In the past 24 hours the Cultural Learning Alliance has gathered a snapshot of how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting cultural education freelancers.

This is a summary of our findings.

We hope you and your families are safe and well as the UK enters at least three weeks of lockdown.

Our social feeds are full of wonderful and creative arts activities that families are doing together at home. Actors are sharing performances online and children are putting up artworks in their windows to cheer up neighbours. 

In the midst of all the uncertainty colleagues have been sharing brilliant free arts resources on many of the networks we are part of and we wanted to signpost to some of these.

Today, Friday 13 March the Drama Theatre and Young People Manifesto has been launched at the National Theatre, London. It calls for every child and young person to have an entitlement to drama and theatre throughout their education. 

This month we bring you news of new DCMS and DfE ministers; the Music Education Plan call for Evidence; DCMS economic estimates that show the creative industries are growing at five times the rate of the rest of the economy; the teacher Early Career Framework providers and rollout areas, and an IFS report covering the impact on lifetime earnings of studying creative arts degrees.

By Lizzie Crump, Co-Director of the CLA

Last Monday I was invited by three of our national Bridge organisations to host a symposium at the Royal Opera House on the theme of ‘What is the role of creative and cultural learning in a quality education? 

This month we bring you news of the RSA’s Arts-Rich Schools report; confirmation of £85 million of investment by the Department for Education in cultural education for 2020/21; and background and research on the Early Years Foundation Stage reform from Earlyarts.

Today Arts Council England (ACE) publishes its new ten-year strategy: a headline vision, and a set of outcomes and investment principles which will govern its work as the ‘national development agency for creativity and culture’.