Enquiry to investigate arts access for young people

The various ways in which successive governments have tried to provide access to the arts for children and young people is to be the subject of a short Cultural Enquiry by King’s College London (KCL). The Enquiry will assess the impact of policies and plans that have been developed and implemented since 1945, shedding light on successes and failures, and using lessons learned to propose models for the future and evidence-based recommendations for action.

The announcement of the Enquiry coincides with recent speeches by both the Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, challenging the cultural sector to do more to open up access to the arts.

Echoing her comments at the recent Warwick Commission debate on the future for creative talent in the UK, Deborah Bull, Director of Cultural Partnerships at KCL, said: “…we still lack national consensus on the importance of arts and culture in the upbringing of young people. If we’re to genuinely make arts and culture equally accessible to all, we need to learn from the successes and failures of a succession of government policies and set out an approach that transcends party politics and recognizes that a child’s education stretches beyond a single government term.” This will be the second Cultural Enquiry from KCL: the first explored the role that arts and culture play in maximising the value of major sporting and national events.