Daily Times

Hundreds of babies born in Leicester are to be tracked by researchers for the first 25 years of their lives to examine the impact of regular exposure to arts activities. The Arts Council England and De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester announced details of the Talent25 project on Friday. The importance to children of activities such as being read to and reading, listening to and learning music, going to the cinema, theatre, libraries and museums, has been mostly taken as a given. The Talent25 project aims to provide the first rigorous academic evidence of this. Its backers also hope it will provide lessons on what does and does not work when it comes to engaging children culturally and developing talent. DMU Vice Chancellor Dominic Shellard said he thought the project would be a game changer.

Published in Daily Times, January 26^th 2019.