Podcasts, resources, blogs, toolkits and reports to explore after the Engage Conference to spark conversation and ideas around the theme of children and young people’s cultural entitlement.
You can also browse the #UnlockingCulture2019 hashtag on Twitter to view updates from both days of the conference.
2019
It’s not about the future, it’s about now: Engage Conference 2019
GEM Trustee Sarah Cowie summary of Engage Conference 2019
Unlocking Culture — an entitlement for children and young people
Blog post by Ellen Orange for Voice, a magazine and platform for young creatives covering arts, culture, politics and technology
A guide to Curriculum for Wales 2022
This guidance contains information on the structure and components of Curriculum for Wales 2022, the approach to progression, and how the curriculum must be inclusive for all learners.
No access, no public funding?
Five years after first highlighting discriminatory attitudes in ArtsProfessional, the Government’s Disability Champion for Arts and Culture Andrew Miller reflects on progress towards inclusion.
Disability can no longer exist at the bottom of the list of arts’ priorities
Government disability champion for the arts and culture Andrew Miller speaks of his experiences as a disabled person struggling to get work in the sector and says it’s time to welcome disabled artists, employees and audiences
Podcast: Thrive – Young Lives
Young people aged 15–18 from Gravesend in Kent talk to their peers both locally and across the UK about what it’s like to be a young person in 2019.
Listen to the podcast below or click here to be taken to the anchor.fm website
Arts Backpack: A Feasibility Study
Action for Children’s Arts, Jan 2019
This study was commissioned by Action for Children’s Arts (ACA) to explore the feasibility of a pilot project for an Arts BackPack for primary-aged children living in the UK.
Download Arts BackPack: A Feasibility Study (pdf)
Cultural Peeps Podcast Series
This Podcast by Conference Contributor Iain Wheeldon series is part of an ongoing project which explores different Career Pathways across the Museum, Gallery, Heritage and wider Cultural Sectors.
Durham Commission on Creativity and Education
The Durham Commission is a joint research collaboration between Durham University and Arts Council England, convened to look at the role creativity and creative thinking should play in the education of young people.
On page 40 you’ll find information on City of Dreams, the ten-year programme aiming to give every child and young person in Newcastle and Gateshead access to arts and culture and the inspiration for the Engage Conference 2019.
See the ACE website for further information and to download the report
Podcast: Is art education in crisis?
The Art Newspaper talks to the artist Bob and Roberta Smith about their campaign for art’s place at the centre of the curriculum, look at the National Art and Design Saturday Club initiative offering a free Saturday learning programme and talk to two professors at Goldsmiths College about the pressures and realities of art schools today. In the US, they talk to the co-author of a study on the benefits of art education in schools.
Evaluation of the Creative Learning Through the Arts Programme Report 3: Interim Evaluation Report
Wavehill, for the Welsh Government, April 2019
This report focusses on assessing progress made to date and beginning to explore the evidence of emerging outcomes from the Evaluation of the Creative Learning through the Arts programme.
Culture and Connection: How can Children and Young People shape their Creative Future?
National Youth Arts Advisory Group, 2019
The Culture and Connection report by Creative Scotland and Young Scot examines how young people across Scotland can shape their creative future. The report is based on findings from the National Youth Arts Advisory Group which first met in June 2017, and a national survey of young people, conducted by Young Scot, which saw 617 young people take part.
The report made a series of recommendations, in three areas, including community participation, recognition and pathways for growth
Download the Culture and Connection report (pdf)
What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural Learning Alliance blog post, 2019
For the first time, the new Ofsted framework requires schools to develop their pupils’ cultural capital. In this 2019 blog post, the Cultural Learning Alliance provide a quick summary of some of the history, academic thinking and definitions of this key term.
Primary Colours: The decline of arts education in primary schools and how it can be reversed
This 2019 Fabian Society report Primary Colours reveals that two thirds (68%) of primary school teachers in England say there is less arts education now than in 2010, and half (49%) say the quality of what there is has got worse.
The Social and Cultural Value of Participatory Arts for Young People
Culture Bridge North East blog post by Florrie Darling, a PhD researcher from the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, April 2019
The Cultural Learning Evidence Champions Handbook
This handbook is a guide to getting to grips with what the RSA call the ‘evidence agenda’ in arts and cultural learning. Published in 2019.
Shaping the Next Ten Years: Draft Strategy for Consultation
In December 2019 Arts Council England plan to publish our next 10-year strategy. The strategy, which will shape how we deliver our development, advocacy and investment approach for the next decade, will come into effect in April 2020.
An Unequal Playing Field: Extra-curricular Activities, Soft Skills and Social Mobility
Social Mobility Commission, July 2019
This report highlights disparities in children’s participation rates across a wide range of extra-curricular activities depending on their social background.
