LCEPs support children and young people to fulfil their creative potential and access high-quality cultural experiences where they live, where they go to school, and where they spend their free time. Partners come together from across sectors, responding to local needs and interests, to drive a more joined-up cultural education offer, share resources, and improve the visibility of cultural education in their local area.

The idea for LCEPs was developed in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE) in 2015, with the aim of improving the alignment of cultural education of young people. Pilot LCEPs were launched in Great Yarmouth, Bristol, and Barking & Dagenham. Since then, the success of these partnerships has inspired the emergence of over 140 LCEPs across England.

LCEPs locally specific and can take many different forms. They may involve collaborative working with a wide range of partners, including from the cultural, education, higher education, youth, health, criminal justice, voluntary, and commercial creative sectors, as well as with local and combined authorities. LCEPs are supported by our network of Bridge Organisations, who provide developmental and strategic support relevant to their stage of development and need.

The programme, which offered a series of workshops and individual coaching sessions, focused on equipping leaders with the skills and confidence to influence change in their local area and supporting LCEPs to generate collective solutions to shared challenges. 

Additionally, five LCEPs are taking part in the Youth Performance Partnerships programme, a £5 million pilot to test how place-based partnerships can support children and young people from areas of low cultural engagement and high levels of deprivation to take part in high-quality performance-making. 

We are cmmitted to continuing our work with LCEPs as part of our 2021-2024 Delivery Plan. LCEPs will play an important role in our delivery plan theme of strengthening our place-based approach and supporting the levelling up of communities most in need.