Arts and Culture helpful links
Quick links
- Relevant national policies and strategies
- National organisations
- National initiatives
- Evidence of the value of culture and cultural learning
- Tools and guidance
- Further thinking
Relevant national policies and strategies
21st Century Schools, Learning Environments of the Future
The study seeks to look beyond current innovative
practice and to explore the physical learning environments
20 years in the future - to evaluate the implications for
schools currently being commissioned, existing schools and
the wider community.
The Children's Plan
The Government wants to make this country the best place in
the world for children and young people to grow up. The
Children's Plan sets out how the Department for Education is
going to achieve that - by putting the needs of families,
children and young people at the centre of everything they
do.
The Children's Plan sets out the idea of a five hour a week universal offering of high-quality cultural activity for all children and young people.
Creative Britain
Led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS), in partnership with the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (DBIS) and the Department for
Innovations, Universities and Skills (DIUS), Creative
Britain documents 26 commitments, which outline how the
Government will take action to support the creative
industries.These include the Find Your Talent programme,
which is currently testing the five hour a week cultural
offer set out in the Children's Plan
Get It: The Power of Cultural Learning
A new report published online by the Culture and Learning
Consortium in December 2008. The report is based on the
findings of an extensive public consultation among
practitioners working across the cultural and learning
sectors and sets out the groundwork for a new approach to
culture and learning in England.
Learning Futures
The Learning Futures: Next Practice in Learning and Teaching
booklet sets out the reasons why innovation in pedagogy is
needed in order to inspire young people, and enable all of
them to confidently meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
It argues that some key emergent (and some well-known)
practices, taken together, might transform learners' (and
teachers') experience of schooling. Learning Futures
proposes a way of thinking about these approaches. It is
offered both as a contribution to the increasingly urgent
debate and it also issues an invitation to secondary schools
wishing to develop and extend their work in this direction
more profoundly, to engage with the Learning Futures
project, commencing in 2008.
Musical Futures
Musical Futures is a new way of thinking about music making
in schools. It brings non-formal teaching and informal
learning approaches into the more formal context of school.
Music learning works best when young people are making
music, and when their existing passion for music is
reflected and built-upon in the classroom.
Nurturing Creativity
Commissioned in 2006, This report offers a clear framework
for the further development of creativity for children and
young people - a progression within this framework that
starts with the Early Years is embedded in (but goes beyond)
mainstream education, develops a personalised approach,
seeks to be inclusive of and responsive to the voice of
children and young people and leads to pathways into
Creative Industries.
Promoting Creativity in Education
Overview of Key National Policy Developments
Across the UK (Information paper by SEED, 2006)
White Paper: Your child, your schools, our future: building
a 21st century schools system
This paper launches the idea of a pupil guarantee.
Through the Pupil Guarantee every school should ensure:
'that through partnerships between schools and other
external providers (such as libraries, museums, and
performing arts organisations), every pupil should have
access to high-quality cultural activities in and
out-of-school, with an aspiration that, over time, this will
reach five hours a week for all'
National organisations
Architecture Centre Network
Architecture Centre Network is the development and advocacy
organisation for the 22 Architecture Centres in the United
Kingdom.
ACN:
- nurtures innovation and good practice by facilitating knowledge sharing;
- brokers, develops and delivers projects and consultancy with a wide range of stakeholders including government;
- advocates for the unique role that Architecture and Built Environment Centre can play in improving public engagement with, and the quality of, Architecture and the Public Realm; and
- creates resources and events to enable Architecture Centres, and Architecture Centre Network, to promote and maintain excellence.
Many regional Architecture Centres offer specialised support for BSF:
Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for
the arts in England, distributing public money from
Government and the National Lottery.
Arts Council regional offices will hold information about regional and national policies, partners and evidence of engagement and gaps in provision. They also have an excellent publications database.
