The conference How old do you have to be to be an artist? was held at Tate Modern on 30 June 2005.    It put forward the case that, in their artistic production, we see children engaging with the world around them that is often lacking in adult life.

Reporting the conference, this essay demonstrates that it is vital to think more about the curriculum in relation to art.   Not only is it vital as a subject in itself, but it also has value across different subject areas and could be ‘connected more logically with the concept of engagement’. 

On the one hand, the teaching of art in schools is a crucial means of providing children with the creative skills essential in a changing world; on the other, it reveals ‘a significant medium of engagement that remains neglected’.

Sam Jones is a researcher at Demos.