The government has launched a £25m Find Your Talent pilot scheme to create 10 projects across England offering children five hours of culture each week.
Funded jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Arts Council England (ACE) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the scheme will be run by the Youth Culture Trust, a new independent trust that will evaluate the 10 pilot projects.
These projects will run from September 2008 to September 2011, and will be assessed at the end of each year.
The Youth Culture Trust will be operational by April 2009, and until then Creative Partnerships will oversee the scheme. It is not yet known who the trustees will be or how they will be appointed.
Organisations interested in being considered for one of the pilot projects have until 7 April to express interest. A DCMS spokesman said he was expecting approaches from local authorities and cultural organisations and that there would ideally be a mix of pilot areas, perhaps one for each region, and a mix of lead partners, rather than just local authorities.
Some in the sector have questioned the MLA's £4m contribution to the scheme at a time when it is looking to cut 25 per cent from its core budget. This is despite the organisation's insistence that this contribution was part of the planned reshaping of the MLA.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: "In effect, the MLA has gambled. It judges that the future lies with a cross-sectoral cultural offer and it must be part of it. I hope it is right because this will further denude an organisation whose core finances are already under great strain."
In addition to the £25m scheme, Creative Partnerships will receive £110m over the next three years to continue its work. The DCMS and DCSF have also announced £13.1m over three years - a £1m reduction from previous years - to fund partnerships between national and regional museums for educational and community-based work.
Funded jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Arts Council England (ACE) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the scheme will be run by the Youth Culture Trust, a new independent trust that will evaluate the 10 pilot projects.
These projects will run from September 2008 to September 2011, and will be assessed at the end of each year.
The Youth Culture Trust will be operational by April 2009, and until then Creative Partnerships will oversee the scheme. It is not yet known who the trustees will be or how they will be appointed.
Organisations interested in being considered for one of the pilot projects have until 7 April to express interest. A DCMS spokesman said he was expecting approaches from local authorities and cultural organisations and that there would ideally be a mix of pilot areas, perhaps one for each region, and a mix of lead partners, rather than just local authorities.
Some in the sector have questioned the MLA's £4m contribution to the scheme at a time when it is looking to cut 25 per cent from its core budget. This is despite the organisation's insistence that this contribution was part of the planned reshaping of the MLA.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: "In effect, the MLA has gambled. It judges that the future lies with a cross-sectoral cultural offer and it must be part of it. I hope it is right because this will further denude an organisation whose core finances are already under great strain."
In addition to the £25m scheme, Creative Partnerships will receive £110m over the next three years to continue its work. The DCMS and DCSF have also announced £13.1m over three years - a £1m reduction from previous years - to fund partnerships between national and regional museums for educational and community-based work.