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
CABE is the government's adviser on urban
design, architecture and public spaces. CABE Education can
advise on how architects can be involved in the curriculum,
while the CABE review panels will ensure that the designs of
BSF schools are appropriate.
The Crafts Council
The national agency for the development of crafts in the UK.
Creative Arts Partnership in Education - CAPE UK
Specialises in creativity through research based project
work, consultancy and professional development.
Culture and Creativity in Education
Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) is the new national
organisation created to generate transformational cultural
and creative programmes for children and young people across
England to enhance their aspirations, achievements, skills
and life chances.
Engage
Engage promotes access to, enjoyment and understanding of
the visual arts through gallery education.
The Federation of Music Services
The FMS was established in 1996 and has a membership of 158
music services. They work closely with the DfE, OFSTED and
the QCA as well as fellow music organisations such as the
MEC and NAME. The FMS are the national voice of music,
representing the interests of 0.5 million music students and
10,000 music teachers in England, Wales, Northern Ireland,
Isle of Man and the Channel Isles.
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Leading strategically, the MLA promotes best practice in
museums, libraries and archives, to inspire innovative,
integrated and sustainable services for all.
MLA is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), sponsored
by the DCMS. Launched in April 2000 as the strategic body
working with and for the museums, archives and libraries
sector, tapping into the potential for collaboration between
them, MLA replaced the Museums and Galleries Commission
(MGC) and the Library and Information Commission (LIC).
MLA has an excellent research and case study database, which
holds a great deal of evidence on the value of cultural
learning.
National Association of Music Educators (NAME)
NAME is the professional association which
represents all those involved in music education: advisers,
inspectors, consultants, teachers in schools, instrumental
teachers, heads of instrumental services, lecturers working
in teacher education and in conservatoires, community
musicians, publishers and other retailers.
The Sorrell Foundation
The Sorrell Foundation was set up in 1999 with the aims
of inspiring creativity in young people and improving the
quality of life through good design. The Foundation creates
and prototypes new ideas and develops models that can be
widely used.
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
SSAT is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with
more than 400 staff throughout the country. It is a
membership organisation with over 5000 affiliates
world-wide, including the vast majority of secondary
schools, including all academies, in England.
SSAT aims to give practical support to the transformation of secondary education by building an active world-class network of schools, in partnership with the wider community, including business. SSAT has the remit to support the specialist schools and academies programmes, including over 500 specialist arts colleges throughout the country.
Youth Dance England
Youth Dance England (YDE) is the national organisation that
champions dance for children and young people. YDE works to
ensure that dance is available to all, both in and outside
of school. Through a shared vision with the national youth
dance network and other partners, YDE aims to increase
access, raise standards and improve progession routes.
Youth Music
Youth Music (YM) works alongside the formal and
community-based sectors to support music-making and
training.
YM funding complements music in the national curriculum by
supporting activities held mainly outside of school hours
and delivered by non-profit making organisations.
YM also aims to support wider aspects of music-making
through funding training for music leaders, as well as
working strategically to bring together partnership
organisations from across the music, education and social
sectors.
In its advocacy role, YM encourages debate about music
education and the provision of music-making activities for
young people.
National Initiatives
Arts Award
Arts Award is a national qualification which supports young
people to develop as artists and arts leaders. Young people
aged 11-25 can achieve Arts Awards at levels 1, 2 and 3 on
the national qualifications framework.
Artsmark
Artsmark is a national award scheme managed by Arts
Council England that recognises schools with a high level of
provision in the arts. The award scheme is open to all
schools in England - primary, secondary, special schools and
pupil referral units, both maintained and independent.
By gaining an Artsmark, a school shows its commitment to the
wider development of young people and teachers and to
raising the profile of the arts in the school and local
community.
Creative Partnerships
Creative Partnerships is the Government's flagship creative
learning programme, designed to develop the skills of young
people across England, raising their aspirations and
equipping them for their futures.
The Creative Partnerships brochure also has some excellent evidence as to the value of creativity in achieving learning and social outcomes.
