Story

The importance of art and creativity in a child's development

Written byJoe Richardson
Published date 11 July 2025

**Student work by Aris | UAL Short Courses**

Creativity and the arts continue to face challenges in UK schools, a trend that has unfortunately persisted over the past several years. While we instinctively understand the value of art for children, its importance in their development goes far beyond feeling or belief. The arts and creativity are crucial for cultivating wellbeing and helping young learners forge vital connections across different subjects.

According to a significant report from academics at Durham University, creative opportunities—like those offered by Future Creatives and our UAL short courses designed for under 18s—stimulate young children’s curiosity, imagination, and creativity. They also crucially support the development of communication skills. Being creative empowers children to cope with their feelings and fears and to manage their emotional states effectively.

Creativity and career paths: a thriving industry in 2025

Beyond personal wellbeing, creativity can absolutely pave the way for a fulfilling career. The UK has long prided itself on its visionary creatives, and this remains true in 2025.

The creative industries are a powerhouse, consistently ranking as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the UK economy. They contribute over £115 billion annually, outperforming the combined contributions of the automotive, aerospace, life sciences, and oil and gas sectors. This demonstrates the immense potential and demand for creative talent.

Real-world impact: Aris and Danae's global story

Over the last few years, our under 18s community has expanded significantly, and we've been thrilled to welcome students from across the globe to our courses. Siblings Aris and Danae, based in Athens, Greece, are fantastic examples. They’ve frequently joined our online classes, tuning into courses on making self-portraits in the style of Aurélia Durand, learning colour theory, and much more!

At UAL Short Courses, our main aim is to support the next generation of creative kids and teenagers in exploring their creativity outside of the classroom. We also help teenagers develop their skills for GCSEs, A-levels, and beyond. We recently connected with Aris, Danae, and their mother, Stephany, to learn about their future career goals and how taking a short course has impacted their approach to making art and design.

When we asked the young learners what they had learnt from working with Future Creative, both were keen to communicate how they feel energised by the abundance of skills they have acquired during our bite-sized chunks of creative education with focused objectives:

“I have learnt how to apply a range of painting and drawing methods in a short space of time.” - Danae

“I’ve learnt how much I can do in one hour with the right materials and teacher!” - Aris

The pair reflected on how their experience offers them the opportunity to utilise more “modern techniques” than they had learned in school or on other art courses. They highlighted how the sessions afforded them the chance to bring an idea from formation to fruition in one session: “It is really enjoyable to complete a whole project in one go. At school, we never have enough time!”

Their mother, Stephany, expressed how happy she was to see her children “experimenting and thinking creatively” and how “they’ve both learnt new methods and were excited to see what they could achieve in such a short space of time.” Stephany had previously benefited from the enriching environment of UAL whilst taking a course. She signed her children up for a Future Creatives class to enable them to encounter a wide range of art and design techniques and see if they would be interested in pursuing a career in the arts themselves.

Both young learners have plenty of ambition. Aris aspires to “be living in Paris, painting and playing football.” Danae would like to “combine art with photography and video making” to pursue a career in advertising and promotion.

The two young artists source their inspiration from their local art scene, alongside the canon of painting, ancient historical artefacts, and contemporary international artists. Aris described how he would have loved to have met Van Gogh to learn how he developed his “amazing drawing style.” Danae is particularly fond of “a large wall at the centre of Athens with a huge graffiti piece created by a group of street artists.” For Danae, being an artist means having the “need to create something.”

We are so pleased to hear that Aris and Danae have been getting so much from the online courses they’ve been attending and that they’re still hungry to learn more creative skills to help them realise their creative ambitions and find new sources of inspiration and motivation through the wide range of courses on offer from Future Creatives.

Ready to nurture your child's creativity?

Is your child interested in pursuing a career in the arts? Perhaps they’re looking to reach that next grade at A Level/GCSE, or maybe they want to try something new and develop their art and design skills in the evenings? It's never too early to start!

Check out our latest courses taught by a fantastic range of tutors with bags of experience in the creative industries. Options include on campus and online courses for kids and teens: