Children need culture

The idea of cultural entitlement is a powerful one. It is a measure of a healthy society that its children are aware of their cultural heritage and participate enthusiastically in creating music, art and literature. To develop that process, six years ago the previous Scottish Executive launched a programme of cultural co-ordinators in schools to introduce children to live theatre and bring professional musicians and artists into the classroom. It is funded through the Scottish Arts Council (SAC), but each local authority decides how to deploy the cultural co-ordinators who make it happen. There are now 117 of them in Scotland running a scheme that costs £2.65m a year. This year a further £8.5m was announced to extend the programme over the next two years. That, however, was before the election.