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Landscape Sketch of the Arts 2025: Art for young people
Everyone has the right to access arts and culture. Through various trajectories, Flanders Arts Institute investigates the ways in which creators and art organisations can work in a more inclusive and accessible way. We must acknowledge that initiatives to lower barriers can do little to address the underlying causes of exclusion, such as the context in which people grow up. But we also know that the extent to which people come into contact with art during childhood, and the quality of those experiences, are important predictors of arts participation in adulthood (Beunen et al. 2016; Vermeersch et al. 2018).
Growing children’s contact with art is related to the socio-economic background in which they develop and to the level of their parents’ or guardians’ education. In other words, not everyone starts with the same opportunities when it comes to access to arts and culture. Those who intervene broadly here can certainly do something about systemic access barriers.
In this chapter we therefore pay attention to the art experience of young people: active, passive and co-creative, via compulsory education and during leisure time. We look at art specifically developed for young target groups as well as at intergenerational work, what guidance and support look like (or could look like), and at opportunities and challenges for the future.
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General conclusion
If access to arts and culture is a basic right, then good cooperation between arts and (compulsory) education is a particularly democratic instrument to steer this. It is the best possible guarantee that every child and young person comes into contact with art at least once, preferably in optimal conditions. To this end, there is a great deal of expertise in Flanders.
In this chapter we provide an overview of the different ways in which art is created for, by and with young people. We look at collaborations with education – art experiences both inside and outside the school – as well as with the regular art circuit. Collaboration between art and education is under pressure due to a lack of time, resources, a framework, support and inspiring practices. The Flemish government meets a number of these needs, but only to a limited extent. Both policy domains and departments (Education and Training, and Culture) strive for sustainability and defragmentation of available support (‘Vraag om uitleg over de stopzetting van dynamoPROJECT’ [Request to Flemish Parlement for explanation regarding the discontinuation of the dynamoPROJECT] 2025). A major opportunity also lies in better knowledge building and circulation around the many forms these types of partnerships can take. A knowledge platform can provide good practices and use them to activate, inspire, and motivate arts professionals who want to work more with schools, and teachers who want to do more with art but lack the time and tools. Umbrella organisations in the Amateur Arts Decree could also be involved in this.
A positive contact with art is important at all levels, but special attention could be paid to secondary schools. In contrast to primary education, from that level onwards there is a differentiation between study directions with as goal the labour market, progression to higher education, or a mix of both. Depending on the type of education, there are significant differences in the extent to which young people come into contact with art through school.
Even outside the realm of education, work is being done on art for, by or with young people. This often involves challenging and creative work, but according to some providers this is not sufficiently recognised or appreciated in the field. It is said that fees and buyout amounts are lower and training courses do not pay enough attention to it. Others point out that interest among creators is in fact growing.
Core insights
- There is a need for the circulation of knowledge and good practices, and for the activation and support of collaboration between partners in arts and compulsory education.
- This also requires coordination and cooperation between the policy domains involved, so that the necessary knowledge becomes more readily available in both sectors.
- Representativeness is a concern in the collaboration between partners in arts and education, especially in secondary education.
