Policy

DCMS, the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care have jointly announced new music and sport initiatives to support children’s development. 

More than £100m will be used to increase opportunities across the country for children to study music and learn instruments.

Capital funding worth £25m will be given to schools to purchase an estimated 200,000 new musical instruments, including adapted instruments for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Schools will also be asked to offer at least one hour of music teaching a week in the curriculum for key stages 1-3 as part of the launch of a new National Plan for Music Education, with £79 million made available every year until 2025 for the Music Hubs programme.

The plan also includes providing teachers and young people with guidance on how to progress a career in music.

“Music can transform lives – so it is vital that music education does not become the preserve of a privileged few and is available to everyone, regardless of their background,” said Chief Executive of UK Music Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.

“Continued investment in music education is vital if we want to unlock the huge creative potential of young people and level up opportunities across the country.”

Additional initiatives in the National Plan for Music Education include steps to further develop instrument and music teaching, a pilot to improve music progression in disadvantaged areas and the roll-out of an inclusion strategy in every music hub area.

Opera UK has announced a series of online events to be held in the first week of July that will facilitate discussion around the future of opera in the country.

The sessions will be focused on three pressing issues: environmental sustainability, greater diversification in leadership and advocacy for opera, and will feature at least 14 expert speakers.

Contributors who have so far signed up include directors of leading companies, performers and those working on the ground in positions including technical production and stage direction.

Annilese Miskimmon, Artistic Director at English National Opera, Elizabeth Llwellyn, soprano and a trustee of Into Opera and Mark Pemberton, Chief Executive at the Association of British Orchestras, are all scheduled to participate. 

All events will be participatory, allowing attendees to join the discussions and ask questions. 

“Innovation and change is vital to ensure that our sector remains relevant, effectively engages with communities, and benefits our audiences,” said Genevieve Raghu, Artistic Director of Into Opera and one of Opera UK’s Founding Directors. 

“We hope these events will help to connect individuals and companies across the opera sector and instigate even more conversations, positive changes and, through increased collaboration of our members, we hope to see a strengthening of the resilience of the opera sector.”

The discussions will also serve as a platform to launch a new mapping exercise designed to help establish a detailed picture of the national opera industry. 

Not-for-profit arts organisation 64 Million Artists is among 70 British companies participating in a six-month pilot to offer employees a four-day working week with no loss of pay.

More than 3,300 workers are taking part in the scheme, which is the world’s biggest four-day week trial to date. Staff at participating organisations pledge to maintain 100% productivity in return for working 80% of the hours while retaining 100% of their salaries.

Based in London, Brighton and Stroud, 64 Million Artists offers training and development programmes, collaborates with academic institutions on arts research and policy, and issues creativity challenges to inspire artists and promote positive change.

The trial, which launched this week, is organised by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the thinktank Autonomy and the 4 Day Week Campaign. 

Researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford alongside Boston College, USA will work with participating organisations to monitor company productivity and staff wellbeing and to measure the trial’s impact on gender equality and the environment. 

“As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge,” Chief Executive of 4 Day Week Global said.

Other companies participating in the trial span the education, consultancy, housing, skincare, food and beverage, marketing and architecture and construction sectors. 

The UK’s Cultural Protection Fund is yet to designate funding to Ukraine to support widespread damage to heritage sites caused by Russia’s invasion. 

The fund, administered by the British Council and backed by the Foreign Office, has delivered £30m since its inception in 2016 to protect cultural heritage at risk, namely across the Middle East and North and East Africa.

A British Council spokesperson told The Art Newspaper Ukraine was not automatically eligible for the fund, but an exception was made to allow allocation of £60,000 in March, which did not materialise.

In the last financial year, the £2.4m earmarked for grants had been largely spent before Russia’s invasion began in late February. This year’s fund is now open for expressions of interest, but the Ukraine is not listed as one of the fund’s targeted countries on the British Council’s website.

The Cultural Protection Fund did channel £80,000 through a Dutch non-governmental organisation in March, which is coordinating assistance for Ukraine.

The Prince Claus Fund shipped protection materials for works of art and buildings to Ukraine via Poland in March. A second consignment is now being organised.

The support package also received funding from foundations in the USA and Germany.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced that it will continue to fund the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) for a further five years and is seeking a new host organisation.  

Since its inception in 2018 PEC, which comprises a consortium of universities from across the UK, has been hosted by innovation foundation Nesta, which led on its establishment.

The AHRC has issued a call for expressions of interest from research organisations who are interested in hosting the PEC and its core team from June 2023 for a further five-year period.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair at Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: “The Centre balances robust academic research with agile, reactive policy and industry priorities. 

"[This] announcement is good news for the sector and we very much look forward to finding the right host organisation to work with for the exciting next stage of development and reinforce the PEC’s position as a vital research and innovation infrastructure for the creative industries."