Weekly Roundup (4-8 March 2013)

8 March 2013

Creative Employment Programme

Matthew Hancock MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Education, formally launched the Creative Employment Programme this week at the Creative and Cultural Skills' annual industry Conference.

At the event, composer, band leader and presenter, Jools Holland cut the ceremonial ribbon of The Backstage Centre which offers a purpose-built facility for rehearsing and preparing productions, testing and developing new equipment, techniques and training, as well as broadcast and sound recording.

Winners of the Creative Apprentices Employer of the Year 2013 were also announced at a special awards ceremony held at The British Music Experience Exhibition.

Careers guidance at the heart of the schooling

Career development's expert Tristram Hooley argues that with the closure of a few career services such as Connexions, it's time for government to reconsider the role that career advice plays in education. Read here

Driving standards up

Ofsted revealed that almost 977 out of more than 2,000 schools checked between October and December 2012 had improved compared with their previous inspection. More details

Cultural passport

Arts Council England and Trinity College London are developing the first phase of a cultural passport that will provide an online service to record children and young people engagement with cultural activities.

World Book Day 2013

As we celebrated the World Book Day 2013 yesterday, Sue Porto, chief executive of Beanstalk, talks about encouraging children to inspire a love of reading as a way to develop their imagination and creativity.

The Big Write Festival of Children's Literature (12-14 March 2013)

Discover Children's Story Centre is hosting three panels of industry experts to discuss 'creating immersive environments to inspire stories', 'the future of picture books' and 'getting published'. Panellists include Pete Higgin, Director, Punchdrunk Enrichment; Anna Rafferty, MD, Penguin Digital and Anne McNeil, Publishing Director, Hodder Children's Books. More details here

Earlyarts National Consultation

The organisation released the latest findings from its national consultation that took place last August/September. The aim was to better understand the quality of creative resources, skills and ideas in the early years, arts and cultural sector.

Peter Bazalgette Arts funding

In his first live web chat, the newly appointed Arts Council England chair, Peter Bazalgette, urged Local Authorities to prioritise culture as an "essential" service.

Meanwhile Bazalgette talks about his concern over loss of local government cultural investment in arts and culture over the next three year, Westminster City Council confirms that it will cut all arts funding in the London borough by 2014/15.

£100 million revamp of Southbank Centre

This week it was unveiled the tentative plans to redesign the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery at the heart of the Southbank Centre. Chief executive Alan Bishop describes it as the "biggest step forward since the '60s". Read here

Interview with Director of the Imperial War Museum

Diane Lees talks about supporting the cultural heritage sector and the challenges of running a museum.

Farewell to 'The Review Show'

After the 22th March, the late-night arts programme on BBC Two will move to BBC Four, and become a monthly rather than a weekly programme. Read The Telegraph's arts editor Sarah Crompton's view on this here.