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9th January 2009

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ACE supports government's culture offer

13.02.08 Tom Tivnan

Arts Council England’s literature department will work more closely with schools and libraries to support the government's new culture offer programme for children.

The Cultural Offer, announced today by schools secretary Ed Balls and new culture minister Andy Burnham, aims to get children to experience five hours of "quality" culture a week.

The £25m pilot scheme will include programmes for children working with writers in schools and reader development, as well as increasing focus on performance and visual arts. It is on top of the Literacy Hour, a government programme since 1998 that requires schools to teach students one hour of reading each day.

ACE will put in £6m over the next three years to the scheme, on top of £110m core funding for its creative partnerships programme.

Antonia Byatt, ACE director of literature, believes the cultural offer reflects a large part of ACE's ideals. She said: "Delivering culture to children is a core part of a lot of the organisations that we support. But we are keen to expand this further. There is increasing evidence that if we work with readers in schools, they will develop as readers outside schools."

She would also like ACE-funded organisations to develop greater links with libraries: "Libraries are at the core of the community and really have a vital role to play in reader development," she said.

tom tivnan Arts Council England The Cultural Offer