Only half of children in England have been to a museum or the theatre in the past year, while three-quarters have not been to an art gallery, research shows. Dawn Airey, the new chair of Arts Council England, said the figures were “shocking” but also “an amazing opportunity to ensure they do have that experience to enrich their lives”. In her first interview since taking up the job six weeks ago, Airey said experience of arts and culture “should almost be a human right”.
It was just accepted that you would go to your local gallery. You can have great art but if there is no access it might as well not be there. That is the challenge,” she said.
Airey, a TV industry veteran and former Channel 5 boss, spoke to the Guardian while on a whistlestop tour of arts projects in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. She succeeds Nicholas Serota as chair of an organisation that has had a bumpy few years, beginning with huge cuts imposed by the Conservatives. An independent review of ACE by Margaret Hodge this year levelled a number of criticisms, including that it had overly complicated application processes, which “stifled creativity and innovation”.
Arts organisations were also last year put through the wringer when ACE’s grant processing platform, Grantium, crashed, causing widespread funding limbo. Airey recalled that on her first visit as chair to ACE’s London office, “it felt quiet, a little bit subdued. I didn’t expect that.” She said she wanted ACE to get its “swagger” back.
I want us to be loud.” Airey was speaking as ACE published its first Creative Young Lives survey, one of the biggest of its type undertaken. It looks at how children and young people engage – or don’t – with arts and culture. The figures showed that in the past year 51.79% of young people had been to a museum, 48.56% to the theatre or a show, 26.31% to an art gallery or exhibition, and 22.25% to a music event.
In the survey, 74% of children said being creative was important to them, and 60% said they would definitely like to do more creative and cultural activities. Cost is one of the biggest barriers, with 32% of respondents saying it prevented them from making more visits to cultural places. More than half (55%) said making creative activities more affordable would help them increase their participation.
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