THE ARTS AND CULTURE MATTER!

The arts matters and should be part of the entitlement for all young people. It is one of those unique elements that develop the skills and character required for success in school, work and life in general.

I was in Sheffield again yesterday meeting with Luisa Golob from Ignite Imaginations. 

Luisa manages the Arts and Culture strand of the Cutlers' 'Made in Sheffield' programme and, working with some great partners, has provided the ambassadors with a wonderful enrichment programme which has developed their skills and character as well as their knowledge and understanding of the arts and culture. This is another aspect of the brilliant work I am managing on behalf of the Cutlers Company and the programme has developed really well this year. It has provided the students with a real taste of the arts and the cultural sector; which is alive and well in Sheffield. The schools working with us are Firth Park Academy, Stocksbridge High School and Westfield School. The partners supporting this work are Ignite Imaginations, Sheffield Theatres, Museums Sheffield, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and Sanctuary Housing. The students have experienced a fantastic programme of events taking them to museums, theatres, Sheffield University, care homes and housing schemes and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. This has given them a real flavour of the arts and cultural sector in Sheffield. Luisa and I were talking about how we review and learn from what we have delivered this year and how we move the work into Year 10 from September. We are both hoping to take the programme out across Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham to reach more schools and more young people and we need to find more arts and cultural sector partners to support the programmes. Please let me know if you are interested or can help.