Ethnic diversity makes Britain’s culture great. It would be a disaster if we lost it
Akram Khan, The Guardian, 2019
Figures show nearly 40% of our top cultural figures come from migrant or minority ethnic backgrounds — but barriers still exist
We must tackle disability prejudice if all young people are to enjoy the arts
Nicky Goulder, Co-founder and CEO of Create, The Guardian, 2019
Bringing disabled and non-disabled children together in a welcoming venue can make the richness of the arts accessible to all
Changing Lives: the social impact of participation in culture and sport
House of Commons, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, 2019
The DCMS Committee’s report Changing Lives: the social impact of participation in culture and sport finds that opportunities to reap major benefits in criminal justice, education and health are being missed by the failure of Government to recognise and harness social impact.
Download the full report (pdf)
2018
Beacon Films
Young People’s Cultural Journeys
Arts Connect, June 2018
A report of research findings compiled by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, the largest cultural strategy agency in the UK, and one of the UK’s most creative, participatory arts organisations, We Are Frilly. The data was gathered across 11 wards of the West Midlands through creative peer-led qualitative research with 207 young people and a demographically representative survey of 1607 young people.
Download the Young People’s Cultural Journeys June 2018 report (pdf)
Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries
Arts Emergency, Create London and Universities of Sheffield and Edinburgh, 2018
Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries is the first sociological study on social mobility in the cultural industries, and was released by Create London and Arts Emergency on April 16, 2018.
Quality Principles Toolkit: Resources to develop the quality of children and young people’s arts and cultural experiences
Culture Bridge North East, 2018
Resources to develop the quality of children and young people’s arts and cultural experiences, including tools to review, develop, plan and evaluate your work.
Time to Listen… to what young people and teachers say about the power and importance of arts and cultural education
University of Nottingham, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Tate, 2018
This comprehensive research study examines the benefits of arts and cultural education. Funded by Arts Council England, and conducted in secondary and special schools in England, the TALE (Tracking Arts Learning and Engagement) study analysed 6,000 responses from young people aged 14–18, tracking students and 63 teachers over three years to examine the benefits of arts and cultural education
Download the Time to Listen research report (pdf)
Arts in Schools: A Bacc for the Future, Cultural Learning Alliance and WHAT NEXT? Toolkit
Bacc for the Future, Cultural Learning Alliance, WHAT NEXT?, 2018
Published in partnership between Bacc for the Future, CLA and What Next? Arts in Schools is a useful toolkit for arts activists and teachers to refer to and use when advocating and championing arts education. The pack includes vital information and advice to help make the case to keep arts in schools, including how to write letters to local MPs and Councillors, the National Schools Commissioner and members of the Education Select Committee.
2017
Arts Council England Cultural Education Data Portal
The portal brings together and provides easy access to data on children and young people at a local authority, regional and national level. Last updated Last updated October 2017.
Click here to access the portal
Imagine Nation: The Case for Cultural Learning
Cultural Learning Alliance, 2017
ImagineNation: the value of Cultural Learning includes key statistics, facts, quotes and evidence, presenting a comprehensive and compelling case for the value of cultural learning within and beyond our education system.
Download the Imagine Nation: The Case for Cultural Learning report (pdf)
Key Research Findings: The Case for Cultural Learning
Cultural Learning Alliance, 2017
The Key Research Findings were funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and build on the work of the DCMS CASE review. Using only evidence from cohort studies with large sample sizes (typically 12,000) and research with control groups, the finding demonstrates that there are instrumental outcomes which cultural learning delivers.
Download Key Research Findings: The Case for Cultural Learning (pdf)
Test, Risk, Change
Tate and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2017
Learning and research findings from ‘Circuit’, a programme that examined how galleries can support positive change for young people.
Future Views Toolkit
Flow Associates
A toolkit created by Flow Associates in partnership with Artswork, Royal Opera House Bridge and Festival Bridge and Local Cultural Education Partnerships in the South East of England to support exploration of big questions about making and consuming culture, learning, and working in the future.
View the Future Views toolkit online
Reviewing the Rural and Coastal Cultural Education Landscape: Turning Policy into Practice
Festival Bridge, 2017
A report of Cambridgeshire ACRE research findings looking at how Festival Bridge can support delivery of the Cultural Education Challenge in rural and coastal communities in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Peterborough.
Sir Ken Robinson at the Artswork Conference
2016
Advocacy to Parents and Carers for the Value of Arts & Culture
Royal Opera House Bridge Research Digest, 2016
Summary and recommendations from research into whether schools are finding it harder to advocate for the arts and culture in schools to parents and carers, and whether parental support for the arts and culture is declining.
Working with Young Cultural Leaders
Royal Opera House Bridge, 2016
This booklet is for people, schools and organizations who want to create opportunities for children and young people to become Young Cultural Leaders.
The Culture White Paper
Department for Culture Media & Sport, March 2016
The Culture White Paper sets out the government’s ambition and strategy for the cultural sectors.
