Creativity and the Arts Sector Partnership
Creativity and the arts provide opportunities to engage in a wide range of experiences including dance, theatre, music, craft, film, circus and visual arts. Children and young people make and create, engage as audience members, and learn skills in the arts and cultural forms as well as an appreciation and understanding of professional work and collections. Because of the diverse nature of the Creativity and Arts sector, LOtC can take place in a variety of settings such as galleries and theatres, outdoor environments, dance studios and cinemas — as well as within the school itself.
The Creativity and Arts sector's work in extended services and in youth settings has been highly successful in helping young people attain a range of positive outcomes. The pilot programme Arts Extend has already provided some very interesting results. For example, an LOtC film project in Wiltshire saw dramatic gains in confidence among students involved. This is just one example of the work being done and the achievements being seen; we aim to see more examples of LOtC in the coming months as the sector develops.
The Creativity and the Arts sector partnership has met twice and consists of 23 organisations, including the Arts Council England, Royal Opera House, the British Film Institute, Royal Shakespeare Company as well as local partners such as The North West Disability Arts Forum. The sector partnership has undertaken a mapping and consultation exercise and by using their available networks, partners have contributed to the process with specific information from their areas of expertise, thereby adding value to the wider Manifesto work already underway. The work looks for examples of advice and guidance, approaches to assuring quality and opportunities for relevant training, as well as exploring sector responses to the development of a quality badge for LOtC. The sector is keen to continue to influence the broader work of the LOtC Manifesto.
The mapping report has been drafted and the results of the research will be used to influence the 'Out and About' package and quality mark indicators as well as operational matters. Over the coming months the sector partnership aims to contribute to the development of the Manifesto Council. As the 'How to' guidance and quality marks are rolled out, the sector partnership will have a role in profiling these two pieces of work throughout the wider sector to ensure fuller engagement.
Through engaging with the LOtC Manifesto in general and the quality badge in particular, the sector hopes to make learning more relevant, creative activities more effective, raise the profile and status of creative work with children beyond the classroom and help schools recognise a quality offer from a perspective creative partner.
Partnership is at the core of much of the work of the sector and there is an established body of knowledge about ways of assuring good practice which is constantly expanding. We look forward to working with our partners to continue to embed the ethos and practice of the Manifesto and ensure that we support high-quality experiences.
