Art in Schools: Getting Culture Back on the Agenda

Often artists are expected to fill the gap by delivering creative projects within school settings. This event explored what the long-term consequences of this approach might be, how creative practitioners can develop stronger relationships with schools, and how we can get art back on the education agenda at policy level.

It was moderated by Steve Moffitt, CEO of A New Direction, the award-winning not-for-profit organisation generating opportunities for children and young people to develop their creativity. Steve started the event by revisiting the Arts in Schools: Foundations for the Future report and the Cultural Learning Alliance's Blueprint for Change, exploring the context behind the documents, exploring the work of Abbas and Cathy and how the recommendations from the report are potentially being implemented.

Artist Abbas Zahedi discussed his recent project Sonic Signals, developed with a Birmingham-based Primary School during his time as an ‘Incidental Artist’ at Eastside Projects, which created a new kind of relationship between school and art institution through an infinite, looping audio connection. Artist and writer, Cathy Wade talked about her experience of exploring city planning, civic space, imagination, ecology & visual communication through a process of co-design with pupils at Raynham Primary School in Enfield as part of the Canal & River Trust’s Hinterlands programme.

Both projects provided insightful case-studies to inform a broader discussion where the artists will explore questions through the lens of their respective practices such as: How do we demonstrate the importance of embedding expressive arts as a statutory core subject? What does best practice look like when developing creative projects with schools? And how can the creative and cultural sector advocate for policy change at government level?

This was the third of our Constellations ° Assemblies 2024, a series of three online events open to all artists, curators, practitioners, commissioners, communities, and those working across public art, social practice and regeneration.

Online resources were produced as part of the Constellations ° Assemblies programme and are hosted on UP Projects’ Resource Library. These include accessible event recordings with BSL interpretation and captions.

Constellations ° Assemblies 2024 was curated by UP Projects and supported by Arts Council England.