What the Arts Council Funding Cuts Could Mean For Early Years

During the last few tumultuous weeks, Earlyarts has been listening to feedback from its members and trying to analyse what some of the longer term implications of the Arts Council England cuts might be for very young children and their families. Following the recent ACE announcements on their future National Portfolio Organisations (NPO), it is clear that the limited funding available could only be allocated to organisations directly producing art or arts that met the ACE criteria, with a slightly different role for the bridging organisations. This did not appear to include much art or arts produced for, by or with very young children, and many arts professionals who are Earlyarts members are seriously concerned about how ACE will fulfil its national objectives which clearly state a commitment to the role of the arts sector in helping children from an early age engage in and experience the arts both inside and outside of school.

‘The arts fuel children’s curiosity and critical capacity. They are every child’s birthright. It is vital that children engage with the arts early in their lives.’ Achieving Great Art for Everyone, A strategic framework for the arts.

ACE staff have confirmed that the only NPO funded organisations who will have a brokering role between the arts and education sectors will be the Ten Bridging Organisations, and – as we understand it - there will be no specific early years brief in this remit. No doubt a few may be able to sustain this work through other core funding where they were already engaged in those communities, but it’s not looking like an easy road to travel. Whilst there is nothing stopping arts education and art form companies applying for GfA for early years projects, many have also had their Local Authority funding cut so this is not really a long term strategy, and we suspect many of them may have to reposition themselves within a schools remit if they are to take advantage of any partnerships with the Bridging organisations in the future.

Our concern is that, despite the hundreds of new pieces of early years theatre, dance, music, photography, singing, visual arts, sculpture and crafts that have been burgeoning in the last ten years, it is unlikely that there will be a future ‘market’ for early years work in the arts sector since it will become increasingly difficult to sustain a strategic infrastructure or even develop early years practice amongst the funded clients. This, combined with the intention to no longer fund networks or professional development organisations with a developmental role in the sector, does suggest that our artists won’t be able to grow their early years skills and that we risk a great loss of intelligence through the lack of strategic joining up of policy, practice, training and research in this area in the future.

Regardless of Earlyarts own bid not being successful, what is more worrying for us are the implications of the wider cuts and the messages coming through about the future relationship between arts and education seeming to be available through limited access only, almost certainly excluding early years and focussing on arts production and projects as opposed to infrastructure and processes.

The good news is that some of the national agencies committed to early years arts practice (including Earlyarts) have been supporting the Task Force during the consultations on the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The outcome of this is very positive overall and Dame Tickell’s proposal is to have a clear remit within the delivery of the EYFS for Expressive Arts and Design, intended as a range of processes underpinning all areas of children’s learning. This strategy group is currently making proposals as to how the arts sector can be directly involved in rolling out the revised EYFS. One such proposal includes artists and arts organisations becoming one of the named cross-sector agencies that are brought around children and families in need of support, in ways that would add value to the restructuring of Children’s services.

Having worked hard to achieve the understanding and acceptance of the role of the arts sector as important partners within mainstream early learning, it would be ironic to think that in future there may not be much of an arts sector engaging with early years due to the lack of strategic funding to enable them to sustain that work.

Earlyarts itself will need to explore other options if our forecasts are correct about the wider arts and early years market becoming significantly reduced, and we will be exploring ideas with all relevant organisations for their ideas on future partnerships that keep early years on the arts agenda. Years of research, evaluation and evidence have shown the hugely vital impact of creative interventions on young children’s abilities to adapt, build resilience, become expressive communicators, have a sense of well being and confidence, and know where they fit within the world around them. Earlyarts has just under 6000 members working to bring arts and cultural opportunities into the lives of very young children because they know that the earlier they build these bridges, the bigger the difference. Surely, they can’t all be wrong?

It’s not just the fact that it makes so much economic sense to reduce cultural deprivation by intervening as early as possible. It’s simply the fact that all children have a right to enjoy arts and cultural forms from birth, and this is not to be ignored lightly. If you need any further convincing, see the very wonderful Children’s Cultural Rights in Seven Language... by La Baracca Theatre Company.

What can you do? Earlyarts will soon be launching a map of creative early years practice, so we will be able to see at a glance the vast range and reach of early years arts across the world. Put yourself on the map by registering here (its free) and send us a case study of your work with young children which can be linked to the map. You are all welcome to become Earlyarts members and see how important your work is within the bigger picture.