With the general election just a matter of months away, Ed Miliband has pledged to put arts and cultural education at the heart of a Labour government. Speaking tonight at a Creative Industries Federation event at Battersea Arts Centre, Mr Miliband set out for the first time Labour’s priorities for the arts, creative industries and cultural education.
The Labour Leader’s commitments include placing creativity at the heart of the school curriculum. Measures would include insisting that schools provide a good arts offer for students in order to be considered ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. Offering opportunities for young people, from all backgrounds, to access, enjoy and be trained in the arts was a key theme of the speech. Ed Miliband also called for the establishment of a Prime Minister’s committee for the creative industries to ensure the sector had greater prominence in government.
Responding to the speech, Federation CEO John Kampfner said: “We strongly believe that more emphasis needs to be placed on the arts in education policy if we are to sustain the success of Britain’s creative industries. We welcome Ed Miliband’s commitment to ensure that the voice of the arts and creative industries are heard in Downing Street and across Whitehall. We look forward to inviting David Cameron to share his long term vision for the sector.
As the UK’s national membership organisation for the public arts, cultural education and creative industries, we are seeking to ensure, through our many pre-election events, that cultural policy is firmly on the political agenda.”
