Schools and cultural organisations have collaborated together to develop arts-based learning programmes in schools. At a first glance, this model seems beneficial as these initiatives increase students’ opportunities to access the arts and foster their creative expression, whilst pupils also acquire soft skills and strengthen their ability to work collaboratively. However, as one examines this matter closer, it becomes evident that certain aspects involved in the development of these partnerships are animated by motivations that transcend the ones circumscribed in widening students’ opportunities in creative learning. This dissertation is the result of an ethnographic study of a music and a dance initiative delivered in partnership between cultural organisations and schools across Greater London. Through constant comparison of the data, three themes surfaced as the principal categories animating arts-based learning in schools developed in partnership with cultural organisations: - Artistic partnerships maximise the creative potential and soft-skills acquisition of students. - Cultural organisations established an asymmetric relationship with their educative partners. - The motivations of cultural partnerships are dictated by priorities that transcend educational objectives. The analysis adopts Bourdieusian theory, mainly Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital, to examine the way in which creative learning is introduced in schools. Furthermore, a Bernsteinian framework is employed to analyse the pedagogy that arts initiatives under the direction of artist-teachers enforce in the classroom. Moreover, the study contributes to arts learning and creative partnerships by providing recommendations that encourage participatory and collaborative practice in future endeavours.