Arts Council England will shortly publish its 10 year strategy. There will then be a flurry of briefings as they set out their funding and partnership programmes to continue to extend access to the arts. The next few days will therefore be of serious interest to those with a priority concern about children and young people.
Our goal in TMC is to make sure that the social and economic significance of children’s creativity, as explored through programmes like Creative Partnerships and Find Your Talent, is fully understood and valued. This will involve working with our many partners to better understand how the removal of funding from these programmes affects young people in the region and the many adults that inspire them. It will also involve setting out a bold development agenda for the future, based on the broadest possible body of support and mutual ambition. The key challenge will be how we can connect children and young people’s needs and aspirations with the resources that are required to put their ideas into action. I remain confident that this is possible - but it will require hard work and innovative thinking.
Last week, I travelled to Brussels with our team of directors to gain a better understanding of European policy pertaining to young people and culture. The message we have brought back is a simple one: young people’s creativity and capacity for innovation is at the heart of European social and economic recovery. Whether this is articulated through Europe 2020 (the EU’s economic development strategy), the Council of the European Union’s declaration on ‘promoting a creative generation’, or the recently published research report Youth Access to Culture (a cracking good read if you fancy it: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1788_en.htm itself likely to form the basis of a second Council declaration on this important theme.
During our time in Brussels, concern was expressed that the UK - seen as a pre-eminent leader in this field - might slip back due to the spending cuts. Whilst there is a risk, our ambition in TMC is to make sure this is not the case, joining with our partners to ensure we retain a focus on what works (investing in children and young people’s creativity); and how it should work (starting from a perspective of what young people are capable of, not what’s missing; involving young people in the development of policy, the design, delivery and evaluation of new programmes).
Speaking at the recent launch of the Culture Action Europe campaign We are more, President Barosso said: ''in challenging times such as these, creative thinking is more essential than ever. We must provide a flourishing space where culture can unlock creativity in each of us'' http://ec.europa.eu/culture/news/news2995_en.htm We couldn’t agree more.
Welcome to The Mighty Creatives (TMC) blog. A space to share, celebrate and explore.
