The success of much arts work is dependent on the structures and personnel in place in the local council at any one time. Sherrell Perkin highlights the importance of co-ordinators.
Barking and Dagenham Local Education Authority (LEA) has a fabulously dynamic Dance Advisor, and her Schools Dance Network is a force to be reckoned with. She is backed up by a team of committed dance teachers, but without this centrally co-ordinated support system they might all be working in isolation. The Schools Dance Network is an influential body, consulted by those connected to local dance. The Network’s meetings are always well-attended. Students take part in courses, projects, festivals and competitions, two local schools have Dance Academies, and the Network works with The BROADWAY theatre to host professional performances, workshops and an annual showcase of primary and secondary dance. The Council has used this expertise to set up a community Dance Festival and a Dance Action Team. The future for dance looks bright.
The picture for drama is different. We have no Drama Advisor. Drama provision in local schools varies widely in terms of resources, support and curriculum time allocated. The BROADWAY’s attempts to develop relationships with drama departments have fallen on stony ground. Of the nine secondary schools in the borough, only four have brought students to performances – just eight group bookings in four years. We had an English Adviser who set up Drama Forum meetings, which we hosted for free – and teachers came. The Advisor found funding for a major inter-school opera education project, but she left very suddenly and the post was eventually filled by someone without that proactive interest. We have been trying to fill the space ever since. Our stated aim has always been to raise the profile of schools’ drama, and to offer exciting opportunities to local schools. We have continued the termly Drama Forum meetings. The last one had one attender.
We recently ran a Schools Drama Festival – publicised almost a year in advance, offering free use of the venue. Two schools participated – only one of which was from our borough. We could not generate the interest or buy-in that an LEA Advisor could have. We’ll keep trying, but it will remain an uphill struggle because the education sector responds to its own infrastructure far more readily than to any outside body, and coherence comes from within. It is the LEA that facilitates the dialogue, establishes common ground and renders it fertile for new developments. If there is a National Curriculum for schools, then surely there should be similar service level guarantees in those authorities responsible for upholding every child’s legal entitlement to arts and culture?
Sherrell Perkin is Education and Community Manager at The BROADWAY, Barking.