Engaging Places
Engaging places is a resource to support teaching
and learning through buildings and places. It is supported
by CABE and English Heritage.
Film: 21st Century Literacy
A national strategy for film education in the UK, developed
by a number of partners under the auspices of the UK Film
Council and consisting of representatives from the BFI, Film
Education, Film Club, First Light Movies, Skillset and the
national and regional screen agencies.
Find Your Talent
Find Your Talent gives children and young people the chance
to try out different cultural and creative activities. It's
about helping them to discover new things, to express
themselves, to develop a passion and to make the most of
their talent. Whether it is music, art, film, theatre,
dance, digital media, exploring libraries, museums or
heritage, Find Your Talent is for every child and young
person, whatever their age and whatever their ability.
Find Your Talent is being piloted in ten pathfinder areas across England and offers children and young people regular involvement with arts and culture both in and out of school. Find Your Talent is funded by the DCMS, the DfE, ACE and the MLA.
First Light
First Light Movies funds and inspires young people
throughout the UK to make films that reflect the diversity
of their lives.
Learning Outside the Classroom
The Manifesto for Learning Outside the Classroom
partnership has created this resource with the help of many
experts and practitioners in learning outside the classroom.
The resource is designed to help professionals working with
young people aged 0-19 to provide high-quality experiences.
Renaissance in the regions
Renaissance is the MLA's ground-breaking
programme to transform England's regional museums. Central
government funding is enabling regional museums across the
country to raise their standards and deliver real results in
support of education, learning, community development and
economic regeneration. The programme has received £150
million since 2002, helping to make our museums great
centres of life and learning, which people want to visit.
Strategic Commissioning
Strategic Commissioning aims to:
- increase demand from schools for museum and archive education;
- increase supply of museum and archive education activities; and
- widen access for teachers to museum and archive education.
Teaching Music
Teaching Music is an innovative new portal to help
practitioners reflect and improve their knowledge,
understanding and skills in music education. It is allows
users to access information, reflect on practice, connect
with others and share resources.
Teaching Music is available to all those involved in music
education: teachers, community musicians, senior management
and policy makers.
Teaching Music is funded by the TDA and managed by National
Association of Music Educators (NAME) and Music Education
Council (MEC).
Teaching Outside the Classroom
Teaching Outside the Classroom, is a new national
programme which will encourage providers of teacher training
to offer their students placements in a diverse range of
educational settings, including field studies centres,
galleries, museums, sports centres and young offenders
institutions. These placements will complement their
existing teaching practices in schools, developing their
knowledge and skills about how to work with partners to
bring teaching outside the classroom and will complement the
Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto.
Youth Circus
The Youth Circus project aims to link together regional
youth circus programmes and organisations to share practice
and raise the profile of circus.
Evidence of the value of culture and cultural learning
Arts at the heart of myplace
This booklet outlines both the Arts Council and myplace's
role in offering services for young people and features case
studies from particular projects that have shown excellent
commitment to the arts for young people and the community.
Arts engagement among 11-15 year olds
The DCMS publish headline findings every year on young
people's engagement with the arts.
Arts matters
Outlines the positive contribution that the arts can make to
the lives of children and young people and how the arts can
help to achieve outcomes of Every Child Matters and
Youth Matters.
Creating Better Outcomes for Children and Young People by
improving the Commissioning of Cultural Services
Research findings and final report September 2009. This
research looks at the factors needed for effective
commissioning.
The research identifies a number of opportunities where
cultural organisations can make a strong strategic
contribution: communicating children's voices and needs;
priority underlying themes such as raising self-esteem,
aspirations and confidence, enjoying and achieving and
emotional well-being; problem areas where outcomes are not
improving such as teenage pregnancy, NEETs, obesity and
mental health; complex areas of service delivery; locality
and individually commissioned services.
