On the day ministers backed arts in schools, my local university silenced its music |
By Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
On November 5, the government finally announced its long-awaited plans to restore arts education in our schools, which were warmly welcomed by arts advocates across the country.
But that same day, there was another piece of news: my local university in Nottingham, the city my family and I call home, announced proposals to suspend its music courses.
This short-sighted decision demonstrates how much further we have to go before the arts are truly seen as an essential ingredient to a healthy society, not an optional extra.
And these decisions don’t just affect the young people whose opportunities are quietly disappearing. It matters for us all, because it is artists who get to tell our stories, and create the culture we live in.
I’ve spent my own life surrounded by music. Having spent the first few years of my life in Sierra Leone, everything was about music and dance, and moving to Wales aged eight, choirs, brass bands, and singing were still everywhere. I grew up thinking music was simply something everyone did.
So when I had children of my own,........