Powering through: advocating for our subject

At the recent Music & Drama Expo 2024, co-chair of the Drama and Theatre Education Alliance (DTEA) Steve Ball, listed 6Cs as barriers for accessing the arts: Cost, Communication, Curriculum, Capacity, Coaches and Careers. This is a largely bleak but accurate portrayal of the current situation.

When discussing curriculum, Steve highlighted the lack of a drama National Curriculum. National Drama has published a ‘vision for a future curriculum’ and the University of Bedfordshire have been hosting meetings with drama specialists to create Primary and KS3 Drama curriculum documents. There is a great need to see drama being advocated for at governmental level, but at best it is still a work in progress. So, what can be done while we are waiting? I offer my own collection of Cs: