MEET THE MINISTER OF THE ART OF...

AND HOW HE INSPIRED US TO...

I was delighted to get an invite last Monday from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the first big speech by the Culture Secretary, in Coventry. 

I declined, despite the fact that I’d kept my diary deliberately clear all last week and most of next as I have my head down with just 15 of the 30 days left that I gave myself on New Years Day when I announced a hairy audacious plan to co-create a nationwide #ARTCONNECTS19 Festival of Creative Schools, Work and Lives - a Celebration of the Power of Creativity, Tech and People to help remind Britain what it's great at and to make sure our young people have the inspiration and creative skills to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. 

It was inspired by a quote from a man, considered by many to be the most influential business blogger in the world:

"Art is what we call it when what we do might connect us to someone else"

Seth Godin

It will be a collaboration with some of the 20 schools I connected with when I visited then with our #ARTofROCKETS session on our Twelve Days of (Creative) Christmas Tour which culminated in a little Yorkshire lad I'd connected with, getting a train set, a symbol of the power of a gift to unleash his imagination and creativity. 

Then DCMS offered me a media slot with The Minister, so I reconsidered.

QUICK… IT’S THE SLOW TRAIN

I found a ￡12 ticket on a slow train, sent some artwork to the printers and worked my way to Coventry, home of Britain’s City of Culture in 2021. 

But the trouble with slow trains is they go slowly and arrive after the rush. And this one was late too, so I was and walked into a packed Belgrade Theatre to the minister’s speech. 

Well. Just WOW!!!

As well as announcing over ￡20m of funding in the #Cultural Development Fund for half a dozen areas from Plymouth to Worcester and Wakefield, I was flattered that in his #ValueOfCulture speech he spoke straight to STEAM Co.’s strategy and vision. 

In a nutshell we believe that hardly anybody really, REALLY CARES about education regardless of whether they have kids, but less so if they don’t (so don’t come crying to us if you don’t like the #Brexit mess and can’t see the link)

WHO CARES?

They say they CARE, but few act like they CARE but frankly I don’t think many people understand enough about what goes on in school to really be able to CARE. They leave it to the experts. But our kids need carers like you. Not just parents.

But do they always listen to the experts?

Many believe and can prove that creativity and arts education has positive impact across both academic achievement and life outcomes.

Did you know for example that it’s academically proven that homework has next to no effect on outcomes whatsoever, it’s only set to please the parents. This is particularly the case in independent schools because that’s what many parents feel they are paying for - to see their children working hard. 

And I don’t have a problem with much of that concept at all, hard work that is.

ART? YOU WHAT?

You probably know that my gripe is with the UK’s impending #CreativityCrisis, which it seems has its roots sown in education, both the teaching of creative subjects/CREATIVITY and also teaching CREATIVELY, in a way that engages all young people, regardless of their background, their learning styles*, or their interests.

(* did you know that there is a school of thought among many highly influential educators that refuses to accept that different children learn differently. Any idea why? They quote evidence that disproves it, while others have evidence to the contrary. Gotta love evidence)

My feeling is that the only way to address this is to bring the conversation about creativity in education, out of education’s various and often polarised #BinaryEdThinking echo chambers and connect it with the wider world of business, the economy and broader society itself

Surely that’s the point of school, to educate children to be economically productive citizens and make a positive contribution to their communities and our world. 

We have to help our young people discover and develop their passion, to engage them with their education, power their dream career and connect them with their communities. We need to help them find their art.

A SPEECH BY THE COLLABORATION MINISTER

The Culture Minister, the Rt Hon Jeremy Wright MP couldn’t have done a better job of demonstrating the power of art in his speech.

But talking and walking are two different things. Ask any TED talker.

I’ll let you watch and read the minister’s speech yourself but in essence he talked about the power and importance of creativity in our schools, particularly drama and creative subjects. And how DCMS are collaborating with Damian Hinds and most of his team at the DfE to co-fund just that.

He talked about the power of the arts and culture to health and well being as part of a proactive approach to prevention rather than cure. And how DCMS are collaborating with Matt Hancock and his team at the NHS to co-fund just that.

He talked about the value of the creative industries to the British economy, now more than ￡100 billion a year and the support our Creative Industries need. And how DCMS are collaborating with Greg Clarke and his team at BEIS to co-fund just that.

He talked about the positive benefits of the arts in prisons. And how DCMS are collaborating with Sajid Javid and his team at The Home Office to co-fund just that.

He went in and on, like the ultimate advocate for the 21st Century Critical Skills of Collaboration and Co-funding, His thinking was certainly very creative too.

I hung on every word.

He demonstrating his art.

The #Art of Collaboration

The #Art of Co-creation

The #Art of Co-funding

He certainly connected with me,as the Minister of The #Art Of...

But it got better. There was icing on this cake. 

HERE’S ONE WE DID EARLIER

It’s worth pausing for a moment for a quick commercial break to tell you all about the #ARTCONNECTS19 festival which we launched on New Year’s Day and are currently co-creating.

It follows on from our first event in Camden and King’s Cross last year. 

It will see schools celebrate and showcase creativity in their communities in #OURART19 events across the country during the week of 4-8 Feb.

