Discounted arts tickets ‘would aid poor kids’

Disadvantaged families should get cheap theatre and music tickets to help their children reap the same benefits as others for their education, a top researcher has said.

The suggestion by Emer Smyth, research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, followed her study showing children who take part in arts and cultural activities have more confidence at school.

She found, in children aged nine to 13, taking part in structured arts activities outside school time and self-directed reading contribute to verbal and numeric skills, and academic self-confidence. But the research for the Arts Council found children from better-off families were more likely to have access to those activities, largely due to the cost of doing them outside of school.