The government has announced the launch of a new internship initiative to help graduates from deprived backgrounds gain experience in the arts. The Creative Bursaries Scheme plans to create at least 40 internships a year with arts organisations for those unable to pay for their own training or take on unpaid internships. Each graduate will be given a bursary at the rate of £15k per year.

Funding for the project, which begins in September this year, is being provided by The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England and The Jerwood Foundation will manage it. Gordon Brown says of the scheme: "It is a vital boost for some of our great future actors, artists and musicians who may otherwise have slipped through the net".