Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- London Mayor Boris Johnson said he aims to improve music education for young people and increase access to culture for people living in the U.K. capital’s outer boroughs, goals set out in a plan for the arts through 2012.

As part of the music education program, Londoners are asked to pledge their old instruments to young learners in a project called “No Strings Attached,” according to the policy document, released by e-mail today. Johnson said he will seek more government funds for culture in areas outside the center and ensure citywide jazz and film events penetrate outer boroughs.

“We want a London where visitors are lured to the neglected cultural gems of the outer boroughs as efficiently as they are marched through the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern,” Johnson said in the statement. “I want to maintain the capital’s status as one of the great world cities for culture and creativity.”

London’s creative and cultural industries employed about 12 percent of the capital’s workers in 2005, or 554,000 people, according to the release. More than 15 million overseas tourists visit London each year -- 5 million more than go to New York or Paris -- and seven out of 10 say that London’s culture influenced their decision to visit, the statement said.

The mayor said he will vet events in Trafalgar Square more closely to ensure that they are only of the highest quality. One new such initiative, to be held at venues across the city in June 2009, is “The Story of London,” a season celebrating the past, present and future of the capital.

To contact the writer on this story: Catherine Hickley in Berlin at chickley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 24, 2008 06:19 EST