North Somerset is included in the well-established Bristol Cultural Education Partnership ‘BCEP’. It was one of the first three partnerships in the country, established as part of ACE’s initial piloting of this initiative. At the moment the partnership is coordinated and hosted by Arts Council England, and if schools or cultural organisations would like to be added to the mailing list and come along to the quarterly meetings they can contact Simon Jutton at Simon.Jutton@artscouncil.org.uk

BCEP has over 60 members, drawn from all parts of Bristol’s rich and diverse cultural education sector, including heritage, schools, libraries, music and arts. BCEP is also open to partners from beyond the immediate Bristol local authority area, including North Somerset, reflecting the fact that young people, cultural organisations and schools move fluidly across these boundaries.

The partnership meets quarterly and it functions network and collective. The meetings are open to anyone interested in this area of work and they are a great place to make connections and find partners. The partnership is also carrying out a range of strategic projects and longer term pieces of work, focusing on areas including research, curriculum development, diversity and pathways into the cultural and creative industries for young people experiencing disadvantage. Each of these is driven by task-and-finish sub-groups led by individual members.