The question of government support for individual artists, including visual artists, writers and composers, was the subject of an hour-long debate in the House of Lords this week.<\/p>\n
The debate covered a variety of themes including the contribution of art to society, individual and state funding of the art and artists and whether or not art production is becoming a preserve of the rich.<\/p>\n
A full transcript of the debate can be found HERE <\/a><\/strong>and the following extract relating to art education is taken from a fuller article on the a-n<\/strong><\/a> website HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A key theme picked up on by a number of peers was the importance of education to the wider debate around the diversity of artists and the value of art in society. Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat) said: \u201cIt is essential that the status of the arts in the classroom is properly recognised.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave you noticed that whenever an important person visits a school \u2013 a prime minister or a president \u2013 the first things that they are shown are the paintings of the children? The next thing they are invited to do is to listen to the singing of the children. I rest our case.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This week the Secretary of State for Scotland visited Edinburgh College to speak to students about votes for 16-17 year olds:<\/p>\n