Post by Teddy Bear on Dec 3, 2007 20:16:51 GMT
The once head of the National Theatre has also blamed the BBC for the decline of children having an interest in culture.
Cultural 'apartheid' turns children off the arts
By Lewis Carter
Last Updated: 3:46am GMT 03/12/2007
Children are turning their backs on museums, theatres and art galleries because of an "apartheid" in high culture, a leading director has warned.
Sir Richard Eyre, who led the National Theatre for 10 years, said more and more children feel the arts are a high society pursuit from which they are excluded.
He believes an obsession with exams and poor BBC programming is to blame for the divide.
Sir Richard said "My fears are that you enlarge the divisions in society between those for whom the arts are a part of life and people who think it is impossibly obscure and incomprehensible ... I would use the word apartheid."
He said the exam culture in schools left teachers with too little time to provide decent drama and music lessons.
He also accused the BBC of failing to produce the programmes that would inspire people to visit galleries and museums.
Sir Richard added: "Part of the job of education must be to enfranchise those people who feel disbarred from the arts. I would like to see a co-ordinated strategy between schools and the arts so there is a sense of growing an audience, the consumers of art in the future."
Sir Richard's call for an overhaul in arts education will be aired on Wednesday, during an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby on Teachers TV.
By Lewis Carter
Last Updated: 3:46am GMT 03/12/2007
Children are turning their backs on museums, theatres and art galleries because of an "apartheid" in high culture, a leading director has warned.
Sir Richard Eyre, who led the National Theatre for 10 years, said more and more children feel the arts are a high society pursuit from which they are excluded.
He believes an obsession with exams and poor BBC programming is to blame for the divide.
Sir Richard said "My fears are that you enlarge the divisions in society between those for whom the arts are a part of life and people who think it is impossibly obscure and incomprehensible ... I would use the word apartheid."
He said the exam culture in schools left teachers with too little time to provide decent drama and music lessons.
He also accused the BBC of failing to produce the programmes that would inspire people to visit galleries and museums.
Sir Richard added: "Part of the job of education must be to enfranchise those people who feel disbarred from the arts. I would like to see a co-ordinated strategy between schools and the arts so there is a sense of growing an audience, the consumers of art in the future."
Sir Richard's call for an overhaul in arts education will be aired on Wednesday, during an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby on Teachers TV.