Britain is a dynamic and evolving country with young people coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, yet the children's sector does not always reflect this. We need to ensure young people are represented, recognised and given role models within the sector and that is exactly what Vital Spark hopes to do.
Arts and culture bring people together, through sharing perspectives and appealing to wide audiences. There are plenty of UK organisations and events that are actively pushing to include a greater spectrum of people from differing backgrounds and experiences.
All Points East, a music festival taking place over two weekends in East London's Victoria Park, had a stellar second year after its 2018 debut with performances, artist curated shows and community mid-week entertainment from 24 May to 2 March.
All Points East 2019 closed its final day with a headline performance from Bon Iver on Sunday, with more music by John Grant, Mac Demarco, Ezra Furman and Snail Mail.
Since beginning in 2011, the record-breaking television show Game of Thrones has had a huge effect on both the economic benefit and perception of the UK's creative industries as well as additional bonuses like increases in tourism, according to a story by the Department for International Trade. Read the full story here.
Key facts
The Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport Committee (DCMS Committee) has published a report on the life-changing benefits of participation in culture and sport to individuals and communities.
Changing Lives finds evidence that:
A new report published by Arts Council England and the Creative Industries Federation shows how public investment in arts and culture can open social, reputational and economic value throughout the creative industries.
Public Investment, Public Gain goes on to explain how investment has cultivated new ideas, technologies and innovation, increased talent pool and job growth, and leveraged investment to build upon UK business.
Arts Council England has published findings from 37 workshops across the company last autumn asking organisations from around the UK how it should approach its next ten-year strategy. Its new ten-year strategy is expected to be published autumn 2019.
Music strategy consultancy organisation Sound Diplomacy has published its 13-point guide for cities, towns and governments to increase economic, social and cultural growth through music.
Sound Diplomacy states: "The Music Cities Manual further supports a trend emerging around the world - cities are paying more deliberate and intentional attention to their music, culture and night time economies."
It's 13 points are set out as follows:
The DCMS Committee has published a new report on live music in the UK with key points including the need for further investment and a review of business rates to help struggling venues.
The report gathered evidence from industry professionals and artists including Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons. Key findings include:
Monitoring of secondary ticket resale sites
Arts Council England and the Centre for Towns are collaborating on a project to find out more about cultural infrastructure and engagement in towns across England.
Aiming to publish findings in autumn 2019, the organisations looks to fill the gaps of other studies which have traditionally skipped over cultural engagement in towns.
