Sunderland has led a UK-first, city-wide programme to create a ‘cultural eco-system’ designed to benefit children living in poverty, drawing widespread praise from music icon Bryan Ferry.
The £1.5m ‘Culture Start’ initiative aims to build a protective framework around children in the city’s most disadvantaged areas. Now in its second year, the programme has already worked with 3,000 children, generating an estimated social impact value of £4.6m through thousands of arts engagements.
Bryan Ferry, who grew up in a council house and worked in a local steel factory before studying Fine Art in Newcastle, voiced his strong support for the scheme. “It’s important to have a cultural education,” Ferry said. “I was so lucky to have some great arts teachers and it opened up so many doors for me. I wish Culture Start all the best.”
The three-year programme is spearheaded by Sunderland Culture alongside local partners in education, health, and youth services. It is heavily supported by a £1.2m Place Partnership award from Arts Council England, with further essential funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Sir James Knott Trust, and the Gillian Dickinson Trust.
Sunderland and the wider North East currently face some of the highest child poverty rates in the UK. Nick Malyan, CEO of Sunderland Culture, noted that more than 15,000 children in the city have lived experience of poverty. “When heating, food, and housing are precarious then cultural activities and experiences are often seen as a luxury,” he said. “We know however that positive cultural experiences can be a game changer.”
The initiative comes at a critical time, as the UK experiences a systemic decline in arts education. Recent figures from the Cultural Learning Alliance show a 42% fall in Expressive Arts GCSE entries since 2010, alongside a 27% drop in the number of art teachers.
To combat these barriers locally, Culture Start has teamed up with Children North East to help regional arts venues ‘poverty proof’ their operations. This approach combines auditing and staff training to ensure spaces and workshops are accessible, removing financial and social obstacles so no child is stigmatised due to low income.
The programme also offers ‘Ignite bursaries’ of up to £500 for young people experiencing hardship to help grow their artistic skills. So far, nearly £50,000 has been invested directly into young people’s creativity, with 81% of bursary recipients reporting increased confidence in their chosen art form.
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, called the initiative an inspiring example of sustained investment in youth creativity. “This feels like a watershed moment for the programme, as it builds on its early success and looks ahead to its next phase,” he explained.
Delivery partners are now calling for continued support and funding to ensure the programme’s long-term survival. As Malyan stressed, the sustained engagement provided by Culture Start allows vital relationships, confidence, and trust to develop among vulnerable youths—something that he says “should not be lost.”
Image credits:
Mark Savage
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