Launched at Labour Party Conference, the manifesto calls on the UK Government to place creative education at the heart of its plans for growth, skills and regional regeneration, recognising its vital contribution to the UK’s economic success, social wellbeing and global influence.
IHE joins partners across higher education and the creative arts in calling for a strong and connected creative talent pipeline, from schools and colleges through to higher education, apprenticeships and the workplace. This includes ensuring access to high-quality creative education, embedding creativity across curriculum and skills reform, investing in local creative ecosystems, and keeping the UK open to international talent, ideas and exchange.
The Creative Education Coalition was formed in response to shared concerns across education and the creative sectors about the declining place of creative subjects and the impact on the talent pipeline into the UK’s creative industries. Its first manifesto, published in 2023, set out a shared vision for restoring the value of creative education. With a new government in place but many of the structural challenges remaining, this second manifesto builds on that work, setting out seven principles for strengthening creative education and supporting a confident, ambitious and inclusive creative future.
University Alliance provides the secretariat for the Creative Education Coalition and led the launch of the second manifesto. Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, said:
"As ministers gather at Labour Party Conference to discuss how to deliver growth across the country, creative education must be part of the solution. If the government wants every town and city to benefit from the opportunities created by the creative industries, it must properly invest in the education and skills pipeline that makes that success possible."
Read the Creative Education Manifesto Part Two: Building Britain's Creative Future
The Seven Principles
Creativity as a Right, not a Privilege
Creativity Recognised as Critical to Every Industry
A Connected Creative Talent System
Investment in Creative Places
Measure What Matters Most
Creativity as a Solution to Society's Biggest Challenges
Keeping the UK Open to Talent, Ideas and Exchange