Homework and cost are the main reasons children and young people in Lambeth say they don’t take part in more arts activities. Cost was also the main factor highlighted by parents.
Everyone’s an Artist, is a new report by Oxygen Arts, aimed to find out what young people valued about taking part in arts activity and what the main barriers were to them doing so. The research includes the results of a survey of 100 children and young people and 70 parents in Lambeth, and more in depth interviews with over 60 young people and parents.
‘We were forced to study the waltz in music class.’
Secondary aged young person
Key findings include:
- One in three (36%) of young people would like to do more arts activity in school, while the same proportion (37%) would like to do more outside of school. One in ten (12%) do not want to do any arts at all.
- Just over half (56%) of the young people surveyed say that what they enjoy the most about taking part in arts activities is because they are fun while around one in five (21%) say it’s because it’s the career that they want.
- Half of parents surveyed, whose household income was below £20,000, are ambivalent about their children engaging in arts and cultural activities.
- Over half (57%) of parents say that they have not considered a creative arts career for their child. This rises to eight out of nine (88%) of those whose household income is under £20,000 and three in four (74%) of those who come from the global majority.
The report, funded by Lambeth ELEVATE, also looks at the ongoing effects of the pandemic on children’s wellbeing and behaviour, as well as the more recent impacts of the cost of living crisis on their engagement with the arts.
‘People are worried about the rising costs of everything.’
Secondary aged young person