Creative Partnerships Programme Goes Independent

By Tara Booth

04/11/2008

Creative Partnerships, the Art Council England’s successful creativity programme for schools, has now become an independent organisation.

The programme, which was set up to develop young people’s creativity, has been developed and supported by Arts Council England since it began in 2002 and due to the huge success, it has now become an independent national agency as Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE).

“Creative Partnerships was an audacious idea that has become a phenomenal success,” said Alan Davey, Chief Executive of Arts Council England. “The Arts Council has nurtured that success and it is now a natural progression for it to be run by an independent organisation.”

“This independence will mean that Creativity, Culture and Education can grow to its full potential and even more young people can benefit from creativity in their lives.

Mr Davey added that the Arts Council will however make a significant investment in CCE over the next two years. "Our ambition is that this will lead to lifelong engagement with the arts for the young people involved,” he said.

CCE will receive more than £75 million from the Arts Council England between April 2009 and March 2011, the largest single grant in that two-year-period. The new organisation will have its headquarters in Newcastle.

Creative Partnerships have worked with more than 750,000 young people and works intensively with 2,000 schools across England.

Independent studies show that schools that work with Creative Partnerships improve their GCSE results faster as well as further engaging parents in their children’s learning.

“Arts Council England’s funding will allow us to bring creative professionals into the classroom to inspire young people and to raise their aspirations and achievements,” explained Paul Roberts OBE, Chairman of CCE.

“As well as helping to raise education standards, creative learning helps young people develop the skills demanded by today’s employers: like team-working, networking and confidence in communication.”

For more information, visit the website www.creative-partnerships.com/