December 2003

The government confirmed in 2003 that £200m has been set aside to ensure the ongoing provision of activities and facilities that engage young people outside of formal education. It is hoped that the new Young People's Fund will benefit organisations that promote youth inclusion, including those in the youth arts sector.

Youth Music, in partnership with Arts Council England, has facilitated discussions with other youth arts organisations to consider how the sector might work together to make best use of this funding. Youth Music does not consider itself to be the voice of youth arts, but is keen to further discussions that will bring about greater cohesion across the sector, particularly as music is often combined with other art forms such as dance, theatre, film and poetry, and in many cultural traditions, music is always integrated with one or more other arts discipline.

As a result of three exploratory meetings between interested parties, a consultation paper was published by Youth Music on 1 July 2003. Copies of this can be downloaded below as well as a summary of the feedback received. The summary has been sent to all respondents and passed on to Arts Council England who are considering it in relation to the development of their 'young people and the arts strategy'.

For further information please contact Carole Sterckx:
carole.sterckx@youthmusic.org.uk

Download discussion paper (143KB PDF)
Download summary of responses (100KB PDF)