November 2022
This month we bring you:
- Consultations and research to challenging inequalities and tackle racism
- New evidence about play, lack of student choice and the Labour Party’s plans for education
- Makers’ business needs, supporting sole traders and how clusters and place-making are important to the economy.
Challenging inequalities and tackling racism
Last month we noted the consultation by Freelands Foundation and The Runnymede Trust into race and inclusion in art education. In our evidence we drew attention to findings in Dr Karen Patel’s report Making Changes in Craft about the racism experienced by young people from minority ethnic backgrounds in art and craft HE courses. Those students often find themselves in cohorts that include very few other people of colour, being taught by a staff body that is almost entirely white.
Museums and galleries need to do more to address structural and institutional racism and to diversify the UK curatorial workforce, according to the It's About Handing Over Power report. The study looked at the impact of diversity initiatives from 1998-2021.
Researchers at the University of Manchester are exploring how creativity, culture and heritage can address social inequalities. The research project Organisations of Hope: Building a Creative Consortium for Health Equity in Greater Manchester aims to build a ‘creative health coalition’ across the region.
Play, lack of student choice and the Labour Party’s plans for education
The LEGO® Play Well Study 2022 explored what parents and children think about play. Responses from across 35 countries have generated lots of evidence for creativity and learning through play, including how play feels good, how it breaks the pressure to be a perfectionist and firms up friendships.
Thousands of disadvantaged young people are at risk of having no pathway through sixth form and beyond if plans to scrap BTECs go ahead. Read the #ProtectStudentChoice letter to the Education Secretary, which Crafts Council has signed.
The Observer reports that many state schools are considering withdrawing subjects including art, drama and design & technology due to budget constraints. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has said: “Subjects we have always seen as culturally really important will increasingly become the preserve of private schools because state schools can’t afford to teach them.”
In October the Labour Party published a study to inform a potential Labour government’s education manifesto. The review, chaired by Lord David Blunkett, proposed a review of Ofsted, a reformed “creative” national curriculum and less focus on exams.
The focus on skills includes an enhanced role for further education, reinforcing collaboration and a seamless link with higher education, apprenticeships and progression within work. Education Maintenance Allowance for 16-19 year olds would be reintroduced. It also includes a shakeup of the careers service and the setting up of a National Curriculum Authority to reshape the curriculum and build an interdisciplinary approach across STEM, Digital, Creative and Entrepreneurial, connecting learning to problem-solving.
It says ‘Culture, arts and design subjects have taken a hit in recent years, particularly in secondary schools, but there is a wide body of evidence which suggests that engagement with these creative subjects can build confidence, creativity and self-discipline as well as collaboration and team working.’
Makers’ business needs, supporting sole traders and how clusters and place-making are important to the economy
Crafts Council’s annual survey of maker needs is now open and we’d love to hear from you. Your insight will help inform our offer for makers, designers and artists at all stages of their careers and our advocacy to improve support for the sector.
The survey takes 10-15 minutes and all responses are confidential. You’ll also have the chance to enter a free prize draw - for more information on the prizes visit the survey article. The survey closes on 9 January 2023.
Creative UK has launched a UK-wide survey into freelancing, as part of Redesigning Freelancing. The initiative is intended to highlight the challenges that freelancers (and sole traders) face locally and nationally and to provide evidence on working conditions that will help to spearhead industry-wide change. We’d encourage you to respond.
Policymakers must help the creative sector to recover from the long-term impacts of Covid-19, according to research from Queen Mary University London (QMUL) on how the pandemic affected individual artists and the wider cultural economy.
The report calls for more accessible and flexible funding schemes and advice on employment opportunities in related fields, particularly for freelance workers. There also needs to be increased recognition of and support for the powerful role of art in addressing inequalities and contributing to social justice.
CVAN has also published recommendations for policy makers to protect and maximise the potential of the visual arts sector. These include supporting the workforce and freelancers, easing the cost of living crisis and fostering an equitable sector.
Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis has established a Creative Industries Network to broaden access to opportunities in these industries. Labour believes the continued success of the UK's creative industries is crucial to future jobs and growth.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published findings on the growth potential in clusters of creative industries businesses and how the economic environment and the potential obstacles to growth differ across the UK. It’s identified five drivers of cluster growth that will contribute to its Levelling Up work:
- access to finance
- access to talent
- innovation
- the broader environment
- export activity
Six English regions are to receive a share of £17.5m to help scale creative businesses.
The DCMS Committee’s inquiry into cultural placemaking sees it as important to Levelling Up. ‘Placebased approaches to culture can be locally-led and engaging, deliver direct and indirect benefits and support education, pride in place, health and wellbeing.’ But
it calls for urgent financial support and a new regional funding focus to level up the country through culture. It sees theatres, museums and leisure centres facing an existential threat from the cost-of-living crisis. It follows an inquiry looking at whether funding for cultural initiatives has been reaching areas that historically have missed out, and the role creative talent and businesses could play in revitalising public spaces post-pandemic.
A survey about mortgages by price comparison service Uswitch.com shows that arts and culture employees are the least likely to be able to switch their current mortgage deal and are among those who’ve struggled with payments.
Lastly …
Cultural heritage in the context of disasters and climate change: Insights from the DCMS-AHRC Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Cohort is a new policy report that explores how climate change is affecting cultural heritage particularly in the Global South. It shows how cultural heritage can be mobilised to respond to these impacts.
The Centre for Cultural Value’s Making Data Work makes the case for a more standardised data approach in the arts. The project found that the chaotic and sporadic landscape for cultural evaluation makes it harder to demonstrate impact at the level of national policy.
We’re pleased to announce that the Crafts Council continues to be an Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation. ACE has added 276 new organisations to the portfolio, with 714 of 828 organisations from the previous National Portfolio continuing to be funded. See Arts Professional for further analysis of the outcomes. The number of NPO organisations primarily led by individuals from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds has tripled since the last funding round. The number of organisations primarily led by individuals identifying as disabled has increased to 32 in the current portfolio.