I’m popping up to visit three in Liverpool alone on the Wednesday, where one of them, one of the UK’s most awarded creative schools, is going to make a very special announcement about a collaboration for art and culture in their community.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

We have a weekend of events in West London kicking off with a #BrewEdSocial Ukulele jam on the Friday evening above a pub on the Grand Union canal. We may watch a film too. We’ve not finalised it yet

Then on Saturday 9th Feb it’s the ‘TES Creative Schools’ Day of family friendly short talks, creative workshops and mind blowing performances at Kensington Aldridge Academy, a school that focuses on the creative arts and entrepreneurship at the foot of Grenfell Tower on the Saturday with the most amazing line-up inc the World’s Best teacher, an art teacher who won $1m for her work using art to keep young people out of gangs in Brent.

We also have a workshop from the music teacher in Bradford who I visited on the Christmas tour with a screen on the back of a lorry and who has united their school community and raised standards using music. I pushed the boat out for that session as he’d just been shortlisted for the $1m prize this year. 

A group of teachers, artists and parents are coming down from Chester West - one, a headteacher, will tell how he completely rewrote his school curriculum around creativity over the summer holidays after one of our half day #ArtofRockets sessions in June. 

EVERYBODY DANCE NOW

Saturday evening of 9th Feb will see the #DANCECONNECTS party in a venue to be confirmed, with DJs and artists to be confirmed for an audience to be confirmed. 

Yes, we're seizing opportunities to create a world class event as they come along. Agility, resourcefulness, focus and delivering on the vision - all good 20st Century Critical Skills in action. We thought so and are keen to recruit 2-6 interns to work with us from here if we can co-fund a Living London Wage for them. And try to get them work after with the creative companies popping up nearby in White City.

For on Sunday 10th Feb we move over to White City Place for a Creative Family Fun Day where we have a range of creative and inspiring short talks on ‘Creative Work and Lives’. 

RAGS TO RICHES

We’ll look at career pathways in the creative industries with sessions from the founder of global fashion brand All Saints. We’ll hear how one young man left Wolverhampton to come to London with nothing, working his way up washing dishes in West End restaurants and is about to take on one of the most prestigious hotel jobs in the world.

Also the story of a young Scottish Asian and former Young Woman Engineer of the Year who has featured in Cosmo. 

A highlight will be panel led by a young woman who had to leave teaching after a life changing illness. They’ll talk about the skills needed for a career in the games industry and she’ll lead it from her wheelchair. She’s coming up from Devon with her carer and is looking for a travel grant as we can’t commit to help her with her expenses yet. 

The festival will be opened by a little lad we met in Leeds and who we gave a train set to that John Lewis had given us. Read that story here

OUR HOUSE IT HAD A CROWD

That event will be in Parliament on Thurs 31st Jan. It’s deliberately after school so parents and teachers can bring children. Why not join us?

There's never been more uncertainty in the UK, if not the world. Whatever happens we need to make sure Britain continues to do, and be number one at, what we do best. That's creativity.

Whether or not you’ve got kids. In fact, especially if you haven’t got kids as STEAM Co. is all about enabling you to inspire other people’s children with your creativity on STEAM Co. Days. And to give them back at 3.15pm

AND IT'S USUALLY QUITE LOUD

So what was the Ministers big idea? What was he really in Coventry to shout about?

Well something not massively dissimilar to what we’re trying to do in 30 days albeit on a bigger scale than a similar announcement last summer by Sir Ken Robinson, when he joined the team at The Roundhouse as ‘Associate Creative Curator’ to run a 3 Day ‘Creativity Festival’ in Camden this February.

Sadly it seems that’s been called off, maybe they didn’t have much time either.

None of us have much time. 

Some of us don’t have much money either and that’s a problem we have as we’ve missed grant deadlines and many of our previous sponsors seem to be looking the other way given various distractions on the horizon.

At an event at the Tabernacle Community Arts Centre in Notting Hill last night chatting to teachers, community workers, parents and artists, it was clear that the very people we need at the above event happening on their doorstep may struggle to pay the ￡40 or so per person we’d really need to charge to make all this happen.

CREATIVE CARERS LIKE YOU

So later this week, inspired by the Rt Hon Jeremy Wright and the way he has collaborated, co-created and co-funded an arts and culture strategy with other departments, we’ll be announcing that we’re co/funding the festival as well as co-creating it. Sign up here if you'd like to chip in and we'll get back to you when it launches

Many people claim to CARE about creativity. Many, possibly you, are time poor, cash rich. 

We want companies and people who CARE to pay for people, who also care but may be more cash poor, time rich, people in West London, in Portobello, White City and the Grenfell Estate so they can go along and be better informed to help their children make life decisions.

The Art of Caring, is there a greater connection?

As Sir Ken says in one of his books ‘it’s a minute to midnight’

But for once the British Government have given themselves time. 

Guess what they announced on Friday? 

Yes, possibly inspired by a Somerset Farmer and his daughter, or a runaway Liverpudlian Educationalist or a dad has announced his own National Creativity Festival.

Here’s the Minister in a clip he filmed for us to tell you all about the #Art of Festivals.

"IT MIGHT NOT WORK…

It might not work, but here’s the thing, the guy who invented the ship, also invented the ship wreck, and either you’re in our you’re out.

Either you want to play this game or you don’t.

Art doesn’t work because we did something boring, conventional and industrialised. Art worked because we connected ”

Says Seth Godin, in his book the Icarus Deception, ‘a book about how we can all thrive in an economy that rewards art, not compliance. He explains why true innovators focus on trust, remarkability, leadership, and stories that spread. And he makes a passionate argument for why you should be treating your work as art.

The path of the artist isn't for the faint of heart - but Godin shows why it's your only chance to stand up, stand out, and make a difference.

The time to seize new ground and work without a map is now. So what are you going to do?’ (Amazon review)