- Conference
- 2026 National Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 6 October 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference recognises that arts education is integral to a culturally rich society. The current crisis unfolding in Higher Education often disproportionately affects Arts Education; whether that be through cuts to funding for Creative arts courses or cuts to art programmes that support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Art courses are disappearing from the curriculum in the tidal wave of restructures happening across the UK. Driven by marketisation, successive governments have pushed to prioritise ‘strategic’ subjects and spout narratives that devalue creative disciplines.
Staff in arts departments are facing redundancies, casualisation, and increased workloads, while students face reduced access and diminished learning experiences. Defending arts education is a trade union issue, affecting job security, academic freedom, and the diversity of the sector.
Arts education must be accessible to all, not a privilege for the few, and should be publicly funded and protected.
Conference calls on the Higher Education Service Group Executive to:
1. Campaign nationally against cuts to arts education and support local branches in resisting closures and redundancies.
2. Lobby government and funding bodies to restore and ring-fence funding for arts and humanities in higher education.
3. Build alliances with student unions, other trade unions, cultural organisations, and community groups to defend the role of the arts in society.
4. Promote the value of arts education through public campaigns, media engagement, and solidarity actions.
5. Ensure that arts educators and student unions are represented in union organising.