Polly Cole, Interim Director of Oxford Playhouse, explains the efforts made to deliver arts education to young people

A cross the city many of your favourite cultural venues are in the process of applying to the Arts Council England for the next three years of their regular funding.

We’re all lucky enough to live in a cultural hotspot that has significant Arts Council investment. In the heart of the city University Museums, Modern Art Oxford, Pegasus, Oxford Contemporary Music and Oxford Playhouse all strive to bring you a wealth of world-class performance, exhibitions and activity spanning a huge range of subjects.

The arts enrich our lives and everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the cultural life of their city and community.

Creative experience and ability drives innovation. It also contributes to the local economy and helps to build an inclusive society. Since 2012, there has been less funding to support the arts so we are busy coming up with ingenious ways to ensure we continue to offer as many opportunities for you, our audiences, to experience creative talent that can inspire and entertain. As we work on our plans for the next three years, exploring exciting new shows to bring to Oxford, we’re also working on all the ways in which we help deliver arts education to as many young people as possible, improving their confidence, self-esteem, critical and creative skills.

We work in partnership with the city council and contribute to the events that bring the city together such as next month’s Dancin’ Oxford and Christmas Night Light.

Working with the other organisations across the city means we can do more and we look forward to sharing a joint project with Pegasus Theatre called Soapbox City with you at the May Day celebrations. Nationally, there is reduced public funding for the arts, which were hit with austerity measures along with everyone else. Although Arts Council England has tried to protect as many organisations as possible, the amount of money it has to spend is likely to decrease year on year, but we will try to ensure this doesn’t impact on what we can offer the city. It will be a busy few months until we find how the land lies with our funding in July. In the meantime, I will be out and about in the city enjoying all the fantastic shows, concerts, exhibitions and events on offer.

I hope you will be too.