Drawn Together in the House
On 11th October, the CMF-backed All Party Parliamentary Group for Children’s Media and the Arts took part in the DRAWN TOGETHER Summit in the House of Commons.
Bringing together a number of all party parliamentary groups with a particular interest and remit in the Arts and/or education, the event was a chance to meet and learn more about each other with a view to combining knowledge and experience to further promote the Arts both in formal education and in life long learning.
The CMF was pleased to support the event, inviting key guests and speakers including a number of our patrons, children’s arts specialists from the BBC and independent production community and Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell.
The event also linked to The Big Draw, an Arts education charity that promotes visual literacy and the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention. With the theme of this year’s Big Draw being STEAM (science, technology, English, ARTS and Maths), the event included a fantastic activity where everyone was invited to contribute to a huge mural about the importance of the Arts in the curriculum. This, along with further footage from the event will be available from the Big Draw website in due course. CMF board member Jayne Kirkham gave a speech at the Parliamentary event, on behalf of the CMF and the APPG for Children’s Media and the Arts.
The event, organised by Sharon Hodgson MP, was deemed a great success and future events are planned to increase awareness in Westminster of the benefits of the arts and creative industries in formal education, to the Exchequer, and for everyone’s well being - with the aim being to bring evidence that the Government ignores these benefits at our children’s, the Exchequer’s and everyone’s peril.
The APPG for Children's Media and the Arts exists to bring together Parliamentarians with an interest in these matters with the industry and activists who have something to say. If you would like to see your campaign or activity represented in Parliament, tell us about it.
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