‘Arts for young people is key to hope’

Lisa Nandy, in her fiery Labour conference speech, blamed the last government for smashing youth services whilst erasing sports and music from class rooms and our communities. The national youth strategy has dire numbers of 1000 youth centres being closed and almost 4500 youth workers who have lost their jobs. At the same time we have seen arts and culture funding has not only eroded but wiped away in many cases – with university cuts, arts foundations and cultural centres trying to stay afloat during very difficult years.

DCMS has made some very lofty promises through their Youth Matters strategy and the Arts Everywhere fund, promising to not only more youth workers over the next ten years but also making arts and sports an integral part of the curriculum. This is very promising.

In Newham our youth strategy and cultural approach is all about collaborative working making the voices of young people and the cultural sector at the very centre of this conversation through a process of co-creation. Whilst the government’s cultural funding is promised to go into buildings and institutions via the Arts Council, we have seen in Newham that,  by prioritising people and access, we have had some great outcomes with more young people getting involved in events and choosing cultural apprenticeships. Newham has been a priority place of investment by the Arts Council which is giving a boost to capital heavy projects in the borough. The influx of East Bank partners (V & A East, Sadlers Wells and LCF to name just a few) has seen a new cultural quarter develop in what is considered one of London’s most deprived boroughs.

READ MORE:Read Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s conference speech in full

Academics have long argued that local youth culture programmes can deliver lasting benefits, from reducing violence to helping people connect across communities and find work. I think that’s right, and it’s why I take the national offer seriously. But looking at it alongside Newham, I see some gaps that need closing.

Take arts funding. More than 85% of Arts Everywhere goes to buildings and venues, and I understand why, but Newham shows the limits of that approach. We have major institutions arriving, yet participation sits just below the London average. Plenty of supply and weak take-up is exactly where a programme stream, alongside the capital money, would make the difference, so that the promise of arts funding reaches everyone and not only the places with the crumbling roofs.

The same goes for youth work. The government has pledged 1,000 youth workers, and Youth Matters commits £15 million to recruiting and training them. Those numbers are impressive. But in Newham, where 37% of the population is under 25, A share weighted to the number of young people would do far more good than spreading the money evenly. I’d like to see a manifesto promise that allocation would follow the share of under-25s in each local authority.

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I’d go further and guarantee every child a minimum level of arts, music and heritage, funded and inspected, rather than leaving it to what a school or council can afford. Our own schools offer was redesigned partly on ‘value for money’ grounds, which tells you how exposed discretionary provision is. A national cultural passport could sit alongside that for those who need it most. Ours covers 11–18-year-olds and isnsupported by children’s services, and a national version could start with free school meal eligibility and care leavers, with a published route to wider coverage.

Then there are anchor institutions, which I think do something that is hard to put a number on but matters enormously. Our university partnership offers placements, mentorships and apprenticeships, and that’s where cultural investment turns into real jobs for people who live down the road. I’d like funders to attach published local hiring and training commitments to institutions that settle in young, deprived boroughs.

Based on the national picture and what we’ve learned in Newham, I think Labour’s next manifesto should put culture and young people at its centre, as the clearest expression of what has become the party’s tagline: hope. The next election is still a little way off, but working with local authorities such as ours and exchanging good practice can help shape a youth and cultural manifesto with national resonance. 

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