March Newsletter

Mimi Doulton 16th March 2020 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

The Arts Backpack UK - February Update

Pilots are on schedule to commence in Fife and Leicester from September 2020. We will be working with 7 schools in Fife, in partnership with Youth Music Theatre Scotland; and 4 schools in Leicester, in partnership with Spark Arts.
Planning is underway for a London pilot later in the 2020/21 academic year, in partnership with For Good, the charity associated with Wicked.
We have received over 200 responses to our children's survey, which was issued via First News in January. Our researchers Keda and Yasemin will be compiling this data to inform their research and evaluation processes.
We have received the first instalment of funding from Fife Council.

Chair's report

Congratulations to our patron Floella on becoming a Dame!
It was with great sadness that we heard of the death of our much loved patron, Terry Jones, an exceptional writer, and a unique creative spirit.
Vicky attended the Writer’s Guild GB Awards, and the Writer’s Guild GB Olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement Awards 2020.
A group of TYA Theatre makers attended a meeting with representatives from Action for Children’s Arts, Theatre Education Forum, Theatre for Young Audiences England and Assitej UK with Anne Applebaum, Director of Children and Young People, Arts Council England. You can find full notes of this meeting below.
The Government are working hard to support Music Education and are calling for a music consultation. https://consult.education.gov.uk/curriculum-implementation-unit/music-education-call-for-evidence/ Maybe other art forms for children and young people should also strive to make their case heard by Government?

First donation to the ACA candle campaign

Mimi Doulton 29th November 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

First donation to the ACA candle campaign

Our heartfelt thanks to Dr Chris and Hazel Abbott for being the first donors to our candle campaign!

We are asking for donations of £300 to buy a candle on our celebration cake. Alongside your donation you can nominate 10 people for a year's free ACA membership, or you can donate ten bursary memberships to ACA. Each bursary membership will be given to an emerging artist who the Trustees feel would be a valuable part of ACA, but who does not have the funds to become a member.

Click here to become a Candle donor.

Why donate?

We campaign for the right of every child aged 0-12 to access the arts, regardless of their background or personal circumstances. We are particularly passionate about ending inequality in arts education.

A recent report from the Social Mobility Commission found that children from the poorest families are 3 times less likely to be involved in extra-curricular arts activities.

Although we have been running this campaign since 1998, politicians are yet to listen and appreciate the value of instilling creativity in all our children. We need to continue working with teachers, practitioners and arts organisations to democratise arts education.

In the last 18 months our charitable activities have included:

The Arts Backpack UK: In Autumn 2018 we commissioned a Feasibility Study for an Arts Backpack project in the UK. Since publication, we have spoken to over 50 organisations across the four nations, and coordinated a first phase of pilots in Fife and Leicester. Each child will be entitled to at least five quality arts encounters a year.

Networking events: Around 500 people have attended ACA networking events.

The JM Barrie Awards: The 2018 JM Barrie Awards celebrated Stuart and Kadie Kanneh-Mason as role-models to all parents of creative children. In 2019, the JM Barrie Awards honoured Sir Philip Pullman CBE, for a lifetime's achievement in delighting children.

Listening to Children: We are working closely with children from Chickenshed Theatre to develop our research and evaluation structures. Our first piece of child-led research was conducted through schools' newspaper First News in autumn 2019.

Introducing: Breathe Magic

Mimi Doulton 26th October 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

Introducing: Breathe Magic

The Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Foundation programme is a clinically effective, fun and engaging approach to therapy. It’s designed to help young people with hemiplegia, a weakness or paralysis affecting one side of the body caused by an injury to the brain.

Grounded in world-class medical research, this award-winning approach gives young people access to 78 hours of intensive therapy AND transforms them into young magicians! Specialist occupational therapists work alongside Magic Circle magicians to teach magic tricks designed to develop hand and arm function, cognitive abilities, self-confidence and independence.

Breathe Magic will be awarded with the Action for Children's Arts Outstanding Contribution Award on 7 November. They were selected for this award by ACA Trustees, in recognition of their contribution to children's arts and well-being.

At the awards, a citation will be given by Magic Circle Centre Director Darren Martin.

Working at The Magic Circle headquarters, you would expect to see miracles and wonder on a daily basis helping you believe in magic. However, it was when hosting a ‘Breathe Arts Health Research’ event some years ago that we realised what real magic can be.

Breathe Magic is part of Breathe Arts Health Research - one of the first arts-in-health companies to be recognised by organisations such as NHS England. Breathe Arts Health Research began as part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, before becoming a separate social enterprise in 2012. Since then they’ve been designing and delivering arts-in-healthcare programmes that:

Improve clinical outcomes for patients
Enrich healthcare environments for staff, patients and visitors
Offer unique training opportunities

The organisation represents a ground-breaking collaboration between Arts, Health and Science. As the new National Academy for Social Prescribing is launched, ACA is delighted to be honouring an organisation at the forefront of this research.