View all documents from the policy paper
2015
Step by step: arts policy and young people 1944–2014
James Doeser, Research Associate for Culture at King’s, 2015
Step by step: arts policy and young people takes a historical stance on the development of government policy designed to increase arts engagement by children and young people and provides key recommendations to ensure that the lessons of the past are taken into account by policy makers in the future.
The Cultural Rucksack: A National Programme for Arts and Culture in Norwegian Schools
The Uni Rokkan Centre for Social Studies and Bergen University College, 2015
The Cultural Rucksack was a national programme for arts and culture for all students in Norwegian primary and secondary schools (6–19 years old). This report is a brief English-language version of the book Den kulturelle skolesekken [The Cultural Rucksack] (Breivik & Christophersen, 2013), which describes the three-year research project on the Cultural Rucksack and its findings.
Cultural Education in England: An independent review by Darren Henley for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education
Darren Henley, 2015
An independent review of cultural education in England, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education and the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in 2015. Darren Henley, then Managing Director of Global Radio’s national classical music station, Classic FM, was asked to consider how the government can ensure the ambition that every child should experience a wide variety of high-quality cultural experiences, ensuring both quality and best use of public investment
Download the Cultural Education in England report (pdf)
English Cricket Board (EBC) South Asian Heatmap
Although this interactive map was created to map cricket provision and has additional focus on south Asian communities, it is possible to remove the cricket map overlay and filter by deprivation, language, religion, age, and density. The map was created using the 2011 census and 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation across the UK
Learning in Museums and Young People: a NEMO – LEM Working Group Study
The report focuses on museums informal and non-formal learning opportunities for teens (young people or young adults aged 14-25) to highlight benefits and impacts of young people’s cultural engagement in terms of personal well-being, active citizenship, social skills development and employment opportunities.
Using Quality Principles in work for, by, and with Children and Young People
National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) and Shared Intelligence, 2015
This report reviews the testing process and looks at the experiences of organisations who piloted the Arts Council England’s Quality Principles for arts and culture.
2014
Culture and Poverty: Harnessing the power of the arts, culture and heritage to promote social justice in Wales
Baroness Kay Andrews, March 2014
Recommends how cultural organisations can help reduce poverty and promote social justice.
Download the Culture and Poverty report (pdf)
Student Participation in the Cultural Rucksack (Denmark)
Creativity, Culture & Education, Aug 2014
This study explores the views of young people from Norway about their experiences of the activities of Den Kulturelle Skolesekken (‘The Cultural Rucksack’, DKS) and culture in general, to inform future work of DKS. The project was developed by DKS and Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) and involved a small group of 13–18-year-olds.
2013
Evaluation of CCE/NCB arts and Cultural Activities Project with Looked After Children
Office for Public Management, 2013
The Office for Public Management (OPM) were commissioned in October 2011 to conduct an evaluation of the arts and cultural activities project for looked after children (between 7–11 years), managed by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and funded by Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE). The objective of this evaluation is to understand the impact and effectiveness of the various arts and cultural activities for the looked after children that participated.
Time to Shine: Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy for Age 0–25
Creative Scotland, 2013
Time To Shine is Scotland’s arts strategy for young people aged 0–25. Its core purpose is to enrich young people’s lives through arts and creativity. It is a statement of ambition, determination and it is a starting point.
Download the full strategy document
Transforming Futures: Cultural Participation for Children & Young People Experiencing Poverty
National Museum Cardiff, 2013
In October 2013, 34 participants from a wide range of professional backgrounds across the UK attended a research seminar at National Museum Cardiff to explore the theme of cultural participation for children and young people experiencing poverty. This report provides an overview of the issues, talking points and suggestions for future action that emerged during the day.
2012
London Schools Research: Cultural Engagement
National Foundation for Education Research (NFER), 2012
This report presents the findings of a research study focusing on cultural engagement in London schools. The study provides a challenge to those with an interest in enhancing schools’ cultural engagement to diversify their offer and find cost-effective solutions to providing high-quality cultural experiences for children and young people throughout London.
Participation in the Arts
Inquiry by the National Assembly for Wales Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee: Participation in the Arts , 2012
Written submission from the Arts Council of Wales
Download the full consultation response
2008
Learning Outside the Classroom: How far should you go?
Ofsted, 2008
This report evaluates the importance of learning outside the classroom in primary and secondary schools and colleges. It identifies strengths and weaknesses in practice and shows how schools and colleges overcome common barriers that can limit successful learning outside the classroom.
2006
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Ken Robinson, Ted Talk, Feb 2006
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence
2005
Taking Part Survey
The Taking Part survey is a continuous face to face household survey of adults aged 16 and over and children aged 5 to 15 years old in England. It has run since 2005 and is the main evidence source for DCMS and its sectors.
1999
All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture & Education
Ken Robinson and the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, May 1999
A report to the Secretary of State for Education & Employment and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.