23 Mar Choirs Losing Their Voice: 24% of parents are unable to support their child’s creative pursuits
As British talent steals the show on the global music scene – with homegrown musicians registering a clean sweep on all of the year’s top ten singles for the first time ever in 2022 – the UK’s international dominance in music is being threatened by continued cuts to arts funding. A topic brought to light by the BBC’s recent decision to cut their BBC Singers choir, culture funding as a whole has decreased by 46% in real terms since 2005, with estimates from Equity suggesting that nearly half a billion pounds of cuts have been made to arts funding in the last 18 years. The impact of which is set to be amplified as the UK battles its ongoing cost-of-living crisis, with a new national report from London Youth Choirs (LYC) unveiling that 24% of parents say they don’t have the means to fully support their children’s creative pursuits.
The research released by LYC – London’s first-ever citywide choir solely dedicated to children and young people – has shown that 31% of parents say they have had to cut back on their child’s extra-curricular activities in the past six months due to soaring living costs. In turn, this now means that a quarter of parents can’t support creative endeavours, at a time when 28% of Brits state they were never given the opportunity to excel in the first place, and 14% find musical organisations such as choirs inaccessible to families like theirs. These findings are reflective of accelerating trends towards the arts becoming less accessible for those from lower-income backgrounds. Highlighted in a report in 2022 – from think-tank Onward – music lessons are largely being the preserve of wealthier children, who are now currently three times more likely to sing in a choir or play in a band.
Key Stats:
24% of parents say they don’t/didn’t have the means as a parent to fully support their child’s creative pursuits
31% of parents say they have had to cut back on their child’s extra-curricular activities in the past six months due to soaring living costs
28% of Brits say that they were not given an opportunity to excel in the arts
14% of Brits say that they have always seen singing in choirs as inaccessible to families like theirs
14% of Brits say that they have always seen singing in choirs as inaccessible to families like theirs
Artistic Director of LYC, Rachel Staunton, was a recent signatory of an open letter to the BBC signed by numerous leading UK choral directors, citing her decision to do so was “to give voice to the diverse range of young people who are at the bottom of [the UK’s] fragile choral ecosystem. To lose the top of the pyramid changes everything.”
To discuss the current state of arts funding in the UK, alongside the findings of the research, and how LYC as a charity is expanding access to music for children and young people in the Capital, Directors of LYC, Rachel Staunton and Nina Camilleri, are available to speak on the following:
The diminshing access to the arts in the UK
How the cost-of-living crisis is impacting access to the arts within the UK
How the choir is supporting families during the cost-of-living crisis
How the charity provides an inclusive space for members of the choirs
