The Times - UK (2022-01-13)

14 2GM Thursday January 13 2022 | the times

News

Paw Patrol and Bob the Builder would

not have existed without creative arts

degrees, their multimillionaire founder

has said.

Keith Chapman, who created the two

children’s TV shows that have generat-

ed sales of more than £10 billion, is lead-

ing a campaign to protect arts courses.

Boris Johnson extolled the virtues of

Peppa Pig World in a talk to business

A man was arrested yesterday on suspi-

cion of criminal damage after it was

alleged that he took a hammer to an

Eric Gill statue adorning the façade of

the BBC’s Broadcasting House.

The emergency services were called

to the scene at 4.15pm to reports of a

man damaging the statue in Portland

Place, Westminster, the police said.

A man was arrested at about 8.45pm

on suspicion of causing criminal dam-

age in connection with the incident

after he came down a ladder. Another

man, who had been filming what hap-

pened, was arrested on suspicion of

conspiracy to commit criminal damage

Katie Razzall, culture editor of BBC

News, posted a video on Twitter of the

man who allegedly vandalised the work

of Gill, a notorious paedophile artist.

“Outside BBC right now a man is try-

ing to smash up the Eric Gill statue

while another man live streams talking

about paedophiles,” she said.

The main entrance to the BBC’s

headquarters is no longer Broadcasting

House but the incident raises questions

about its security.

The figures, depicting Prospero and

Ariel from Shakespeare’s play The Tem-

pest, were installed in 1933. The statues

have been a source of controversy after

it emerged that Gill, who died in 1940,

abused his daughters. The statue de-

picts a naked child.

Shayan Sardarizadeh, a BBC report-

er, said that Gill’s work had become an

obsession for conspiracy theorists, in-

cluding those linked to British QAnon.

Nearly 2,500 people have signed a

petition on the website of the political

activist group 38 Degrees demanding

the removal of the sculpture.

A spokeswoman for the BBC de-

clined to comment.

Man held over attack on

paedophile artist’s statue

Jake Kanter, Peter Chappell

Arts degrees engineer success,

says Bob the Builder creator

leaders in November. However the

government is steering funding away

from arts degrees, particularly those

that do not lead to high graduate earn-

ings, in favour of science, technology,

engineering and maths.

A long-awaited government review

of post-18 funding could introduce

measures to limit the number of stu-

dents on creative arts courses.

But Chapman, who lives in Monaco,

is joined by the comedians Greg Davies

and Nish Kumar, the author Cressida

Cowell and the musician Laura Mvula

in a new campaign to help vice-chan-

cellors promote the value of creative

arts at university.

Chapman, who did a graphics course

at Great Yarmouth College of Art and

Design (now part of Norwich Univers-

ity of the Arts) said his higher educa-

tion experience was crucial to his

career. He said the argument regarding

job security and pay attached to Stem

(science, technology and maths) cours-

es was overstated. “The UK’s creative

industries shine on the world stage,” he

added. “If the UK government wants to

continue talking-up Bob the Builder,

Harry Potter and Peppa Pig, they must

show they understand how important

creative courses are to their success.”

He is helping launch Creative Sparks

on behalf of Universities UK, which

represents vice-chancellors. The cam-

paign claims that parents back creative

courses, with two thirds agreeing they

benefit the economy. However, a simi-

lar number believe the creative indus-

tries — worth £115 billion a year to the

economy pre-Covid — have been

harmed by the pandemic.

Writing in The Times Red Box, Chap-

man adds: “Parents recognise that their

children’s future happiness does not

necessarily revolve around earning lots

of money and having job security.

“Creative courses give people like me

a sense of personal fulfilment and the

chance to do something we love for a

living. Creativity opens our minds to

bold and innovative thinking. I did a

graphics course at Great Yarmouth

College of Art and Design. They were

the best years of my life. I left with a

distinction, a professional portfolio of

work, lifelong friends and a head full of

dreams. It opened the door to my first

job in children’s TV working for the leg-

endary Jim Henson of The Muppets.”

Government data shows that those

who take creative arts earn, on average,

£23,400 ten years after graduating.

While this is among the lowest of any

discipline, it is not much less than

teaching (£25,600), performing arts

(£24,500), agriculture (£25,200) and

nursing and midwifery (£29,900). The

highest paid graduates after ten years

are medicine with an average salary of

£55,500 and economics at £52,600.

A Department for Education spokes-

man said: “We remain wholly commit-

ted to driving up standards and educa-

tional excellence across all subjects and

disciplines, including the arts and crea-

tive subjects, ensuring that learners

gain the skills they need to achieve bet-

ter employment outcomes.”

Read more at thetimes.co.uk

Nicola Woolcock Education Editor

Earnings compared

Median earnings for UK graduates at

one, three, five and ten years after

graduation

For selected subjects. Source: Longitudinal Educational

Outcomes (LEO) dataset, UK government

£

50

40

30

20

10

0

000s

13510

Years

Medicine

English studies Economics

Maths

Art and design

FIONA HANSON/PA

Keith Chapman, whose TV shows have made billions, wants to save arts courses

A man climbed on to a ledge next to

the statue at Broadcasting House