Government announces £15m for cultural education in England
The Henley Review of Cultural Education was published on 28 February, along with the Government’s response and an announcement of £15m funding from the Department for Education (DfE) to pump prime cultural education initiatives. Darren Henley made 24 recommendations that he said would make England's cultural education 'the envy of the world'. The Government responded accepting most of the recommendations and said (some of) those it would address immediately are:
- A new National Youth Dance Company to provide opportunities for 30 young people every year (£600,000 each from ACE and DfE over 3 years); I make that £1.2m or £40k each over three years for 30 very lucky students. It is good to see them workingw ith so many
- A new film academy, led by the BFI to support film education for all children and young people (£3m over 3 years); while film gets a new £3m over 3 years
- Heritage Schools - English Heritage will work with schools to encourage them to explore historical sites in their local area (£2.7m funding over 3 years); and they did not already do this? This is probably the money that was cut off their budget at the last budget being given back to them (after lots of deductions for bureaucracy)
- Training and mentoring for new teachers and continuing professional development for experienced teachers to improve the quality of cultural education in schools (£300,000 over 3 years, supported by non-departmental public bodies); and what is anyone going to be able to do with £100k a year for the whole country?
- National Art & Design Saturday Clubs (£395,000 over 3 years); another tiny sum for the whole country
- Museums education – to encourage and facilitate more school visits to museums and art galleries; OK chaps, more of the same please: no new money
- The Bridge Network bringing heritage and film as well as arts, museums and libraries closer to every school; no resources it seems
