More and more young people aspire to work in creative fields. Policy makers and educators encourage them to take courses related to their youthful (sub) cultural enthusiasms: film, media, graphic design, music production. Young aspirants hear of the economic importance of art and culture, yet most who graduate in creative courses will not make a living in these areas. Particularly disadvantaged are those from minority and working class backgrounds who lack the resources - social, cultural and economic - to withstand the precarious conditions of the creative career. 'The Creativity Hoax' is based on life history interviews with creative trainees and aspirants, who wrestle with the prospect and reality of poverty and unfulfilled ambition. This book presents a sobering and salutary account of the perils of creative aspirations and demonstrates how, under commercial pressures, the meaning of creativity has become synonymous with flexibility and entrepreneurial individualism. Creative workers are expected to be labile, agile and mobile: excited by serendipitous opportunity, ready to reinvent themselves and barter their creative skills in the market place - freed from the ballast of family/community ties and fixed ambitions.