Q&A: Emma Archer

Hattie Fisk: How did the National Plan for Music Education in Wales, and your role as plan manager, come about?

Emma Archer: The whole process started quite a while ago now. There was an initial enquiry done by the Culture and Welsh Language Committee in 2017 about the future of music education in Wales. That produced a report called Hitting the right note which came up with 15 recommendations – the key takeaways being that a national plan should be written, and that the Welsh government should consider whether an arm's length body should be established to oversee the running of music services and education. Subsequently, there was a stakeholder group that was pulled together, which I was a member of, as I was chair of the Welsh Authorities’ Music Education Association (CAGAC) at the time. Following the report being published, the Welsh government then commissioned a feasibility study of the creation of the plan, so between 2017 and 2019 there was a lot of work done behind the scenes.