Arts Education

Arts-based approaches can build equity in classrooms and support children and young people, particularly those experiencing disadvantage, to overcome barriers to learning. 

The arts play an important role in supporting young people to thrive in education. The arts can enrich learning experiences, increasing young people’s engagement in school and learning and supporting key educational outcomes. The arts can also unlock potential by helping young people to develop skills in critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and problem-solving. In addition, engaging with the arts supports young people’s communication, empathy and emotional wellbeing.

For many young people, particularly those experiencing the most disadvantage, the only opportunity to gain access to arts education is at school.

Where good practice exists in schools, colleges and the arts organisations that work with them, the benefits for young people are significant. This is where we focus our grant-making and learning.

There is an appetite for collaboration between teachers and arts organisations, and for them to explore and improve their practice and the outcomes for young people. We are particularly interested in supporting such partnerships. 

We also respond to teachers’ interest in having more opportunities to develop their skills and professional practice in teaching through the arts, and in understanding their pivotal role in creating and delivering an arts-rich curriculum and school environment.

For a snapshot of the grants we made last year in education and learning through the arts, the graphs below show how much funding we awarded and where this was distributed across the UK. You can find out more about the organisation we funded in our grants database.