Primary school aged children should be spending an average of 65 minutes a day dedicated to the arts, including reading, painting and dance, new research reveals
The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for the arts coincides with the launch of Sky Arts' Access All Arts week, a new nationwide learning programme for Primary Schools
Research recommends that 17 minutes should be dedicated to literature, 14 minutes to art, 12 minutes to music, 11 minutes to drama and 11 minutes to dance*
Child Psychologist Laverne Antrobus and primary school teachers across the UK built the Arts RDA' in collaboration with Sky Arts
Kimberley Walsh has also joined forces with Sky Arts to drive awareness of Access All Arts Week
Millions of primary school aged children could benefit from having an average of 65 minutes dedicated to the arts every day - specifically 17 minutes dedicated to literature, 14 minutes to art, 12 minutes to music, 11 minutes to drama and 11 minutes to dancing.*
The figure, a Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for the arts, has been built using insights from 504 primary school teachers surveyed across the UK and guidance from child psychologist Laverne Antrobus. It is published today by Sky Arts to coincide with the launch of Access All Arts week, a new nationwide arts initiative for primary schools taking place this week (6-10 June).
Educators have long believed that the arts can help shape and define who children are, fuelling their imagination and igniting their creativity. After a period in which every child's access to the arts has been severely restricted, owing to closures of schools and arts institutions, exposure to and interaction with the arts has never been more important.
Access All Arts week, developed in partnership with leading artists and arts organisations, from poet Benjamin Zephaniah to author Liz Pichon, provides free resources for teachers to take their classes on a week-long creative adventure across five forms of artistic expression.
To mark the launch of Access All Arts week, Sky Arts has taken the concept of a Recommended Daily Allowance, well-understood in the context of nutrition, and applied it to the arts to help children get their five-a-day - from reading their favourite books at home to dancing in their classroom.
Laverne Antrobus, comments: Having the opportunity to paint, to dance, to write poetry has huge wellbeing benefits for a young child, helping them to develop self-confidence and a positive self image. Access to the arts helps to build creative skills which are likely to be in demand later in life - for example, problem-solving and imagination. The idea of a Recommended Daily Allowance for the arts is a brilliant way to put a simple framework around the importance it holds for children and their development.
The Arts RDA' recommends that primary school aged children spend an average of 65 minutes engaging with the arts each day.* The research conducted also looked into specific arts disciplines, which break down the total RDA as follows:
The RDA for literature (including reading, making up stories/creative writing, reading and writing poems) - is 17 minutes per day, or 1 hour 59 minutes per week**
The RDA for art (including drawing, painting, crafts, colouring) - is 14 minutes per day, or 1 hour 38 minutes per week**
The RDA for music (including singing, playing an instrument, listening to music) - is 12 minutes per day or 1 hour 24 minutes per week**
The RDA for drama (including acting, directing, writing a script, reading a play, going to the cinema or theatre, watching a play) - is 11 minutes per day or 1 hour 17 minutes per week**
The RDA for dance (including taking part in any type of dance from tap and ballet to street dance, watching dancing, making up/choreographing their own dances) - is 11 minutes per day or 1 hour 17 minutes per week**
The new research also revealed that in the experience of primary school teachers surveyed, the children they teach tend to on average engage most with art, followed by music, dancing, drama and finally literature
Additional research surveying 1,000 parents of primary school age children, conversely found that literature, including reading, making up stories and writing poems, is the number one activity that parents would like their child to spend more time doing outside of school, with almost one third (32%) of parents acknowledging this.
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, says: Access All Arts week has brought as many artists and arts organisations as possible together to create fun, interactive resources for teachers. We're committed to helping them create inspiring lessons for their pupils and to supplement the brilliant job that they already do in this area.
We know that access to creative pursuits enhances a child's prospects whatever they choose to do in later life, so fighting the good fight for making arts accessible to all is vital.
Our Arts RDA' gives a simple, initial framework for how young children could spend each day creatively. We're keen to look at this area further, with the lens of a five a day model, as we move forward with our education initiatives.
Singer, dancer and actress Kimberley Walsh has also joined forces with Sky Arts to drive awareness of Access All Arts Week and Sky Arts' ongoing commitment to increase access to the arts amongst all young people.
Kimberley Walsh, adds: The arts were such an important part of my life growing up, whether it was singing with a hairbrush to Kylie, dancing with my sisters or performing plays in front of the family. I think it's great that Sky Arts is doing so much to make sure that every child across every part of the country has the same opportunities to access the arts and I really love the idea of the Arts RDA'.
Access All Arts Week is av
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Primary school aged children should be spending an average of 65 minutes a day dedicated to the arts, including reading, painting and dance, new research reveals 
