Inside Holiday Club: the summer school helping NEET young people start creative careers

Bisoye Babalola, founder and managing director of Holiday Club Studios, is something of an enigma. Her work across creative hiring and the talent development of young people, and the sheer scale of its impact, is evident across London’s creative scene. Holiday Club Studios’ celebrated Summer School is backed by powerful figures and organisations in contemporary culture including Karla Otto, IB Kamara, Samuel Ross and guest editor Amelia Dimoldenberg’s creative studio Dimz Inc.  

Holiday Club Summer School is a free, three-week intensive programme for young creative talent aged 18 to 25. Attendees choose a pathway from journalism, set design, photography or fashion styling and spend the duration working within that discipline to produce Holiday Club’s annual zine.

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So what motivates Babalola? And what can she reveal about her exciting plans to develop Holiday Club’s non-profit into a commercial business that can support her ambitions for talent development for young people?  

Firstly, Holiday Club’s mission to develop early-stage talent wouldn’t have existed if Babalola had been offered her dream role.

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans,” she says.

Before founding the Summer School in 2018, she had mapped out an entirely different future. 

Her plan was simple: spend a couple of years working at a record label as a publicist then launch her own public relations agency. 

“That did not go to plan at all,” says Babalola. “I was applying for so many roles but it just wasn’t working for me” 

“I was working retail at the time and I was getting so depressed. 

“So I reframed my mind and restarted from a place of: ‘I need to express gratitude for what I have. I don’t have the job I want, but I’m still able to do things. So let me express gratitude, as opposed to following that negative feeling.’ 

“I started the first iteration of Holiday Club in 2018 by volunteering in schools.”

The Summer School idea grew from a simple realisation. If breaking into the creative industries felt this difficult for her, then countless young people would be facing the same barriers. 

“If I’m struggling then there’s people younger than me who are trying to figure it out and don’t know any of the steps,” Babalola continues.

“Eight years later, Holiday Club and the Summer School has grown. It’s all a process.”

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As the organisation evolves, so too does Babalola’s vision for it. She is increasingly weaving her own interests and creative fascinations into the projects it produces.  

This year’s Summer School’s theme is ‘objects’, inspired by her interests and obsessions. “I like to collect stuff,” she explains. “My interest in ceramics and that world has recently started to grow. I’ve started collecting a lot of Wedgwood plates recently. 

“I’ve been researching a lot about how we can show images from the magazine in a way that hasn’t been shown so far.”

For many young creatives, networking has become essential to break into the industry. 

LinkedIn posts, panel discussions and networking events are often presented as the key to unlocking opportunities, the golden ticket. But Babalola sees it differently. 

“Networking is good,” she says, “but I prioritise doing the work.”

Rather than chasing contacts and coffee chats, she believes meaningful relationships are built through shared experiences and a genuine commitment to your craft. 

“The more you work, the more people you’ll naturally meet and the more connections you’ll make,” she says. 

“As opposed to formalised networking, I would look at relationships.”

It is a philosophy that is reflected throughout Holiday Club. Rather than creating a space solely for introductions, the Summer School is an opportunity for young creatives to collaborate, experiment and make portfolio-worthy
work together. 

The connections come naturally, the work speaks for itself. Babalola’s advice for those intimidated by the idea of networking is simple and refreshing: 

“Do your work, continue to pour into things you really enjoy and you’ll build genuine relationships that lead to other things. Go to events. If you love painting, go to painting events.  

“That’s how you build your network. People need to see that you are doing something, it’s the idea that everyone gets on a moving train.” 

Her presence at fashion weeks around the world and other major cultural events follows the same principle. 

These are not simply spaces to be seen but opportunities to learn and connect to ideas and people shaping the contemporary culture. 

“I’m curious and I like to stay abreast of culture and trends,” explains Babalola, who attends fashion shows where she already has a relationship with the designer, mentioning Samuel Ross, who invited her to her first Paris Fashion Week, as well as IB Kamara, who invited her to New York.

Beyond fashion, Babalola finds inspiration in exhibitions, current affairs and everyday experiences. Milan Design Week may remain her favourite event, but “there’s ideas and inspiration everywhere”.

Babalola advises us that culture is not something to watch from a distance. It is something to engage with, study and ultimately feed back into your work. She does this with Holiday Club.

While the annual Summer School remains the heart of the work, Holiday Club has grown into something bigger. Alongside the Summer School and editorial lives the creative hiring studio. The studio works with companies across the creative landscape to hire creative talent at all senior levels. “We’re in our first six months, but I’m excited about the ecosystem we’re building. We’ve had tremendous growth across social media also,” she says,
citing successes on Instagram and Substack and a plan to move onto YouTube.

The long-term ambition is to create a sustainable ecosystem where client work secured through the hiring studio helps fund initiatives like the annual Summer School.

“The more companies understand and buy into our mission, the more opportunity it creates to nurture and support early stage talent.”

What started as a response to the barriers Babalola experienced entering the creative industries continues to grow and evolve.

Holiday Club Studios reflects its creator – and judging by their success so far, the future is bright for both of them.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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