Tom Grieve reports back from our weekend panel discussion…
“Art makes children powerful.” That was the statement form artist Bob and Roberta Smith that inspired Saturday’s Young People and the Arts panel discussion at Number 1 First Street, Manchester. Chaired by HOME’s CEO Dave Moutrey in collaboration with Labour Arts Alliance who were represented by Harriet Harman MP and Julie Ward MEP. The Southbank Centre also had their Artistic Director Jude Kelly on stage. And rounding off the panel was the actor and director Samuel West and a pair of young people – Contact Theatre’s Afreena Islam and former BFI Film Academy participant Jorge Walsh.
HOME’s emerging frame lay immediately outside the window behind the panel, providing a fitting backdrop as talk quickly turned to diversity in arts provision. Harriet Harman stressed Labour’s belief that the ability for children to flourish in the arts should not depend upon geographic location, economic background or school status. In the wake of the Scottish Referendum, the role of London and the disproportionate funding it receives came under scrutiny from panel members, with Jorge Walsh pointing out of the window towards HOME as evidence of what he saw as a hopeful future for those outside of the capital. But there needs to be more done, and while HOME is a godsend for the people of Manchester, there is still a huge disparity in the amount of money spent on arts per capita in London when compared to that spent on rest of the UK.
As in any other large body of people, there is talent in this country if we can unlock it and as Samuel West put it: “Talents are no respecter of postcode.” But unlike in other spheres such as sports or music, we have no system in place with which to identify and nurture the creatively minded child. Whether it be teachers who haven’t got the time, knowledge or resources to devote to the arts, or parents who discourage artistic ambition as economically unfeasible; there was a feeling in the room that the arts are too often considered a luxury that we can afford to do without.
The panel came back to this idea again and again and Dave Moutrey urged the discussion to focus on opportunity and solutions as opposed to getting too caught up in the challenges. Harriet Harman promised that Labour would insist that no school could achieve an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ grade without the proper inclusion of arts in the curriculum. This would force the education system to take the arts seriously – but it became clear from the comments of the young people in attendance that they felt this should be in collaboration with arts institutions to help those with serious ambitions.
At the beginning of the session, Southbank Centre’s Jude Kelly stressed that she saw the problem of children’s access to the arts as a human rights issue. It is important for the arts to be an economically viable career path and it is vital that those who wish to embark upon that path are given the support they need. But art and creativity has its own intrinsic value that we must not overlook. Samuel West struck a chord by quoting the playwright Fin Kennedy who “called creativity the software you install on a young person on which everything else runs later.” In other words: the arts are not a luxury, and it is time that we stopped treating them as such.
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