Five hours a week of quality arts and culture, for everyone under 19 …

Culture enriches lives. As well as being fun, cultural activities give young people the chance to develop important life skills such as creativity, confidence, self-discipline, effective communication and the ability to work in teams. 

The Government is funding ten pilot programmes across England between 2008 and 2011. Each pilot will provide children and young people with access to five hours a week of quality arts and culture.    

Wakefield wants to become one of the Government’s pilot programme areas. If we succeed, we will be able to invest more in helping young people to fulfill their dreams and grow up in a place they want to live, play and work.

We will also be able to fulfil the ambition of our Cultural Strategy.  It says we are going to make culture part of everything Wakefield does – and what we hope to achieve over the next five years.

Strategies

We know there is more we can do to improve the lives of local people - particularly those under 19.  In Wakefield, we particularly want to raise aspirations, create better places for everyone and improve skills and knowledge. 

To achieve our ambitions, we have developed strategies to map our way forward. These include our Community Strategy (Developing Knowledge Communities), Cultural Strategy, Regeneration Strategy and Children and Young People’s Plan.  

Our Local Area Agreement with the Government tracks our progress and makes sure local people benefit from what we do

See our outline table of strategies and their key outcomes in the 'Downloads' section.