ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS: CREATIVITY IS NOT A KEY STAGE

Every year, newspapers make a splash about “the best state schools in England”. League tables are published; schools are ranked; supplements produced. Like the national curriculum, these rankings prioritise – and test – ‘core’ subjects.

Science is core. Maths is core. English is core. Art? Art is not.

It means teachers’ time and energy are taken up by core subjects, at the expense of everything else.

Art is not easy to measure. Campaigns that speak up for it often focus on how much art contributes to our “creative industries” – people are forever trying to put a price tag on it, to justify its “value”. The RA didn’t want that. They know art offers much more – even if you never become an artist. Making and studying art means children question, experiment, play, and use their brains in new and inventive ways. These are all valuable skills. They’re just not easy to put in a league table.

With the RA’s research, and responses from their academicians (all artists), we came up with the ‘art is a serious subject’ campaign, encouraging people to think about art education and why it matters. The campaign is running on billboards across London in October and November 2024.

RA Art is a serious subject campaign — In 2024, paint splattered sinks, brushes in jam jars and a kiln in the corner are rare in state schools. The RA wants them back.

Research has shown the skills children learn from studying and making art help them in other subjects – different ways of thinking are useful for everything.

Unusually for the RA, this campaign isn’t linked to a specific exhibition. It’s about showing their independence (they don’t get any government funding) and standing up for art education.

Visitors at The Royal Academy of Arts in London added their voices to the campaign.

(Outdoor and Underground photos: Laurence Howe / Lightfoot Agency.)