Step by step: the arts policy and young people 1944-2014 The Cultural Institute at King’s released a report this week calling for better informed policymaking to encourage young people’s engagement with arts.

Step by step: the arts policy and young people 1944-2014 was published to mark the 50^th anniversary of the first government arts policy , the White Paper, A Policy for the Arts: The First Steps.

By reviewing historical interventions in arts policy and calling for the embedding of stronger evaluation frameworks, the report opens up the debate about the collective amnesia surrounding previous arts policy in the UK and the importance of learning from historical precedents in order to inform contemporary and future arts policy.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation welcomes the report and its recommendations as it reminds us of the historical role played by the Foundation in prompting the government to take increasing responsibility for the arts in Britain.

The report mentions the Foundation’s involvement in the Community Arts movement in the 1970s and in funding a variety of arts projects focused on young people. In particular, the research highlights the significance of Lord Redcliffe-Maud’s 1976 report: Support for the Arts in England and Wales, which was funded by the Foundation and reignited a debate in the arts by calling for a revolution in education policy to bring the arts to the heart of the curriculum. The report also mentions the Foundation’s support of the first Education Liaison Officer post at the Arts Council.

The report goes on to say that the Foundation’s significant contribution was in funding where the government had been reluctant, providing an intellectual framework through which government arts policy has developed, and acting as an agent in the delivery of policy by supporting experimental and community-centred work.

This report is a timely piece, which is part of a Cultural Enquiry into access to the arts for young people by the Cultural Institute at King’s, and reminds us that arts policy is most effective if it is historically informed.

Click here to read an overview of the Cultural Enquiry.

Please read the full report here.