The Creative Services Support Group (CSSG) is a registered charity, based in New Delhi, India, established to aid underprivileged young adults through skills training and mentorship within the creative sectors.
Contents
History
CSSG was founded in 2011 by Anand Kapoor. Under his guidance, CSSG believes that creativity leads to change and is looking to the creative sectors - such as Food, Literature, Art, Design, Architecture, Fashion, Music, Dance, Theatre, Film, Broadcast, Advertising, Technology and Policy - as an essential channel for influencing positive changes in societies and communities.
CSSG picks up where many charities leave off: in those difficult transition years between childhood and adulthood. Working with marginalized youths from several partner organisations, CSSG provides guidance to newfound adults who aren’t on traditional career paths, through mentorship, advice, and creative career opportunities. The charity’s focus lies on matching disadvantaged youths with high quality jobs that are intrinsically interesting. To do so, CSSG works with a youth to learn their interests, train them in the relevant skills, pair them with a likeminded mentor and provide them with a career opportunity.
Why the creative sectors?
To work within the creative sectors had several reasons. Firstly, creativity has been proven to be a source of growth - growing at an impressive 14% annually between 2002 and 2008, all while its employees enjoyed greater job security and earnings. Richard Florida, an American urban-studies theorist, adds that “Not only do creative workers earn much more, on average, than the large number of people who do low-end service work or rote manufacturing; they also get to do more enjoyable work and they contribute more by adding creative value.”
Secondly, according to a 2010 UN report argues that, especially in developing countries, the creative economy fundamentally adds to growth and prosperity: “Adequately nurtured, creativity fuels culture, infuses a human-centered development and constitutes the key ingredient for job creation, innovation and trade while contributing to social inclusion, cultural diversity and environmental sustainability.”
Lastly, employment in the creative sectors typically requires less financial investment in formal academia. Training is done on the job whilst simultaneously making an instant contribution to employers, making the creative sectors more accessible for the underprivileged.
Anand Kapoor argues that in India the creative sectors are still negatively attributed and are not seen as a first choice of employment, but the mindset is slowly changing."Through our school visits, for instance, we attempt to give kids from both extremes, a window into what it might be to lead a chef's life. Young people of all ages are thinking differently and it makes sense to allow them the possibility of turning their dreams into realities in the long run," he says.
CSSG's Approach
CSSG works with children who are considered as too old for many non-profits but too young to have settled into a career. These young men and women come from a diverse array of backgrounds, but they are all at least eighteen and looking for a chance to apply their talents. Many of the youth come from several feeder charities that CSSG has partnered with over the years.
Once a youth joins CSSG, they get provided with intensive training in the career path of interest through workshops and interactive sessions led by industry experts from around the world. During this training process, the youth is paired with a mentor who will provide guidance throughout the training and job placement process. Once the training is complete, the charity works to find a job placement in the creative sectors.
CSSG strives to be fundamentally different from the variety of Indian charities focused on vocational training. Although there are a variety of vocational prep organisations, both for-profit and non-profit, these organisations tend to prepare people for careers as hairdressers, machinists or to perpetuate India’s rich cultural heritage through training in traditional handicrafts or performance arts. Whilst these organisations specialise in preparing youth to master a narrow skill set, CSSG seeks to go beyond this, trying to explain not just the technical knowledge but instil a creative ability to rethink, reinvent, and reimagine.
Charity Dinners
CSSG uses high profile events for fundraising, as it believes that it is more beneficial to provide people with a one-off experience in exchange for their donations and support rather than just asking people for money. In an article of the Financial Express, Kapoor, founder of CSSG, states that “charity doesn’t need to be miserable […] if there is a celebratory cheer, giving becomes a joyful act and something that is transferred to the eventual recipients.”
During the past three years, CSSG had the opportunity to get the support of various Michelin chefs to set up charity events - offering their service for free - and thereby helping us to raise funds for the charity. Its 2013 Charity Dinners, hosted in the Leela Palace in New Delhi and the Four Seasons in Mumbai was focused around Food and Art and brought “to India famous chefs [such as] Frances Atkins of The Yorke Arms, Patley Bridge, North Yorkshire (Michelin starred); Mark Best, Marque, Sydney (Hatted); Alyn Williams, Alyn Williams at The Westbury, London (Michelin starred); Laurie Gear, The Artichoke, Amersham, Buckinghamshire (Michelin starred – upcoming Chef) and others.”
CSSG has regularly hosted and curated such events in order to spread awareness and raise money to help underprivileged young adults.