Click here to visit the Breathe Arts Health Research website and find out more about Breathe Magic.

September News

Mimi Doulton 30th September 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

September News

What have we been up to...

We have held meetings with the Spark Arts in Leicester, Fife Council, the Jennie Lee Foundation, 11 by 11, the Open College of the Arts, and Wicked.

We have attended WhatNext, the Westminster Forum, the Cultural Campaigning Group and Tom Watson's Creative Industries Federation event.

ACA member Miranda Thain wrote an article about why she is a member of ACA.

The Hullabaloo stands in one of the 1% most deprived wards in the UK, many worlds away from the corridors of Whitehall and yet, through being part of an organisation like Action for Children’s Arts, we feel that we have a voice in influencing the future cultural opportunities of our children nationwide. It may just be a small corner of this confusing world, but together we can make it better.

ACA Chair Vicky Ireland MBE met the minds behind the Norwegian Cultural Rucksack in Oslo.

She also met the new children's laureate Cressida Cowell at the Chiswick Book Festival 2019. We love Cressida's charter for children's reading, which you can take a look at here.

August News

Mimi Doulton 30th August 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

ACA appoints interim CEO

Mimi Doulton 21st May 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

ACA appoints interim CEO

We are delighted to have appointed Janet Robertson as interim CEO. Janet is a freelance creative director, producer and teaching artist based between Fife, Cambridge and London, who has previously managed projects for companies including Scottish Opera, Ambassador Theatre Group, National Youth Music Theatre, the Really Useful Group and the BBC. She will be leading the pilots of the Arts Backpack UK - an initiative that aims to offer every UK primary school child at least five cultural and creative experiences a year.

Speaking about her appointment and the Arts Backpack UK, Janet said:

I believe that the Arts are fundamental to being a well-developed and happy human. They teach, they inspire, they enhance, they console, and we grow through each and every engagement we are able to have with them.

I am humbled and honoured to be joining ACA as their new CEO at a point where the campaign for arts education is gathering such momentum. Through ACA's Arts Backpack programme the opportunity exists to create a movement for change for children's arts across all of the UK and I look forward to working with ACA and all its members to meaningfully make a difference to children's lives.

ACA Chair Vicky Ireland MBE said:

The Trustees are truly delighted that Janet has agreed to become CEO and steer ACA's future. As a champion of arts for children, her vast experience and commitment will be of huge benefit to the charity and all we stand for.

The Arts Backpack UK will be piloted in schools across the UK from September 2019. ACA is currently working with a research group of children from Chickenshed to develop questions that can be used to evaluate the pilots from a child's perspective. The project is supported by a number of ACA's illustrious patrons, including Anna Home OBE (Children's Media Foundation), illustrator Michael Foreman, and actress Jenny Agutter who said:

Children want to discover, to play, to paint, to dance - the 'arts' are already a part of their lives. Their enjoyment of the arts only diminishes when they are directed to think in ways that do not engage the imagination. It seems rather than developing an interest in the arts, a bridge needs to be created to keep the already lively imaginations of children going, so as adults they can use this developed and nourished imagination to take part in, or enjoy the many aspects of the arts available to us. The 'arts' may reflect our society, or stir the imagination but unless we can relate to them on a fundamental level they will not become a part of our lives. The Arts Backpack might be the needed bridge.

Arts Backpack UK: a statement from David Wood OBE

Mimi Doulton 15th April 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

I believe that the Arts Backpack idea could be the most significant notion and possibility to have surfaced in the twenty years or more since our charity began. The idea confirms ACA’s belief that all children are entitled to attend arts events and experiences. This belief is enshrined in Article 31 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The Arts Back Pack is a novel and appealing way of ensuring that every child can expect to experience the arts several times a year.

The idea is important for children.

It is important for parents.

It is important for teachers.

It is important for children’s arts practitioners and for companies and arts organisations – theatres, museums, concert halls, art galleries etc.

It is important for local councils, and for government. By helping to activate the intentions of Article 31, it is a way of complying with the Article and encouraging interest in the arts.

It is important for the medical profession, who regularly tell us that the arts help children’s wellbeing.

It is important for the Arts Council, who would recognise that attendances at arts events and performances would increase.

It ticks so many boxes!

The Arts Back Pack could revitalise the organisations and companies that provide arts for children, by instantaneously increasing the numbers of children able, via school and/or parent, to take advantage of the offer. In the long term, it would make children’s experience of the arts something that is part of their mainstream education, rather than an add-on or luxury, part of the cake rather than the cherry.

