Burberry Foundation launches arts initiative to inspire teens

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 8, 2018

Burberry has forged a reputation for itself as a patron the arts and its arts collabs (under Christopher Bailey) during numerous London Fashion Weeks were major attractions.

So it’s interesting that the company said on Monday that the Burberry Foundation is launching (in Yorkshire) the first in-school arts and culture programme of its scope and scale in partnership with a number of arts groups. They include The Hepworth Wakefield, Northern Ballet, Leeds Playhouse and Leeds Young Film.

Over four years, as many as 4,000 11-to-14 year-olds will go through the programme, “the impact of which will be measured by social scientists from King’s College London to understand how cultural and creative education can help young people to transcend challenging circumstances, widen their horizons and realise their aspirations.”

It’s not a direct marketing effort but as a project that should encourage creativity and warm feelings about the Burberry brand, it’s something that could pay off further down the line.

For now though, the aim is to improve teens’ lives today. The schools involved are based in inner-city Leeds and the surrounding area, “with a diverse set of challenges and cultures ranging from University Academy Keighley where 89% of students have English as a second language, to Castleford Academy whose population is predominantly white British, but feels its pupils’ aspirations are still impacted by the effects of Castleford being an ex-mining community,” the company said.

It added that it should "generate valuable evidence about the effects of creative learning and provide a greater understanding of effective ways to engage with young people.”

Each of the four organisations will provide the schools with a dedicated Artist in Residence who will give students “wide-ranging, hands-on experience of different areas of the creative arts. The Artist in Residence will also collaborate with teachers and students to co-create events designed to have a broad reach across their local communities. Each organisation will work with two schools per year, with all eight schools working with all four organisations by the end of the four-year programme.”