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Young people to get five hours of culture a week - £135m funding boost announced

DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT News Release (009\2008) issued by The Government News Network on 13 February 2008

A new £25 million 'Find Your Talent' scheme, part of the Government's ambition to give young people in England the chance to experience high quality arts and culture, was announced today by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Children's Minister Ed Balls.

It will be accompanied by a £110 million investment in the successful 'Creative Partnerships' scheme which allows children and young people in schools to work with creative professionals such as artists, writers and actors.

The moves are part of the Government's drive to unlock the creative talent of all young people. Participating in cultural activities can have a huge impact on a child's development, in terms of developing their skills and appreciation, and helping them to learn. The Government wants every child to have the chance to develop their artistic and creative skills, and is also announcing the SHINE Festival to take place this summer.

The 'Find Your Talent' programme will be piloted in ten areas around the country. It will give young people the chance to discover and develop their talents with the intention, ultimately, to offer children five hours of arts and culture a week, in and outside of the school day. This will include the chance to:

* perform on stage and attend top quality performances, exhibitions at museums and galleries, and heritage sites;

* get hands-on experience of the creative industries including film making, radio and TV;

* learn a musical instrument, and take part in a musical performance in front of an audience;

* produce creative writing and appreciate authors and how they work;

* learn about - and practise - new media and digital art; and

* develop art and craft skills.

The 'Find Your Talent' project will be implemented by a new body, the Youth Culture Trust, which will also oversee the Creative Partnerships scheme, working with more than 2,000 schools each year. The Trust will receive £110 million over three years (from the Arts Council's CSR settlement), as well as £25 million to pilot 'Find Your Talent'.

Andy Burnham and Ed Balls also announced a further £13 million over three years for the joint DCMS/DCSF 'strategic commissioning' programme, an initiative that funds educational work with museums and galleries around the country.

Andy Burnham said:

"All children have creative talents and we want to ensure that they have the opportunity to develop them. Theatre, film, music, museums and other art forms can be life-changing for young people, broadening their horizons and raising self-confidence and aspirations.

"There will be practical challenges in delivering this ambitious goal of course, and these pilots will give us the chance to see what those challenges are. But this is a fantastic opportunity for schools to build on what they already do."

Ed Balls said:

"All children and young people should have the chance to experience top quality culture - whether that is seeing a play or dance performance, learning a musical instrument or producing some creative writing.

"Many of us remember the first ever live music we heard or the first ever performance we saw. I want all young people to have the chance to both experience and take part in creative activities to help them learn and develop."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is also today announcing SHINE, a week-long schools festival to celebrate the talent in everybody. The festival will run from 30 June to 4 July and the Department is inviting all schools to participate and highlight the talents of all children.

Ed Balls added:

"I know there are many exciting activities in schools designed to unlock young people's potential. SHINE will allow schools to bring them together in a festival week and join a national campaign."

Notes to Editors

1. The £25 million three-year funding for 'Find Your Talent' is made up of funding from: the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (£2.5 million), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (£12.5 million), the Arts Council England (£6 million), and the Museums and Libraries Association (£4 million). All funding is from DCMS's and DCFS's CSR settlements. More information on the Find Your Talent programme is available at http://www.creative-partnerships.com/offer.

2. The Government aims to offer all children, aged 5-16, five hours of sport a week by 2010. This will be a combination of PE and sport within the curriculum and outside school. Eighty-six per cent of children already do two hours of school sport a week, beating the Government target of 85 per cent by the end of 2008.

3. Creative Partnerships operates in 36 of the most deprived areas of the country to allow children to develop their creative skills by working with creative individuals and organisations. Further details at: http://www.creative-partnerships.com.

4. Between 2008 and 2011 DCMS and DCSF will allocate £13.1 million to support the education work of England's museums and galleries. This new funding builds on the previous investment by DCMS and DCSF to support museum and gallery education in the past two years and will complement the education work of the Renaissance in the Regions programme.

In 2008-09 the funding will be used to support the following areas:

* Innovative educational and community based work undertaken by twelve* national museums and their regional museum partners across England. The work is designed to enhance and enrich delivery of the curriculum at all key stages and promote inclusion.

* Education development work co-ordinated by the MLA, which is designed to support small non-hub museums in the nine English regions, address local priorities and complement the activities of the corresponding Renaissance regional hub museums.

* A national programme of professional development for teachers and museum staff co-ordinated by the MLA which includes an opportunity for extended placements of up to five days in a museum or in a school.

* Support for the education work of galleries without permanent collections co-ordinated by Arts Council England and delivered by engage (national association for gallery education) through its en-quire programme.

* British Museum, Imperial War Museum, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, National Museums Liverpool, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, NMSI, Tate, V&A, Wallace Collection and the British Library.

5. The Department for Children, Schools and Families has launched a National Year of Reading to promote reading of all kinds.

6. To find out more about the SHINE Festival, or register interest, go to: http://www.shineweek.co.uk.
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