The Liberal Democrats invited the Arts Group Chair, Kit Friend, to attend the launch of their new proposals entitled ‘The Power of Creativity’ . The celebrities were out in abundance with everyone from Imogen Heap to Rory Bremner milling around the tightly packed room at the Lords to hear an address by party leader, Nick Clegg.
Mr Clegg’s speech unfortunately seemed to plaguerise uncredited one of the best known speeches by Sir Ken Robinson but we’ll forgive him this one as it is very good. Perhaps more dubious was his claim the the Arts were ‘a duty’ for any government to support, which again probably had the right sentiments behind it, but could do with a little more work on if he wants to make it party mantra. For the record Nick we’d like to be seen as a strength, an opportunity, a vital contributor to society and at minimum a partner to Government and society – not something you’re obligated to look after.
The Arts team of Don Foster MP and Baronness Jane Bonham-Carter were on hand to introduce and speak to guests, and as usual did a fantastic job of raising the profile of creativity in government. Their approachability and willingness to except input from across the sector (including inviting the Arts Group to contribute to their policy discussions) should be welcomed, and even if we’re not going to see a Liberal government elected any time soon, it’s good to know people like them are on hand to put the pressure on with the other parties.
In terms of the actual content of the proposals, the Lib Dem press release has a capable summary of the highlights, including proposals to:
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- Change the way the National Lottery is taxed to generate more money for arts and heritage as well as for the Treasury
- Provide support for new start-ups in the creative industries and enable more businesses to offer internships and apprenticeships
- Offer all our children a more creative education by freeing up the curriculum and increasing the amount of time trainee primary school teachers spend learning about the arts and creativity
- Make it easier for small venues to host live music events by reducing bureaucracy that restricts small venues
- Make sure the regions and cities outside London do not miss out by reviewing the Arts Council England’s funding structures and creating a new administrative status for national museums that will enable them to be more enterprising and independent
- Open up the Government Art Collection for greater public use “
The key points the Arts Group pushed in consultation were around our internships work and Further/Higher Education, which both have a mixed presence in the policy.
On internships…
“a new “Paid Internship” for the first year of the next parliament, enabling hundreds of thousands of young people to work for up to three months with any employer, without cost to the business. Each intern would be paid a new “Training Allowance” of £55 per week”
The Paid internship bit and supporting a scheme with little cost to employers is a good call, but £55 a week? Half of this would go on travel in London alone, and it falls dramatically short of National Minimum Wage. In fact, if the young people are ‘to work, and not in study, this is illegal even by current employment standards. Revise it to cover at least National Minimum Wage however, and this sounds like a great idea.
On further/higher education…
Development for either of these in a tangible sense is difficult to find from the policies, but there are some good statements…
“Creativity is undervalued in our education system. All too often cultural learning is seen as an ‘add-on’ while priority is given to what is measurable through exams and league tables. The Liberal Democrats will seek to change this perception and place creativity at the heart of our education system.
Similarly, creative skills have often been inadequately supported in our society. Government needs to offer more support to the creative industries to enable them to offer training opportunities through apprenticeships and internships and to foster greater levels of partnership working to share expertise.”
It’s nice to hear Skillset and other agencies also mentioned explicitly…
“We are fully supportive of the invaluable work being done by Skillset through their academies network and training programmes and advice. We will ensure that government structures and regulation don’t form a barrier to creative organisations working in partnership with higher education providers in setting up academies and training courses.”
FE & HE aren’t mentioned explicitly elsewhere, and our input to the policy to look at making Arts education at this level more accessable by making sure materials and associated costs of study were covered by student finance appear not to have made the cut. However we’ve invited the team to join us at the National Arts Student Summit so with any luck they can be challenged to make some pledges there.
