More creativity in the classroom, space to vent their creativity and mentoring for careers in the creative industries are among the demands made by 3,000 young people in a new ‘Manifesto for a Creative Britain’. The manifesto was created through a process of consultation and finalised at a young people’s conference at Tate Britain, in partnership with Creative Partnerships. It has been supported by a research project, ‘Young People Omnibus’, carried out for Creative Partnerships by Ipsos Mori, which reveals the attitudes to and knowledge about creativity and the creative industries among school pupils aged 11–16 across England. Both the conference and the research explore “what young people feel they need in order to learn, think and act creatively”.
The Ipsos Mori report shows that older pupils are more likely consider creativity important, but were also more likely to feel that they are not allowed to be creative in school due to exam pressure. Fifty-five per cent of those surveyed had not been to an art gallery, with reasons cited including the lack of an art gallery locally (44%) and that their school had never taken them to one (26%). The study also found that 48% of schools have not discussed potential careers in creative industries with their pupils, against 41% which have. Respondents took a relatively narrow view of the creative industries, linking them with art lessons at school. However, the conference and manifesto were more wide ranging. Demands include being allowed “to learn from each other, to get fresh ideas from cultures other than just our own”, wanting “time for out of school activities and we want them to count towards our qualifications” and support to enter the creative industries because “we don’t know how it works”. The manifesto, which drew on contributions made through online discussion, face-to-face conversations, group debate and video interviews, was presented to the Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, immediately after the conference. [[48% of schools have not discussed potential careers in creative industries with their pupils]]
Further afield, Europe’s creative and innovative potential is to be debated though a series of events throughout 2009 as part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (ECYI), launched by the European Union. The ECYI succeeds the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue in 2008, and aims to “raise awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation in personal, social and economic development throughout the European Union”. Activities during the year will include six public debates held in Brussels, focusing on cultural diversity, the public sector, education, the knowledge society, sustainable development and “the creative arts and their industries”. Ambassadors for the ECYI include i-Pod designer Jonathan Paul Ive, Professor Erno Rubik and the former Finnish Prime Minister, Professor Esko Tapani Aho.
The ECYI announcement coincides with the first meeting of c&binet, a group of international creative business people brought together in Liverpool by UK Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, with a view to establishing an annual international forum. The first such event is due to take place in the UK in October 2009. Writing in the US blog The Huffington Post, Burnham pointed to the importance of “copyright and other systems to support creativity” in the digital age. “The risk is that if the best creative content is available for free, nobody pays for the really important things in life and we are all impoverished as citizens,” he added.
w: http://www.creative-partnerships.com; http://creativemanifesto.tate.org.uk/
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