking to support greater inclusion and therefore will prioritise applications from people with the following backgrounds – those from low-income families, women and non-binary genders, disabled people, from global majority ethnic backgrounds.

    As part of our expression of interest will ask after whether you have grown up in Camden, Islington and Hackney and whether you have gone to secondary school in these boroughs. We ask this as we are particularly interested in providing opportunities for local residents.

How to apply

Please complete this expression of interest, which asks you to respond to why you are interested in the course and what you hope to gain as a participant. The EOI form provides some FAQ clues on what we are looking for please read these as a guide.

We will provide two information sessions on:

  • Tuesday 23 September, 4pm (sign up)
  • Thursday 2 October, 10am (sign up)

Deadline is Friday 10 October 2025, and we aim to hold an in person assessment day on Tuesday 21 October 2025 (timing TBC).