David Wood OBE, ACA President

Click here to find out more about the Arts Backpack UK.

Sir Philip Pullman wins 2019 JM Barrie Award

Mimi Doulton 20th March 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

Action for Children’s Arts (ACA) has chosen Sir Philip Pullman CBE as the recipient of their 2019 JM Barrie Award. The Award is given annually to a children’s arts practitioner or organisation in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement in delighting children.

Sir Philip Pullman is a patron and long-time supporter of ACA’s campaigning work. Last year the charity celebrated its twentieth anniversary and was sent the following message by Sir Philip:

“Children deserve the best of everything; the best opportunities, the best education, the best food, the best stories and poems, the best music, the best theatre. In fact, they’d need the best even if they didn’t deserve it. Action for Children’s Arts is a very good way indeed of seeing that they get it, and I’m very glad to support its work”.

ACA Trustees have also chosen to honour Breathe Arts Health Research with an Outstanding Contribution Award – recognising their ground-breaking Magic Programme for young people with hemiplegia. Uniting arts, health and science, this is an award-winning approach to occupational therapy, using magic skills to improve hand function and independence.

Arts Backpack Pilot – How to get involved

Mimi Doulton 20th February 2019 ACA News, Blog, Front Page No Comments

In December 2018 ACA published their commissioned feasibility study examining the idea of an Arts Backpack programme for every primary school child in the UK. An Arts Backpack would serve as a digital collection point for Arts, Cultural, Heritage and Library engagements – aiming to ensure that every child had access to at least five quality participatory experiences throughout the school year. Click here to download the report.

We are now focussing on delivering the report’s recommendations and would like to invite professionals with an interest in this UK wide programme to get in touch, and to get involved. We are looking for the following collaborators:

Local Lead Organisation - supported by ACA to coordinate the project in their area; this will include engaging with primary schools, launching the Arts Backpack in their area, supporting schools during the pilot
Local/Regional Arts and Cultural Organisation Partners - support by the Local Lead Organisation and ACA; the local partners will form a hub, offering a menu of activities to participating schools
National Digital Partner - ACA would like to work with an organisation who can guide the digital element of the Backpack for all pilot programmes
National Evaluation and Research Partner - ACA would like to work with an organisation who can evaluate the effectiveness of all pilot programmes

We are keen to link with any organisations or individuals interested in working with us on this aspect of the work. Click here to download the full pilot briefing document. Email: mimi.doulton@childrensarts.org.uk if you are interested in collaborating, funding or participating in the pilot projects.

ACA publishes Arts Backpack UK Feasibility Study

Mimi Doulton 11th January 2019 ACA News, Front Page No Comments

Download the Feasibility Study here

Over the past 18 months Action for Children’s Arts (ACA) has been holding round table meetings with representatives from organisations across the UK who listen to children and allow their ideas to inform their practice. From these discussions the idea of a UK-wide initiative to promote, enhance and curate arts engagement that appeals to children, parents, carers and teachers emerged as a gap in current UK wide provision.

Looking at other Cultural Offers covering a similar scope, ACA found interesting examples of good practice across the world and from these models identified a format that may work for Primary Schools across the UK – an Arts Backpack.

In autumn 2018 ACA – with support from Arts Council Northern Ireland, ASSITEJ UK, Belfast City Council, Cambridgeshire Music, Fife Council, and two individuals – commissioned Michael Judge and Richard Freeman to explore the idea of an Arts Backpack that could be offered to every Primary School child in the UK. The Arts Backpack would serve as a digital collection and reflection point for all their Arts, Cultural, Heritage and Library engagement across the school year with an aim to ensure that each child has access to a minimum of 5 experiences each year.

ACA commissioned this study to examine the validity of the idea, to better understand if there was a case for it to develop further and if so, how that may be achieved. Part of the Conclusion of this report advises a series of Pilot Projects are undertaken to test the idea further and to better understand the concept within a variety of contexts throughout the UK. ACA is keen to work with strategic partners to develop and deliver these suggested Arts Backpack pilots.

To ensure children’s voices are co-creators in the Arts Backpack, and to create a model to support the development of all Pilots, ACA is launching a strategic partnership with Chickenshed, an Inclusive theatre company based in North London. A research group of 8 children from Chickenshed will explore a range of themes about the importance of performing arts to the 0-12 age range. Through this they will generate 5 questions for a questionnaire.

Through this scheme, a final questionnaire will be circulated by ACA to UK schools and arts organisations who may be part of local or regional pilot schemes. It will also be distributed by FIRST NEWS, The UK’s national newspaper for young people, resulting in a children’s voices adding directly into this debate.

Download the Feasibility Study here

Action for Children’s Arts

The National Voice of Children's Arts

ACA News

March Newsletter