Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan and Education Minister Ruairí Quinn are jointly launching an Arts in Education Charter.
This Charter places new responsibilities on Government Departments, agencies, cultural institutions and arts organisations in terms of providing and promoting arts education to children and young people.
The charter will see organisations like the Arts Council, the National Cultural Institutions, the Colleges of Education and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment working with both Departments in order to bring the arts into the classroom and learners into the institutes for the arts.
Some of the Arts in Education Charter commitments include:
• Donate time in return for taxpayer funding: A new Public Service Education Dividend will be introduced which will mean that artists and arts organisations in receipt of taxpayer funds will be expected to donate a small amount of time each year to a local education initiative.
• Arts Rich Schools: The Arts Council will introduce a national scheme which will incentivise and recognise those schools (primary and secondary) which make the arts a key part of school life.
• Visits to museums and galleries: The National Cultural Institutions shall ensure that each student visits a national cultural institution at least once in their second level school career.
• Reduced ticket prices: The National Theatre and the National Concert Hall - along with all other National Cultural Institutions that may, from time to time, charge an admission fee for a particular event - will offer discounted tickets to those in full-time primary, post primary and third level education. These tickets shall not cost more than €5 per event.
• Artists in Residence: The number of artists' residencies in Colleges of Education will be increased.
• Curriculum design: The Arts Council will be consulted by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment on curriculum design.
Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan commented:
I'm delighted to launch this Charter today, with my colleague Minister Quinn, as it is something I have been keen to progress for many years. Giving young people access to the arts is extremely important both for their development and the artistic and cultural future of our country. This Charter gets a range of organisations to cooperate together and to work in a different way, and this kind of new approach is especially important at a time when resources are scarce.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn said:
Education should and must be about fostering creativity in our students and creativity cannot only be taught in the classroom. I believe the Arts in Education Charter will assist us in our mission to develop creativity in our economy and our society.
A High Level Implementation Group will oversee the implementation of the Charter, and will report to the Ministers at least twice a year. The Implementation Group may also advise the Ministers on updating and improving the Charter. The Implementation Group will be chaired by Professor John Coolahan (Professor Emeritus, NUI Maynooth) and will also include Orlaith McBride (Director of the Arts Council), Mary Nunan (Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick), Alan Wall (Director, Department of Education and Skills) and Niall O'Donnchu (Assistant Secretary, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht).
Read the full press release
here.