Agenda item

Report of the Director of Creative Learning, Barbican and Guildhall School.

The Board received a presentation from the Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the work of the School. The Principal noted that the School, which had been founded in 1880, had been ranked as the premier institution of its kind for the previous two years and currently had 970 students on its roll.

            He went on to note the School had been made a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in 2006 which meant that it was now in receipt of public funding. Given that the School had no charter, it operated under an instrument provided by the Privy Council which was subject to audit. The last audit had awarded the School degree-awarding powers.

            The Principal went on to state the School’s main aim was to train the most promising actors and musicians, and that the current breakdown in composition was 50:50 between UK national and international students. He added that the School also engaged with musicians under the age of 18 through Junior Guildhall and the Centre for Young Musicians, of which 10% of places were nationally funded. He noted that long term sustainability and cost were an issue, as well as the reputational risk posed by achieving quality assurance at a time when arts organisations as a whole were under pressure to do more with less.

            The Principal then responded to some questions from Members of the Board.

·         It was not possible to offset cost through increased fees as undergraduate fees were subject to a cap, and postgraduate fees were subject to market pressure.

·         There was no conflict between catering to talent and nurturing talent as the School built pathways for both students with existing talent and students with potential. Moreover the School was open to all comers.

·         The Junior Guildhall’s provision of drama was deliberately limited given the existing amount of provision of drama in schools.

·         The Principal agreed that under-18 provision across Junior Guildhall, Centre for Young Musicians, the Barbican and in particular the youth ensembles could benefit from further coordination, and that this was an issue he would welcome some direction on.

The Board went on to receive a report of the Director of Creative Learning at the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School. The Director noted that the Creative Learning Division (CLD) at the Barbican and Guildhall School had been in place for five years and launched its manifesto to help young people find their creative voice in September 2014.

            He added that East London had always been a natural emphasis for the outreach work of the Barbican and Guildhall School, and that areas of deprivation in those boroughs meant it was an exciting area for encouraging access to the arts. He noted that the strength of the Barbican and Guildhall School was its cross-discipline offer, and its focus on sustainable projects such as the Barbican Box Film and Music projects, where the Creative Learning Division worked to embed projects in schools for an extended period of time. Work to evaluate the impact of the projects as a whole was being undertaken to establish the return on investment that they offered.

            The Director responded to some questions from Members of the Board.

·         The Creative Learning Division engaged with schools that were hard to reach through working with the East London Partnership, who identified schools for the CLD to work with. Moreover OFSTED offered assistance in engagement.

·         The CLD regarded City Corporation-affiliated schools as one of its priorities and therefore worked closely with all three City Academies.

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