Leading starts from the arts joined forces today to support our launch of a new campaign calling for all children to have equal access to arts subjects throughout their school life.
Arts and Minds is a coalition of over 50 organisations, including Equity, the Musicians Union the NEU, the RSC. It is supported by big names in arts and entertainment, including Steve Coogan; Eastenders’ Kellie Bright; classical music stars the Kanneh-Mason family; dancer and choreographer Carlos Acosta; writer Michael Rosen; artist Bob and Roberta Smith and Billy Elliot creator Lee Hall.
The event was also attended by Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
New research conducted for the campaign shows that 90% of GCSE students want to study a creative subject but two-thirds of school leaders report that they cannot offer the full suite of art, music, dance, drama or media to GCSE level.