ACA meeting January 11th with  Anne Appelbaum and Lindsey Pugh Senior Officers Children, Young People and Learning at Arts Council England, with David Wood, Chair and Vicky Ireland Vice-Chair, as suggested by Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England.

Aim of meeting

To find out about ACE current activities and thinking
To introduce ACA to officers
To share concerns
To consider solutions

Click here to read the report.

ACA meeting with  Baroness Bonham Carter’s DCMS policy group at the House of Lords

David Wood (Chair) and Vicky Ireland (Vice Chair) were invited to speak to this group, thanks to Patron Baroness Floella Benjamin.  Baroness Jane Bonham Carter is the Lib Dem spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport.  Between 15-20 people attended, a mixture of parliamentarians and outside individuals who are invited because they have a particular CMS interest.  The aim of the group is to identify policy areas the group can work on and formulate an approach to oral questions in the house.

The aim of our visit was to have a question raised on our behalf, in the House of  Lords.

Click here to read the report.

Earlier this year, ACA sent a survey to members asking them to suggest potential causes for a decline in professionally produced arts for children. The survey identified some key areas that need to be addressed, regarding restrictions in funding and limitations in the National Curriculum itself.

Survey respondents have been invited to attend a round table hosted by ACA at The Young Vic on Tuesday 22 September. In this session, we will discuss the issues presented, aim to find a sustainable course of positive action, and examine how ACA can help further raise the profile of children’s arts.

If you are interested in following the conversation, or contributing your own thoughts, follow us on Twitter @ChildrensArts and tweet us on the day using #….. You can also keep an eye on our website and Facebook page for updates after the event about findings, and future related action.

ACA Round Table Report

www.baccforthefuture.com/sign-the-petition.html

The Department for Education is planning to make the five English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subject areas compulsory for all secondary school pupils. The EBacc list of subjects contains no creative arts subjects.

It will make a narrow list of five subject areas compulsory – maths, English, sciences, languages (ancient and modern) and history or geography. If the proposals go ahead, creativity in schools would be damaged and there would be little room in the school day for the arts, music and drama.

Numerous studies have demonstrated both the lack of evidence for the choice of subjects in the EBacc and the harmful impact it has had on cultural and creative subjects in schools.

We know that creativity is educationally and economically valuable and it is valued by the British public so we are working together to urge the Government to reconsider their proposals.

Exclusion of music, art or culture from state secondary school core subject English Baccalaureate requirements – Lord Aberdare 22 July 2015, Lord  Aberdare asked a question in the House of Lords about the ommision of creative subjects from the English Baccalaureate

ACA has written to the Society of London Theatres asking for a change in the Olivier Awards to create a much needed new award, Best Production for Young Audiences.

Read the full letter here

If you feel strongly that the Best Entertainment and Family category would be best split into two awards, one for Best Entertainment, the other for Best Production for Young Audiences, ACA suggests that you should send a letter to

Society of London Theatre (Olivier Awards),
32 Rose Street,
London, WC2E 9ET.