In Friday’s (11/25) Guardian (London), Charlotte Higgins writes, “A national plan for music teaching in England—with some inspiration taken from Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela—is to be rolled out from summer next year. The national music plan, jointly set out by the education secretary, Michael Gove and the culture minister, Ed Vaizey, aims to give every child, regardless of where they live or how well off they are, the chance to learn to play a musical instrument. ‘Hubs’ will be created to provide music education locally. But they will do so on vastly reduced funding. At the moment, £77.5m is allocated for music tuition by the Department for Education, via local authorities. The money will drop to £75m from April 2012, £63m the following year and down to £58m in 2014-15. … Existing music services as well as other suitably qualified organisations or venues can apply to become hubs. They may cover one or more local authority, and it is expected that professional orchestras and ensembles in the area will be involved in their local hub. … Applications to provide hubs close on 17 February, with announcements of the successful contenders in April. They will be providing musical education from the autumn term of 2012.”
Posted November 28, 2011
