Your article (Working-class creatives don’t stand a chance in UK today, leading artists warn, 21 February) suggests that the higher percentage of privately educated people in leadership roles in the arts is due to a “rigged system” that shuts out working-class people, yet, despite highlighting the fall in students taking arts and humanities subjects, it fails to draw the obvious conclusion.
When provision of arts tuition in the state sector has almost disappeared, young people who are unable to pay for private tuition and whose schools don’t have art or drama departments are hugely disadvantaged from the outset if they wish for a career in the arts.
That is why the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre are championing the Theatre for Every Child campaign – to break down barriers to attendance and ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have the chance to engage with live performance.
Receiving support from teachers and practitioners who know from experience how to develop artistic or performative careers can be transformative, but governments of all stripes devalue the arts and humanities in schools and further education, and heads juggling their budget choose not to allocate staffing to art, drama or music.
If the culture secretary wants a more diverse workforce in the arts, a good start would be to increase public funding for arts education, particularly in regions where provision is scarce.
