Children & the Arts

Who we are

Children & the Arts’ vision is for brighter, healthier, and happier children through the power of an inclusive and accessible arts sector.

We aim to achieve this through harnessing the creativity, enjoyment and aspiration of the arts to raise children’s confidence and success through experiences that last.

We work with arts venues across the UK to reach children in disadvantaged communities and hospices who are missing out on creative and cultural experiences. The ambition of all of our programmes is to give those children who are at risk of being left behind, a more fulfilled, creative and exciting education, whilst raising their confidence, educational attainment and aspiration.

Through our major schools programmes, Start and Quest, we:

• Work with arts venues across the UK to design arts education programmes that meet the needs of local schools
• Ensure the schools that take part are those who will benefit the most
• Support the venue-school partnership with funding, resources and expertise
• Monitor and evaluate projects and help arts venues to use this learning to develop and improve their programmes
• Develop teachers' confidence and skills in embedding the arts across the curriculum

Through our Start Hospices programme we:

• Work with arts venues to introduce a unique programme of creative activity suitable for children with life-limiting illnesses and their families
• Support the venue-hospice partnership with funding, resources and expertise
• Facilitate cross-sector learning between arts venues and hospices
• Monitor and evaluate projects to continually improve and develop programmes.