Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery © Andy Smith, 2018
Art Fund, the national charity for art, today launched the 2018-19 Student Art Pass offer to all university students in the UK, a specially discounted £5 version of its National Art Pass. Alongside this is a major new initiative to create 500 paid work opportunities – or ‘Artful Opportunities’ – which will be made available to Student Art Pass holders throughout the year across the UK.
Artful Opportunities build upon the success of previous placements offered to students which include work as guides at cultural events and festivals such as Art Night, work as Ambassadors for Art Fund on campus and at cultural venues, and the opportunity to showcase their talent through art writing commissions and competitions. All these work opportunities for students will be paid at a minimum of the living wage.
Alongside these innovative work opportunities for 500 young people, the Student Art Pass offers every student in the UK free access to over 240 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country and 50% off major exhibitions all for just £5 a year, a fraction of the normal £67 cost of the National Art Pass.
Both the Artful Opportunities and Student Art Pass aim to help students to explore the cultural and creative industries and connect them with their peer community of other students with a passion for culture and creativity, and arts professionals.
Art Fund’s Student Art Pass has already been enormously popular with students since its launch in 2017 which saw 17,600 students from 157 UK universities, studying 90 subjects, become Art Fund members. Research with this group of students led to the development of the new initiative launched today. It enables students to visit art shows and venues they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to go to, encouraging them to engage in cultural activities outside university.
A recent Art Fund survey showed that since having a pass 50% of Student Art Pass holders have visited UK museums and galleries five times or more.
Art Fund’s director, Stephen Deuchar said: ‘We have seen at first-hand the appetite students have for experiencing art and culture in their everyday lives. There are 1.4 million full-time university students in the UK right now, and I would encourage each of them to apply for a Student Art Pass to join our creative community, get access to Artful Opportunities, and receive discounted or free access to hundreds of cultural institutions.’
Applications for the Student Art Pass scheme are open now until 9th December 2018.
www.studentartpass.org
