Children across Birmingham will have more opportunities to discover the power of art and explore their creativity following the Barber’s selection for the national Clore Schools Connect programme.
Funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation, the ambitious three-year programme will help the Barber build deeper, longer-term relationships with teachers and Birmingham schools whose pupils face barriers to cultural engagement.
The Barber will share learning with four other partners in this new programme: the Royal Shakespeare Company, London Symphony Orchestra, Historic Royal Palaces – Hillsborough Castle and Gardens (Northern Ireland) and fellow art gallery Turner Contemporary in Margate
The Barber’s programme aims to:
- build lasting partnerships with Birmingham schools: with a focus on inclusion, teacher development and supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
- break down barriers to culture in the region: just 30% of state schools in the Midlands expect to take three or more trips out of their school settings per year, the UK’s lowest rate*.
With school budgets under pressure, opportunities for children to experience museums, galleries and the arts are increasingly under pressure. Through Clore Schools Connect, the Barber will work closely with teachers to understand pupils’ needs, develop and test new approaches to school engagement, and create stronger connections between classroom learning and the gallery. The aim is to build lasting relationships with schools and ensure more children feel that museums and galleries are places where they belong.
A key focus of the programme is to make the Barber’s work with schools more inclusive for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Grace Mahar, formerly deputy headteacher at Fox Hollies School, is joining the Learning and Engagement team to support the development of a bespoke SEND programme and embed inclusive approaches across the Barber’s work with schools. Consultation and feedback from teachers and pupils will be central to shaping activities, adapting spaces and understanding what makes a visit welcoming, accessible and rewarding.
The programme comes at an important moment for the Barber as it prepares to reopen in the latter part of 2027following a building transformation. This will include better step-free access, a new accessible learning wing and the Clore Learning Studio. It will create opportunities to welcome more school groups and rethink how pupils experience the collection. The Barber strives to become a more welcoming, inclusive and responsive museum, connecting its world-class collection with more young people across Birmingham.
The Barber’s Head of Learning and Engagement, Flora Kay, said:
“Over the coming years, the new creative curriculum will present a transformative opportunity for cultural institutions to re-imagine how they support schools and importantly, art educators. This programme allows us to interrogate how the Barber can best respond to the evolving needs of our primary, secondary, and specialist settings.
“We aren’t just creating gallery workshops – we hope to develop initiatives like vital, free professional development opportunities that respond directly to classroom realities and empower teachers in accessing galleries and creative practice. With our new spaces and programme, I hope our local schools will see the Barber as an inspiring and welcoming place for them.”
The Barber’s Director, Professor Jennifer Powell, said:
“We are delighted to be chosen as a partner in the Clore Schools Connect programme and to be developing our work alongside four peer organisations across the UK. Expanding the Barber’s schools’ programme with a focus upon creating supported opportunities for children who face barriers to accessing culture, and enabling SEND visitors to access and enjoy our world-class collection, are central to our mission. We thank the Clore Duffield Foundation for this unique and timely programme for Birmingham’.
Kate Bellamy, Director of the Clore Duffield Foundation, said:
“We are proud to support the Barber as one of the five participating organisations in the new Clore Schools Connect programme. Its commitment to inclusion and to building lasting relationships with Birmingham schools reflects the programme’s ambition to help more young people experience and enjoy arts and culture.”
* Research conducted in March 2026 by Teacher Tapp on behalf of the Clore Duffield Foundation. 9,722 teachers responded to the survey.
