Curious Minds has been evolving since being established in 2009 to deliver Arts Council England’s Creative Partnerships programme across Lancashire and Merseyside.
Creative Partnerships was England’s flagship creative learning programme, designed to develop the skills of children and young people across England, raising their aspirations, achievements and life chances.As part of a national network of Area Delivery Organisations, Curious Minds worked in partnership with 350 primary, secondary and SEN schools and 4,000 teachers and school leaders, bringing creative workers such as artists, architects and scientists into schools to work with teachers to inspire young people and help them learn.
The government announced its plans to withdraw funding for the Creative Partnerships programme from the end of the academic year 2010/2011 forcing us to re-think the future. Remaining true to our founding vision, mission and beliefs, we applied to become the Bridge organisation for the North West of England - a role we delivered successfully from April 2012 to March 2023.
Curious Minds was thrilled to join Arts Council England's National Portfolio in 2023, with an expanded geographical remit. This enables us to continue working with schools, arts practitioners and the wider youth workforce right across the North of England, to tackle unequal access to creativity and cultural education for children and young people.
Our inclusion in the National Portfolio underlines the importance of our work as a field catalyst for cultural education. Post-pandemic, we continued to see a devaluing of arts and cultural subjects within formal education and a widening cultural participation gap between the most and least well off in society. Our work has never been more needed, and we have ambitious plans for tackling these challenges.
The legacy of Chris’s work ensures that Curious Minds continues to have a significant impact on schools, children and young people across the North West, and that the organisation now enjoys a solid reputation upon which it continues to grow and prosper.
Curious Minds is a catalyst for cultural education, changing policy and practice one teacher, one cultural practitioner or one youth practitioners at a time.
Chris May (1959-2011)
We can’t talk about the history of Curious Minds without remembering the significant contribution made by founding Chief Executive, Chris May.Chris was an exuberant figure, full of life and passionate about his work. He was immensely proud of the achievements of Curious Minds, our team and our partners, believing strongly that this should be an organisation centred on a moral purpose, making a real and lasting difference to children’s lives. He drew pleasure from his collaboration and dialogue with others and hugely enjoyed working alongside the education, cultural and community sectors right across the North West and beyond.
The legacy of Chris’s work ensures that Curious Minds continues to have a significant impact on schools, children and young people across the North West, and that the organisation now enjoys a solid reputation upon which it continues to grow and prosper.
