From Paul Harman, Artistic Director of CTC Theatre
The Creative Partnerships scheme was well promoted in the last issue of ArtsProfessional (Issue 68, February 23); but instead of millions being spent to deliver a few headline projects to very few people, I believe every child should have regular experiences of the arts.
As Chair of ASSITEJ UK, an international network of theatre for children and young people, I am proud that 200 small touring theatre companies are actually reaching over 4 million children in schools every year. We are increasingly respected abroad. But while Arts Council England has set up a whole new support bureaucracy for Creative Partnerships, there is one part time officer at ITC to service our collective needs ? an impossible task.
World Children?s Theatre Day on March 20 will unite professional theatre makers in 70 countries. You won?t hear much about the UK?s activities, as we just don?t have the money to promote our achievements. We need a real creative partnership between theatres and schools. Teachers need help to choose the right show, identify quality issues, maximise the impact of an exciting performance, and feed back results to artists. We need resources to collect evidence of our best practice, analyse, disseminate and celebrate it. Perhaps the Public Accounts Committee should look at the value for money of Creative Partnerships as well as Lottery projects.