Children across the UK will learn their arts ABC’s from an army of volunteer practitioners when Big Arts Week rolls into schools for the third time this June.
The national initiative, with the ‘big’ idea of strategically combating reduced access to the arts in schools, matchmakes creative professionals with local schools for a week of imagination and invention designed to fire creative cylinders in the next generation.
Artists from a diverse range of disciplines – painters, puppet masters, authors, actors, architects, dancers, designers, musicians, ceramicists and more – give between one hour to the whole week of their time to work on a project with students, sharing enthusiasm and skills for their particular art form.
The concept is a win for both – the kids get dedicated arts time and the chance to learn from the experts; the artists, a chance to stay active, cultivate teaching skills and foster an appreciation for their craft in the young.
And the campaign doesn’t just allow kids to put arts to practice. Via its artist bank, Big Arts Week has successfully raised awareness and esteem for arts voluntarism, inspiring hordes of community conscious, creative volunteers.
The ‘Big’ program was launched in 2002 and founded by William Sieghart, founder of National Poetry Day and Bedtime Reading Week. In its first two years the event has sent some 3,000 professional artists into 5,000 schools to work with over 100,000 children, gaining prominent patrons and increased sponsor support along the way. The event is run by national volunteer organisation Timebank, who facilitate the marriage of artists and schools.
‘When asked about their childhood influences, many artists cite one person who fired their imagination when they were young and encouraged them to achieve their creative goals,’ said Sieghart, at the 2002 launch of the campaign.
‘The aim of The Big Arts Week is to get artists to sign-up and ensure as many young people as possible get this opportunity.‘
Participating students have worked on a vast array of projects: designing a new ‘Beckingham Palace’ with top architects from Foster and Partners, taking portraits with photographic and new media artist Sam Taylor Wood, perfecting witticisms with author and satirist Kathy Lette, creating a myriorama with Jude Macpherson and constructing costumes for a school show with professional costume designer Nerissa Cargill-Thompson.
The list goes on.
‘Seeing kids being naturally creative and working together is a very uplifting and rewarding experience. I have four children of my own but gained so much from the schools visits I took part in last year,’ says fashion and design guru Wayne Hemmingway, who took part in Big Arts Week in 2003
UK teacher Deb Stokes worked with Cargill-Thompson to create colourful costumes with her class.
‘The school buzzed with organised creative chaos,’ she says. ‘We forgot our usual routines – staff, parents and children got creative and inspired.’
Inspiration is at the heart of Big Arts Week 2004. Explosive inspiration, summed up in this years theme – ‘The Big Bang’ – the desired byproduct of using today’s talent to fire up tomorrow’s.
It’s a bang necessary for the survival, if studies are anything to go by.
Economic pressures are increasingly squeezing arts and culture out of school curriculums, with a recent survey from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) finding that, on average, only 65 minutes a week was being spent on Art in schools.
Research conducted by Timebank during the last two incarnations of Big Arts Week indicates that two thirds (66 per cent) of teachers think the current situation will be detrimental to the creative fabric of the country. A further 40 per cent think it will result in fewer artists in future generations. That’s a lot of creative economy set to dwindle.
Big Arts Week is one antidote for the problem, but the scheme will need to boost it’s numbers of artists if it is to continue growing, to cope with increasing demand from the teaching profession.
And as TimeBank chief executive Moira Swinbank explains, it is essential that demand is met in order help teachers deliver memorable creative experiences:
‘Big Arts Week has been a victim of its own success. The demand from schools for support to help students enjoy an artistic project has been overwhelming. Our research shows children are being starved of opportunities that will be of an enormous benefit to them in adult life. And while teachers obviously value the importance of the arts, the time available within the curriculum is getting tighter year-on-year.’
Its for these reasons organisers have made it easy for artists to get involved.
The Big Arts Week website has a bank of ideas designed to inspire artists’ project of choice and connect them with a school community.
The artist can focus doing what they love…and the kids – who will inevitably inspire right back.
Big Arts Week 2004 runs from June 21 to 25 and is supported by Arts Council England, Forward Arts Foundation and a range of corporate sponsors.
Its list of patrons and celebrity supporters, includes Harry Enfield, Julian Lloyd Webber, Helena Bonham Carter, Frederick Forsyth, Kathy Lette and Prunella Scales
For further information on Big Arts Week visit www.bigartsweek.com.
