ARTS EMERGENCY
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Mission Statement
Arts Emergency is a charity tackling inequality in the UK’s education and creative industries. We support and nurture the emerging cultural voices of the least advantaged young people. Our mission is to empower those young people to embrace their passions and to believe that they are as entitled as anybody else to study the arts and humanities subjects they love, and that it is a valid path they can proudly follow into further education and beyond.
About This Cause
What we do We are about social justice and we are in it for the long-haul. An equal collaboration of generations, skills and class: one artist, one thinker, to another. On an individual level, we offer a free, personalised mentoring and networking service to less advantaged young people attending state schools, where 60% + of the pupil population are eligible for the Government’s Pupil Premium funding. On a wider level we also provide speakers to state schools, sharing real-life experience of studying and working in the arts and humanities. Specifically, we aim to: • increase knowledge of opportunities in higher education and related careers • increase confidence that studying related subjects in higher education is a serious option • increase personal and professional networks • build confidence to identify and request support and opportunity long term “The programme Arts Emergency runs fills a gap that many young people from less advantaged backgrounds would find impossible to fill.” Lin Proctor, Raising Aspirations Director, Pimlico Academy Why we’re needed In 2010 government funding for the study of the arts and humanities in higher education was abolished entirely and education policies were introduced that favoured the “STEM” subjects (science, technology and maths). Since then there’s been a marked decline in uptake for GCSE’s in Design Technology, Drama, Media, Film and TV Studies, Music, Performing and Expressive Arts. By 2018 A-levels in Creative Writing, and Archaeology will cease to exist. Alongside the shrinking opportunities to study these subjects, research has shown that young people from poorer backgrounds are being held back from pursuing creative lives due to endemic social inequality. Analysis of the 2014 British Labour Force Survey found that: • Only 9.1% of the film industry’s workforce is drawn from those with parents from routine or semi-routine occupations. • Music has a similarly low number (10%), as does • Publishing (11.9%). Indeed publishing has a massive over-representation of the most advantaged in the country, with well over a third of the workforce (43.2%) from those with parents in elite occupations. This is not due to a lack of aspiration or talent, but rather that young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds have different levels of knowledge and confidence about routes into these professional areas. The importance of effective support was highlighted by The Social Mobility Advisory Group, who found that access to information, advice and guidance plays a crucial role in supporting a young person’s progression into education and careers. Students from more privileged backgrounds benefit from effective support at school, home and personal networks, which helps prevent them falling down the social ladder, as much as helping them up in the first place. This is often absent, or less effective, for less advantaged students without the same cultural capital. We believe that it’s not a luxury to study the arts and humanities. A BA degree has massive value for society: it teaches people to think critically. It broadens and enlightens. It furthers human knowledge and deepens our understanding of who we are, and who other people are. We believe those things are desperately important – now more than ever before. How we work We carefully match each young applicant with a trained mentor. They meet monthly and the mentor’s primary role is to help the young person identify goals, working with them to achieve these over the year. Previous goals achieved have included: • finding work experience in publishing, fashion buying and art studios • exploring options in higher education and successfully completing UCAS • visiting behind the scenes at galleries, theatres and film sets • meeting professionals within specific fields (for example a performing arts student met a set designer, actor, writer and director to gain a rounded appreciation of that industry) A mentor pair can make use of the Arts Emergency (AE) network - indeed young people are encouraged and supported to safely approach people they do not know in pursuit of their goals. The simple idea of being shown how to ask for the things they need, can be very empowering to a young person lacking a sense of entitlement. Progress is evaluated three times over the year and our team ensure regular monthly contact, clear child protection processes and oversight on individual needs and engagement. At the end of their year mentoring, young people are invited to remain part of the AE network up to the age of 24 to ensure long term impact and real ongoing support.