Creative Services - using the arts to improve opportunities
for young Londoners
A range of children's service providers from hospitals to
schools are viewed from a case study perspective, aiming to
highlight some of the models and show the measurable impact
that has been achieved in using the arts and creativity to
meet local authorities priorities for young people.
Culture and Health: Building the Evidence
This publication brings together resources to support an
evidence base and to initiate and improve evaluation and
research into the links between culture and health.
Cultural Hubs baseline report
Based in Durham, Telford and Bournemouth and Poole, Cultural
Hubs is using a unique model where arts organisations,
museums, libraries, archives and schools jointly-plan
activities for, and with, pupils. A baseline study was
carried out in order to measure what Cultural Hubs delivers
over the next three years.
Delivering Local Area Agreements
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/5481.aspx
A digest of research to evidence the contribution of
culture to Local Area Agreements, produced by Cultural
Intelligence Ltd for MLA London and ACE London.
Encourage children today to build audiences for tomorrow
This briefing explores the relationship between childhood
arts experience and arts engagement patterns in adulthood.
The analysis confirms that being encouraged to engage in the
arts when growing up has a significant impact on the chances
of being an active arts consumer as an adult, even when a
range of other socio-economic factors have been taken into
account. We also report on how family background and
personal demographics influence the chances that an
individual was encouraged by their parents to get involved
with the arts.
Knowledge and Inspiration: the Democratic Face of Culture
This report asserts that through their collections and
resources museums, libraries and archives help build our
communities and futures through a wealth of activities.
MLA East of England - Culture and Schools East
Many resources linking OFSTED, Every Child Matters and
Learning Outside the Classroom to Culture.
The impact of Artsmark on schools in England
A research report on the impact of Artsmark on schools
in England and determines how the scheme has raised the
profile of arts education and increased the range of arts
provision in schools applying for an award.
Tools and guidance
Active People Diagnostic
The Active People Diagnostic (APD) has now been relaunched
with the cultural data component.
The Active People Diagnostic is an innovative online
reporting and analysis tool that that enables you to access
the Active People Survey data on participation and
non-participation in culture and sports in Local Authorities
across England.
The APD now includes a new 'Active People Culture' module on
arts engagement, museum & gallery attendance and library use
- National Indicators 9-11. This data can be investigated
using a wide range of demographic characteristics allowing
users to build up a complex picture of participation and
non-participation at several different geographical levels.
To register to use the APD free of charge go to
www.webreport.se/apd/login.aspx. If you are already a
registered user then your password will still be valid.
For more information on the Active People Survey see
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/research/arts-audiences/
You can also access more information on the APD and Active
People Culture at the NI11 Community of Practice,
www.communities.idea.gov.uk/login.do
Arts Alive website - Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
ARTS alive! is the outcome of a QCA curriculum development
project set up to identify ways in which the contribution of
the arts to pupils' education can be maximised. It is
designed for use by headteachers, arts subject leaders,
school governing bodies and practitioners, arts
organisations and supporting businesses.
Audience Insight
This research project and website provides new insight into
how and why different kinds of people engage with the arts
in England today. It can also be used as a source of insight
and ideas for building new audiences for the arts.
The summary report can be downloaded here.
There is also a dedicated website with lots more information
about the segmentation and more detailed data tables:
www.artscouncil.org.uk/audienceinsight/.
Culture for all
Encouraging partnerships to flourish between schools,
extended services and arts and cultural organisations.
A new guide for everyone involved in providing extended and
cultural services for children and young people is published
today. It aims to encourage partnerships to flourish between
schools, extended services and arts and cultural
organisations that will benefit children, young people and
families.
'Culture for All' produced by the Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council (MLA), Arts Council England and the
Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) provides
an overview of how children's services and cultural
organisations such as museums, libraries and archives can
work together as partners and as joint providers.
'From Indifference to Enthusiasm: patterns of arts
attendance in England'
A detailed report looking at the level and nature of
engagement with the arts and how this is affected by
demographic variables such as education and class.
