THE PORTRAITS

Lorraine: “It seems totally incongruous to cut funding for arts education in our schools whilst rubbing our heads in puzzlement at why children’s mental health is in such steep decline. The current movement in education in our country is to drum facts and figures into our children, pile more and more exam pressure on them then whip them until their results match those of countries like Singapore so we can compete within the highly discredited model of globalisation. You might well argue that Science, English and Maths hold more importance in the success of a nation than music, art and drama. You could certainly talk about the fact that - sadly - there is far more money to be made from the ‘core’ subjects than the creatives. But to pull the rug from under the expressive parts of the curriculum subjects is painfully shortsighted. Not only will it damage further our already struggling arts in this country: increasingly, only the wealthiest families can afford to offer their children a fully rounded creative education and the results of this are already evident in the huge numbers of today’s successful actors, musicians, writers and artists who came from private schools. But also it has been well documented that it is creativity that gives many children shelter, peace and calm and a means of expression in their young lives. It is what enables them to work in teams and to let out their anger and their sadness. To cut this whole element out of their lives is criminal. If we do nothing else in this country, we’ve always excelled at Culture. But it is about much more than selling tickets to art or music shows. It is deeply linked to our national soul. Whatever our future, the Arts should be off-limits as we push things aside in our race to be bigger, better and faster than everyone else.”