Bridging the gap

One of the best things for me about working in the arts is the belief that you are contributing to something that will genuinely improve and transform young people’s lives and the world they live in. At A New Direction, for a number of years we have been working closely and collaboratively with schools and teachers in London, as part of the Creative Partnerships initiative and it’s quite obvious that the same kind of ethos pervades their world too. This was evident in the very positive response at our conference last week of over 100 London teachers to Sir Ken Robinson’s passionate plea that those in education continue to see the value of creativity, not as “something fun to do on a Friday afternoon”, but instead as something that is central to learning, across the curriculum.
 

His argument – and it is one in a time of substantial reform and changes across the education system needs to be really explored and understood – is that cultural and creative education can help us meet economic need by encouraging young people to be adaptable and innovative; has a cultural purpose by helping young people understand the world and the values they live by; and has a personal value by engaging and stimulating young people.

Within this context, one of Sir Ken’s specific concerns was the absence of arts or creativity from the new English Baccalaureate which, he said, “threatens to greatly minimise the role of art in education and will stifle creativity across the curriculum to the detriment of an entire generation of young people.”

The supportive reaction from teachers to these sentiments indicates that we have a genuine opportunity to build stronger partnerships between arts and education. The much anticipated Henley Review of Cultural Education will soon report and, hopefully, will add to this sense of opportunity. And with the National Curriculum Review still in progress, it is to be hoped we begin to see the emergence of a supportive policy environment.

The question for us in the arts sector is going to be how we best respond to and engage with these opportunities. We have a great story to tell as far as our work with young people is concerned. Around three quarters of all the Arts Council funded National Portfolio Organisations in London articulated as part of this year’s application process that they work with young people. Beyond this, thousands of community and specialist arts organisations work every day inside and outside the school curriculum to help young people in their learning and development. So as a sector it is vital that we capture this experience, build on it and articulate clearly the value of what we do.

This is the key reason that Arts Council England has established ten ‘Bridge’ Organisations – to inspire, support, strengthen but also aggregate partnerships so that the arts, culture and creativity are seen as central to education in its broadest sense. In April 2012, A New Direction will become the London Bridge Organisation, and will aim to use the legacy and learning of the Creative Partnerships programme, as well as set out a new agenda for arts in education in the capital.

We are currently engaged in a series of consultations with arts organisations to help us establish where we can have the most impact and what our priorities should be. The response of teachers to Ken Robinson’s speech was that if the arts are to be taken seriously in education, then working with Ofsted is vital, as is providing guidance on how culture and creativity can support ‘core’ subjects such as English, Maths and the sciences. Arts organisations are telling us similar things – and are anxious to bring what they offer into schools and youth services so that we can use our talents to make a difference.

We see the Bridge as an opportunity to begin new dialogue across education and the arts, and of course, we absolutely recognise that art and creativity are not simply about ‘outputs’. But this makes it even more important that we build our partnership with those in education. If we want children to have the opportunity not only to learn, but also to be exposed to the excellence, beauty and creativity that the arts offer, then we need to create and sustain this shared agenda.