Interactive Tool kits
The Youth Charter Interactive Toolkits provide innovative
joined-up approaches that help deliver 'every child matters'
and 'youth matters' through sport, arts and cultural
activity. The interactive Toolkits are based on tried and
tested social inclusion and regeneration approaches, both in
social policy delivery and actual young people and community
development - locally, nationally and internationally. They
are designed and customised for specific sectors that
already use sport and the arts but wish to maximise existing
resources with tangible social policy outputs and outcomes.
Investing in the Creative Industries
As one of the
Creative Britain commitments, The Work Foundation was
commissioned by DCMS to write a document that would help LAs
to develop their local infrastructure for the creative
industries.
This has now been done and the resulting publication is
called 'Investing in Creative Industries - a guide for local
authorities'. Written in consultation with IDeA and the
Local Government Association the toolkit is designed for
those in economic development, planning and regeneration
teams to prepare a business case around creative industries
investment decisions.
Live Music Forum report
DCMS / Feargal Sharkey's recommendations on rehearsal spaces
and working with Local Authorities in the Live Music Forum
report.
Living Places toolkit
The aim of living places is to ensure that all
communities, particularly those experiencing housing-led
growth and regeneration, can benefit from cultural and
sporting opportunities.
Planning a Music Facility in a myplace centre
Author: Trevor Mason, Youth Music
This guide will help you in planning and designing of your myplace music space. Young people's music-making takes many forms, from rock to samba and hip hop to classical. It may be that you will need more than one space to cater for these different interests. Please also see the related guide to running a music facility in myplace centres.
Good Practice Guide to Planning Music in a myplace Centre (PDF 90kb)
Running a Music Facility in a myplace Centre
Author: Trevor Mason, Youth Music
This guide will help you in running and managing your
myplace music space. Young people's music-making takes many
forms, from rock to samba and hip hop to classical. How you
manage the music space is key to catering for these
different interests and making sure that young people get
the maximum benefits from getting involved in music. This
guide focuses on the activities, training, staffing and
management issues around music. You should read this guide
with the guide to planning and developing music in myplace
centres.
Good Practice Guide to Running a Music Facility in a myplace
Centre (PDF 178kb)
South East Culture Observatory LAA Toolkit
The purpose of this toolkit is to support LSPs to
embed culture and sport within their Local Area Agreement,
and to raise awareness of the important contribution that
culture and sport can bring to community life.
The Inspiring Learning Framework and Generic
Learning Outcomes
Inspiring Learning is a framework designed to improve
the planning and delivery of activities and programmes in
museums, libraries and archives and to measure learning and
wider community impacts through a set of generic learning
and social outcomes.
A Window on Dance
A window on dance maps the dance ecology, economy and
environment in England. It looks at the various market
segments and identifies trends and patterns, challenges and
opportunities for dance.
With the input of over 1,400 dance artists, companies and promoters working in England today, this research is for the field not only about it. It has sought to identify key facts and can now inform future direction and strategy.
Win Win Scenario
Intended for schools, colleges, local authority officers
and a range of extended schools advisors and groups working
on programmes such as Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
to highlight the benefits of community use and gives a
comprehensive guide as to how to provide it successfully.
Youthwise
Youthwise was developed in 1997 in response to the cost of
crime, unemployment, underachievement and anti-social
behaviour amongst youth. Youthwise provides a range of
initiatives and projects which can be used by educational
institutions and organisations to reduce the effects of
anti-social behaviour and resulting exclusion.
Youthwise has been developed from an extensive range of 'real life' case study experiences of social inclusion projects and programmes in some of the most challenging and disaffected neighbourhoods and communities nationally and internationally.
Further thinking
Do Schools kill Creativity?
Speech given by creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson.
Creativity and Culture: Developing education for the 21st
Century
Feature in the New Statesman.
The Element
A book about how every one of us can find our element,
connecting with our true talents and fulfilling our creative
potential.
Oftsed the movie - excellence in arts education
