Ten years ago, while most 21-year-olds were exploring their freedom, Toks Dada was spending his evenings and weekends reading company management reports, annotating business plans, and scrutinising financial accounts. Here he explains why.
Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery, a small volunteer-run museum in Alnwick, has been named the UK's most family friendly.
Judges for the annual award from Kids in Museums said Bailiffgate has a "relaxed atmosphere" that put it above the rest.
It displays information at child height and offers lots of hands-on activities, incuding a Viking camp.
"Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery has excelled in allowing families to feel free to be themselves and to have fun and engage with the history inside the museum," Kids in Museums President Philip Mould said.
Three London museums - the Postal Museum, the Horniman and the London Transport Museum - were also recognised for their accessibility to families.
The National Museum Wales and The Whitworth in Manchester were honoured for their digital activities.
Two-thirds of Black, Asian and minority ethnic students struggle to find inspirational creative role models.
Research commissioned by software brand Adobe surveyed 3,000 students and early career creative professionals, finding BAME students were most likely to be deterred from making creative career choices.
52% said their parents advised against creative careers and 40% of BAME people employed in the creative industry said they'd been discouraged by others several times.
Rapper Little Simz said the findings show ethnic minorty groups need better reputation "to show the next generation that they can make it".
Adobe's Senior Director of Marketing Simon Morris added: "We risk missing out on incredible talent if – as parents, role models, careers advisors, teachers and industry – we don’t equip our young people with knowledge of all the opportunities available to them."
Up to 50 freelancers will be employed as arts tutors in some of Scotland's most remote and culturally distinctive communities.
Creatives and artists who have lost work due to Covid-19 or Brexit can apply to work with primary schools in the Scottish Islands of Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney, Shetland, Argyll and Bute, Highland and North Ayrshire.
Gaelic arts body Fèisean nan Gàidheal will deliver the programme whilst the University of the Highlands gives tutors support and accreditation. The tutors in turn will support the development of assistant tutors to continue delivering arts education.
Fèisean nan Gàidheal CEO Arthur Cormack said training will increase freelancers' "resilience" and better equip thme to work in schools in the future.
The programme is funded by the National Transition Training Fund and through the Scottish Government's Islands Programme.
The quiet suspension of the election pledge is "sadly another example of the disregard shown by the Department for Education towards creative subjects".
London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama has been awarded £637,000 to distribute as scholarships over the next three years.
It’s one of the largest grants given by the Leverhulme Trust this year, second only to the £695,600 awarded to the Royal College of Music.
The Leverhulme Arts Scholarships will be split between undergraduate and postgraduate musicians, as well as students studying with Guildhall Young Artists.
Interim Principal Jonathan Vaughan said the school is “committed to aiming to ensure that no student faces financial barriers to studying with us”.
The school estimates it awards more than £3m of financial support each year, with 40% of students receiving some level of support.
All cultural organisations are concerned with making their work more accessible. A new report by Maria Varvarigou on sensory and inclusive theatre for disabled children and young people provides a model for doing just that.
Trafalgar Entertainment has acquired Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, extending its empire further into children's drama.
Trafalgar will run the business alongside Stagecoach Performing Arts, which it already owns. The UK's largest network of performance schools for children has 350 franchises in eight countries.
Helen O'Grady has branches in 16 countries and provides extra-curricular tuition to some 100,000 students each week.
Trafalgar's Joint CEO Rosemary Squire said it hopes to add more franchises to the brand.
"Sadly, arts education funding is being squeezed from the national curriculum, so it is vitally important that a drama provision like this is made available to everyone."
Confirmation of the higher arts education cuts comes as applications to study these subjects reach their highest level in a decade, placing the sector's talent pipeline at risk.
Creative skills don’t just benefit the creative industries; they bring huge value to other sectors including business, health and engineering. Professor Steven Spier has the evidence.
A new programme aimed at engaging 18-to-25 year olds with museums and galleries hands over control of the creative direction to the young people themselves. Sophie Alonso explains.
A group of young creatives have been selected as Creative Entrepreneurs for 2021 on the basis of their potential. Marina Norris looks at a programme aimed at building the opportunities and skills of young people.
A charity in the West Midlands is championing young people’s voices and youth leadership through a range of different activities. Tom Inniss nurtures the talents of aspiring arts and culture journalists.
As the U.Dance National Festival returns in an online format this month, Cameron Ball shares how the event connects the nation’s young dancers with the best in the industry.
