Council plans to axe arts programme supporting wellbeing

Plans to cut an arts programme and qualification that supports mental wellbeing have been criticised by a concerned parent.

Brighton and Hove City Council hopes to save £48,000 by scrapping the Arts Award scheme in its 2023/24 budget.

But mother Atlanta Cook has challenged the decision, arguing that the impact of lockdown on teenagers makes the programme more needed than ever.

If the council follows through with the cuts, her own daughter will be directly impacted.

Cook said: “We tried to get my daughter into college but haven’t been able to get her to go in. 

“The creative arts are the number one stream where they would get an education. This is it. There is nothing else.”

Cook added that lockdown had been particularly detrimental for teenagers who “had their 15th and 16th birthdays during this nightmare". 

The Arts Award programme can be studied at home and is accessed through the council's wellbeing services.

“It’s the only thing I’ve found in the last two years of trying to get my daughter into college," said Cook.