Arts Emergency is a UK-based charity that seeks opportunities in the

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

sector for underrepresented young people aged 16-26.

History

Founded by campaigner Neil Griffiths (current CEO) and comedian

Josie Long Josie Isabel Long (born 17 April 1982) is an English comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17. In 2006, Long won the If.comeddies Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

in 2011, Arts Emergency was created in response to the increasing

tuition fees Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spen ...

, abolition of public funding for the teaching of arts subjects in British universities and the lack of social mobility in the Arts, a belief reinforced by the 2015 Panic! survey initiated by Create London and the 201
Panic! It's an Arts Emergency Report
led by academics Dr Dave O'Brien, Dr Orian Brook, and Dr Mark Taylor from the Universities of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. The Charity launched with an event at the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

in the London borough that hosted its pilot project in 2012.

Work

Arts Emergency runs a national "alternative"

Old Boy Network An old boy network (also known as old boys' network, old boys' club) is an informal system in which wealthy men with similar social or educational backgrounds help each other in business or personal matters. The term originally referred to soci ...

that aims to create privilege for people without privilege, and tackle the inequalities that exist with access to arts degrees and careers in the sector. Th
Arts Emergency Network
is made up of over 10,000 volunteers working in TV, film, music, art, fashion, academia, law, architecture, activism, comedy, social work, journalism, publishing, design, activism and theatre. The Charity offers opportunities ranging from mentoring and coaching with industry professionals, work experience, tickets to events and financial aid to buy resources. This assistance aims to help young people make informed decisions about the career they wish to pursue and develop an understanding of how they can do it. Young people are able to access resources, advice and guidance through the volunteer network until they are 26 years old. Supporters of the organisation include actors

Julie Hesmondhalgh Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh ( ;) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' between 1998 and 2014. For this role she won "Best Serial Drama Performance" at the 20 ...

Lolly Adefope Ololade "Lolly" Adefope (born ) is an English stand-up comedian and actress, specialising in character comedy. She is known for playing the role of Fran in the Hulu comedy series ''Shrill (TV series), Shrill'', and as Kitty, the ghost of a Geor ...

and

Mathew Baynton Mathew John Baynton (born 18 November 1980) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. He is a member of the Them There collective, in which he wrote and starred in ''Horrible Histories (2009 TV series), Horrible Histories'', ''Yonderlan ...

, comedians

Joe Lycett Joe Harry Lycett (born 1988), also known by the self-given moniker "Mummy", and officially self-renamed briefly as Hugo Boss in 2020, is a British comedian, television presenter, and painter. He has appeared on many TV shows, including '' Live ...

Chris Addison Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He was a panellist on several editions of TV comedy panel show '' Mock the Week''. He is known for lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he ...

and

Nish Kumar Nishant Kumar (born 1985) is a British stand-up comedian, television presenter and podcaster. He became known as the host of ''The Mash Report'' on BBC Two and U&Dave, Dave. He has also presented ''Newsjack'' on BBC Radio 4 Extra, ''Joel Domme ...

, author and journalist Yomi Adegoke and writers

Sarah Perry Sarah Grace Perry (born 28 November 1979) is an English author. She has had four novels published: ''After Me Comes the Flood'' (2014), '' The Essex Serpent'' (2016), ''Melmoth'' (2018) and ''Enlightenment'' (2024). Her work has been transla ...

and David Nicholls. The organisation currently runs programmes in London, Manchester and Merseyside as well as offering remote opportunities.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://arts-emergency.org/ Cultural charities based in the United Kingdom 2011 establishments in the United Kingdom