Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 13 March 2020.
There are excellent examples of grassroots projects in London, such as the Black Ticket Project which provides free or discounted tickets to young black Londoners to attend a diverse range of plays and shows, including but not just the West End. Part of their mission is supporting these young people to feel confident and welcome in these spaces where they may not have been before. How do your projects reach out to young people who may not immediately think that this kind of thing is ‘for them’?
My ambition is for a city where everyone can make the most of the capital’s world-leading culture, yet too many young Londoners are missing out. My Culture Strategy supports world-leading institutions and grassroots projects across London to ensure that all young people can experience the power culture has to inspire and transform their lives.
Waltham Forest, my first London Borough of Culture, engaged every school in the borough. My Young Londoners Fund has invested £7.5million in culture specific projects. In Brent, the Blueprint Collective of 82 16-32 year olds is shaping Brent’s London Borough of Culture programme. Culture Seeds, my £1million micro grant programme for grassroots cultural projects, has funded 220 projects across every London borough. 43% have been for and by local young people. And at the Museum of London, over 150,000 school children took part in their programmes in 2018-19.