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Making a Difference? is a survey of all schools in
the Brighton and Hove urban area to investigate the pattern
of demand from schools for the provision of services by outside
artists and arts agencies. It was carried out in June
1999 by Same Sky in consultation with the Brighton, Hove &
East Sussex Arts Practitioners Association, funded by the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and facilitated by Brighton
and Hove Council Education Department.
1. What is your attitude to the place of the
arts in your school?
2. What is your attitude towards outside artists
coming into your school?
3. Is there a role for outside artists coming
into your school?
4. What outside arts input has your school had
in the past 18 months?
5. Does your school have a designated arts coordinator?
6. How aware are you of local arts education
organisations?
7. The types of schools that responded
to the survey
The return rate was 51% (39) of schools surveyed - slightly
above average rate of return for surveys of this type.
1. What is your attitude to the place of
the arts in your school?
The majority (86%) of schools that responded to the survey
believed that the arts "must take an integral place in the
range of opportunities on offer" at their school.
2. What is your attitude towards outside
artists coming into your school?
Schools replying overwhelmingly embraced the prospect of
having outside artists working in school. The majority
of schools (53%) said they take the opportunity of having
artists in the school when offered, while fewer (26%) said
they actively seek out such opportunities.
3. Is there a role for outside artists coming
into your school?
100% of the schools questioned could see there was a meaningful
role for outside artists coming into school.
- Most schools (42%) identified as the most important reason
"to broaden the range of experiences on offer to pupils".
Only 17% identified specific skills acquisition.
- The overwhelming majority of schools questioned (91%)
would distribute these opportunities equally to all pupils.
- Art forms highlighted as of particular interest included
visual arts (85%), drama (85%) and dance (79%). Of less
interest were electronic media (21%) and music-individual
tuition (28%).
4. What outside arts input has your
school had in the past 18 months?
Most schools (86%) had experienced working with an outside
artist, arts company or arts worker in their school in the
last 18 months.
- Art forms they had experienced were balanced between
visual arts, drama/dance, music (individual), music (other)
and literature.
- Of the 6 schools that had not experienced outside artists
in their school during the last 18 months, 3 attributed
this lack of finance, 2 to lack of opportuinity and 1 to
lack of time.
- Of the schools that had involved an outside artist in
the last 18 months, in 11 instances the work was unpaid;
in 33 instances the artists were paid for from within school
operating budgets or other school funds; and in 18 instances
the initiative was supported by funding from outside sources
(including 3 where funding came from the Regional Arts Board).
- The outcomes in terms of the impact on pupils were positive
and included promoting enthusiasm, self-esteem, skill acquisition,
and enhancement of other learning areas.
- The problems that the schools experienced were practical
and organisational, such as the problematic layout of a
school or arranging staff cover around a demanding timetable.
5. Does your school have a designated
arts coordinator?
88% of schools questioned in the survey have a designated
arts coordinator.
- Schools identified a range of art forms where they would
like help. These included drama, 3D work, dance, textiles(weaving),
collage, electronic design, illustration (comics), batik,
light/sound engineering and computer graphics.
6. How aware are you of local arts education
organisations?
A number of schools highlighted their concerns about
the future of the arts in schools due to changes in the National
Curriculum. Many also made requests for artists to come
into their schools and described problems they had encountered
in obtaining funding for such initiatives.
- Same Sky (95%), South East Arts (72%), Komedia (64%)
and Glyndebourne Education (54%) were the most generally
known organisations involved in arts education locally.
*It should be noted that Gardner Arts Centre was inadvertently
omitted from the organisations on offer.
- When asked, 93% of the schools questioned in the survey
would like to learn more about potential sources of funding
and how to complete successful grant applications.
7. The types of schools that responded to
the survey
Of the schools that returned the questionnaire, there were
- 11 Infant schools
- 10 Junior schools
- 11 Primary schools
- 4 Secondary schools
- 2 Special schools
- 1 Nursery school
Same Sky is a Brighton-based professional arts company that
has been working directly in community settings since 1987.
It aims to design and deliver projects that mobilise the imagination,
strengthen local communities, and gladden the heart. The NLT
is grateful to Same Sky for sending this information to add
to the NLT's website.
The Brighton Hove & East Sussex Arts Practitioner's Association
is a professional association that seeks to share a common
ethos and interest in art and arts education, to monitor curriculum
developments, and to represent the interests of arts education
to the relevant LEAs within Brighton & Hove and East Sussex.
Contact: Chris Bailey & Sarah Parsons, Same Sky, 5 Palace
Place. Brighton BN1 1EF. Tel: 01273 204 704. Fax: 01273 204199.
Email: samesky@hotmail.com
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