Is it lack of interest or increase in barriers to overcome? I set out to research this issue for my Gold Arts Award Unit 1 Part D.
Where are all the young creatives and what’s changed? That’s the question on everyone’s mind at every event I visit or meeting I attend. It seems the arts are on a steady decline and there’s a lack of interest and motivation around among the young. But is that really the case? I set out on a journey to discover the answer by talking to the supposed roots of the issue.
To begin, I
Meeting with DAISI, 25/03/2025 needed to know where to focus and which educational settings were best to contact. After narrowing down my research area to Devon and Somerset, I reached out to DAISI (Data Analysis and Insight for School Improvement) and SPAEDA (Somerset Partnership Arts Education Agency) in March 2025. This gave me a great insight into how to go about things, giving me the confidence to move on to phase two of my research: contacting schools.
With the help of DAISI, SPAEDA and some in-depth Google searches, I compiled an initial list of 51 educational settings that I could reach out to, in order to get an idea of challenges being faced. After two emails and often a phone call to each setting, I had a group to compare. I repeated this process twice more to have a spread of private, grammar and state schools/colleges to gather feedback from. Whilst I did manage to get enough support, it was a huge struggle to get most to speak with me, often due to the fear of being judged as poor providers of art/craft education.
So what did I learn? Firstly, there is a hugely varying level of arts education provided, even following the same curriculum. Is this really the school’s fault, however? Often, with an average budget of only £1 or less per student per year in the state/grammar schools I spoke to, not only do teachers have to be extremely inventive in their search for funding, they also can’t offer what they dream of providing. Now, whilst this is not concrete for the whole of Devon and Somerset due to only having a small pool of schools to work with, looking online, this presents to be a common theme. Moreover, many schools have closed their Design and Technology departments to combat funding restrictions, but this becomes a vicious circle. A lack of DT means students never have the opportunity to even try a craft skill.
Looking towards private schools, funding is less of an issue, but parents’ career expectations for their children are just as strong of a barrier to state school funding restraints. One teacher remarked: “My greatest achievements as a teacher are giving a student the foundations to persuade their parents that art is the right direction for them.” The overwhelming pressure put onto university pathways for private settings, in particular, sets profound limitations on what is acceptable and what is not.
So what impact is this having on young creatives? After conversing with teachers, I forwarded on a research form for students to fill out. With an average of two one-hour lessons of art and one hour-long lesson of DT each week (three hours total) in secondary school, a student that studies both had an average of an extra hour – 4 hours of creative time each week. However, I found my study to be biased towards students who chose creative subjects for GCSEs, meaning they already had an interest. When compared to a student who did not choose an art subject, these hours were significantly less – often just the extra time for homework and no other creative practice. This is not where the key issue lies as why push someone who is not creative into a creative career?
Looking at the creative students, over half shared that if they pursued a creative career, they would receive little to no support outside of their educational setting. When asked to elaborate, most students faced a lack of craft confidence and access to funds. Craft/art is not considered a stable career, particularly for those who are already academically successful elsewhere. Others shared they had little knowledge of crafts outside of woodwork, metal work and thatching – many asking for links to explore further.
So what does the current funding market look like? After the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people chose to work from home, taking up crafts. Many turned to creating a small business after facing redundancy. This has led to a huge surge in an already tight market for funding. One example of how dire the situation has become is that both DAISI and SPEADA have since had to close their doors since our conversation, due to lack of funding.
This brings us back to the original question: where are all the creatives and what’s changed? Well, the creatives are out there, just hidden behind more barriers than ever. My conclusion is that restrictions faced through funding, decline in teaching departments, and overall exposure to the arts are the issues here. The schools are doing all they can to provide a good education but external pressures and limitations are hindering development, and subsequently interest, as it’s a struggle to even make it to the start line.
