New data given to us by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC), funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, has shown a collapse in uptake for creative courses in further education.
In May, Channel 4 News released exclusive data which showed that just one in 12 people working in film and TV are from working-class backgrounds, the lowest in a decade. Anecdotally, we heard from creatives who spoke about the difficulties they faced at school, and the
barriers they faced in their careers further down the line.
Now, new data given to us by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC), funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, has shown a collapse in uptake for creative courses in further education. In the last decade there has been a 57% fall in England, 68% in Wales, 28% in Northern Ireland and a 20% drop in Scotland.
There’s no single reason given for this collapse, but we spoke to teachers at one North London school who told us from an early age, youngsters are being denied the right opportunities to enter the arts. They were taking part in a protest against pay cuts for those teaching creative subjects, but stressed funding is not the main issue. Teachers say the exclusion of arts subjects from the English Baccalaureate has denigrated the arts, especially in the state sector.
“We must defend the arts,” one teacher told us. “They can’t just be for middle-class kids with family resources or for kids who go to private schools.
“Applications for creative degrees and further education courses have dropped off. We’ve been working a lot with professional organisations in the arts who are worried about the impact and the talent coming through.”
Actress Lynda Rooke is the president of EquityUK. From a working-class background herself, Lynda says support for artists at a young age makes a huge impact on their chances later in their careers.
“If schools haven’t got those kinds of courses available, then they’re never going to be advising kids whether they should go to university or go to drama school.”
So what are those in the industry doing to try and alleviate these issues? Mia Bays runs the BFI’s Filmmaking Fund, and says she’s made diversity and inclusion a focal point of her work.
“We have targets – we introduced a socio-economic background target from last year, which we didn’t have before. It really helps to have targets to reach for, and that’s in terms of being mindful about what stories you centre and also who is telling the story.”
Teachers and creatives say they are hoping that under a new government the arts may see a renaissance. Many teachers we spoke to said that funding cuts and what they perceived to be ridicule from the previous government hurt the industry.
In a statement to Channel 4 News, the Department for Education promised a review of arts education, saying: “There is a real issue around creativity in our state schools and the lack of access pupils have to music, art and drama.
“Alongside high and rising standards in core subjects, creativity is an essential part of a young person’s education. Subjects like music, art and drama build confidence and important skills like communication, critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork.”
The creative sector is one of the UK’s largest exports, and a source of national pride for many. But after a decade in which ‘arts inequality’ has dramatically worsened, it seems to many experts that people are beginning to turn away.
Additional reporting by Michael Saliba
You can find the full report from Creative PEC here.