194 schools and other educations settings in the South West region are amongst the 1,580 across England which have been successful in achieving an Artsmark award.
Arts projects showcasing the diversity of budding talent in the South West included a flash mob, ukulele choir, maypole dancing, mural painting, windbreak weaving, clay sculpting, poetry writing, carnival dancing and drumming, puppet and mask making, mosaics, songs, musicals and a rock gig.
Artsmark is the national programme that enables schools, further education colleges and youth justice settings to celebrate, strengthen and evaluate the arts activities they provide. The award supports and encourages formal education institutions to deliver rich and high quality provision.
By achieving Artsmark, a school or education setting shows its commitment to providing a high quality arts and cultural offer for children and young people.
This is the first application round since the programme was re-launched to include further education colleges and youth justice settings, with the award now also having a greater focus on the quality of arts provision as well as the quantity.
This renewed emphasis on quality arts provision has been developed to support Arts Council England in achieving its 10-year goal of ensuring that every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts.
Arts Council England’s spokesperson for the South West region, Gillian Taylor, said:
‘We’re very pleased that 70 per cent Founder Further Education colleges applied for Artsmark awards. Many of these colleges are beacons for the arts.
‘Artsmark is the national programme that enables schools, further education colleges and youth justice settings to evaluate, celebrate and strengthen a quality arts offer, and supports formal education institutions to deliver rich and high quality provision.’
The latest round of applications reflected the wider range of settings that can apply, with 70 per cent of Founder FE colleges taking advantage of their new eligibility for the programme by applying for Artsmark status.
Other changes to Artsmark include the streamlining of the programme to create two award distinctions; Artsmark and Artsmark Gold, with Artsmark now the equivalent of the old Artsmark Silver.
The Arts Council has also introduced the term ‘Working towards Artsmark’ to replace ‘Not achieving’, in order to support the evolution of Artsmark into an auditing and development tool as well as a mark of quality.
‘Working towards Artsmark’ will involve a support visit rather than an assessment visit. The support visit will help develop a successful application for next year, allowing the school to begin their Artsmark journey.
Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said:
“The Arts Council has a long history of involvement in arts education and it’s great to see schemes like Artsmark becoming an integral part of more and more school curriculums.
“We took some time last year to review Artsmark and listen to what schools and our other partners had to say about the programme and how we can improve it. The high number of applications from schools and other educational settings clearly illustrates how well received these changes were.
“This re-launched Artsmark programme will play a significant role in achieving our ambition of every young person in the country experiencing what the arts have to offer.”
The Arts Council recently announced that Trinity College London, who also manage Arts Award, had been successful in its application to become the national provider for the Artsmark scheme. Trinity will therefore be responsible for the delivery of Artsmark from September 2012.
Using the same provider for Artsmark and Arts Award will result in a more joined up approach to delivering cultural education for children and young people, both in and out of school.
