Annabel Aitken’s powerful article, “When the Arts Disappear, What Happens to Expression?”, was published this month in Student Voice Magazine. We are incredibly proud of Annabel’s thoughtful writing and her strong advocacy for the creative arts. Her work highlights not only the value of artistic expression in schools but also the wider impact funding decisions have on students’ voices, confidence, and opportunities.

Annabel shares more about her involvement with Student Voice and the inspiration behind her latest piece:

"Student Voice is a magazine solely written by students from different schools in Auckland, regarding different social issues that students want to bring awareness to. I've been doing Student Voice Magazine since 2018. Twice a term, the students attend a meeting which discusses potential article topics, professional journalists come to help, and we learn different tips and tricks about the journalism industry.  Every student writes around 1-2, and they pick which articles are the best-written or regard a serious topic which needs to be discussed.

This article is about the importance of performing and creative arts within schools. The Government has been cutting funding away for creative programmes and removing arts subjects within schools, and this article explores how, when funding needs to be divided, the arts are the first to go and the negatives of this. Read to understand the benefits of creative arts and the positive impacts the subjects and programmes have on the students."

You can read the full article here on Page 49 - When the Arts Disappear, What Happens to Expression?