Last updated 12:06, Monday, 15 September 2008

Charles Mitchell, Dean of the Arts, University of Cumbria

EVERY year when the nights start to draw in I think: what shall I do tonight? I’ve been trying to learn Italian for about 20 years now. I’ve had private tutors, I’ve tried to learn from tapes, CDs – but I’ve never yet been to an evening class.

I gave up on CDs when, after about ten days, proud that during my daily 40 minute drive to work I’d managed to chat-a-long with CD1 track 8, my wife, who’d started around the same time as me, informed me that on her journey to work she was just starting CD 8 track 1. She’s a very keen learner.

She was once asked to join a friend for a salsa and meringue-making class that was part of the excellent programme for adults running at Cumbria County Council’s Higham Hall, near Cockermouth. Expecting to be fed delicious sauces and desserts when she returned I was a bit surprised to be grabbed and whirled round our living room – my wife had misinterpreted the invitation – it was a class for salsa and merengue dancing.

Evening classes for adult learners have had a hard time in this country during the past dozen years or so. Successive government policies and funding regimes have created a situation where it is difficult for an adult to participate in an affordable learning situation with others in a subject in which they’re interested. This has led to the closure of more than a million adult education places during the last three years.

The learning gap that has emerged has, to an extent, been filled by other bodies, many of them groups of enthusiasts and voluntary associations, who have developed sometimes stimulating and exciting programmes that aim to promote the personal development of individuals.

Doing something for its own sake is important. Doing something that makes you feel better about life, yourself, your partner and your family is important too. Education transforms lives. So does participation in the arts. Participation doesn’t have to mean making an artwork, though there is little that can compare with the satisfaction that comes from looking at something you’ve produced yourself and thinking: ‘I did that’. Participation in the arts can be through watching, reading, talking about things that other people have made too – and that kind of participation is a good way to starting to think about who you are and as a vehicle for helping to define what it is that you want from your life.

Joining a part-time class as an adult can provide an excellent way into education for people who missed out first time round. It’s never too late to start learning

Cumbria County Council adult education classes are listed in YourCumbria, a directory that lists classes for adults at nearly 40 centres across the county. Course fees are simply divided into three bands according to whether you’re employed, over 60 or not employed. There are excellent and stimulating arts-based courses at arts centres and museums too where new learners will be made welcome. The university runs a wide range of part-time and evening arts courses in creative writing, drama and visual arts for beginners and experienced artists at our Carlisle and Lancaster campuses.

It doesn’t matter how old you are either. I don’t get enough exercise so maybe I should do more dancing this year. What’s possible? Looking at YourCumbria I find that I can do line dancing, street dancing and salsa dancing. I could even try belly dancing!

I think I’m going to have another go at learning Italian.

What are you doing tonight?