£5m scheme to increase young people’s access to performing arts

Arts organisations and schools across England will be brought together through a new £5m scheme aimed at increasing young people’s access to the performing arts, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has announced.

The investment will fund five Youth Performance Partnerships, which will focus on teaching performance skills on- and off-stage, including dance, drama, art, lighting, sound. Primary and secondary schools will also be linked up with playwrights to give pupils the opportunity to perform new works by up and coming writers.

It is hoped that the partnerships, which are to be delivered by Arts Council England, will reach 10,000 young people over three academic years.

A DCMS spokesperson said that partnerships would be selected for the North, the Midlands, South East, South West and London. DCMS added that the chosen areas would be places “where not enough young people have the chance to take part in performance”.

Speaking about the new award, an Arts Council England spokesperson said: “The Youth Performance Partnerships will provide a brilliant opportunity for children from areas lacking opportunities to get involved in the arts to immerse themselves in the world of performance – giving them a creative outlet, developing skills on and off stage, and boosting their confidence.  

“All children deserve to receive the benefits of a creative cultural education, and this programme is a fantastic step towards achieving that aim.”

Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, welcomed the initiative as “good news”. But she said the additional funds “do not mitigate the damage of the Government’s continued support for the English Baccalaurate (EBacc)”.

“The EBacc is narrowing access to the performing arts subjects, such as drama, dance and music, in schools,” she continued.

“Although an extra £5m for creativity is always welcomed, a cost-free solution would be to drop the EBacc as a headline accountability measure for secondary schools.”

Recent AP research found the EBacc is not only causing a continued collapse of arts in schools, but also reinforcing a gender gap in the take up of arts subjects. Since 2013/14, the gap between the boys and girls taking up music has widened by nine percentage points.