Artworks
The Artworks programme was conceived, funded and managed by the Clore Duffield Foundation and ran for six years from 2000-2005. Comprising three areas of activity - Children's Art Day, a programme of Research and the acclaimed Artworks Awards scheme. The programme involved around 200,000 school children, 1,800 schools, 8,000 teachers and hundreds of galleries between 2000 and 2004; making it one of the most influential programmes of its kind.
The aim of Artworks was to support the visual arts in schools, underpinned by a core belief about the importance for children of visual literacy in an ever increasingly visual world. The programme promoted opportunities for children to participate in high quality visual arts activities, raising the stakes by demonstrating the high standards achievable in teaching and learning by teachers, artists and galleries. Artworks was also about raising awareness of need; effectively highlighting the challenges faced by schools and lobbying for better support and resources. Artworks provided the opportunity for debate between professionals from the visual arts and education sectors, widening the conversation through links with important partners and patrons including artists Antony Gormley and Richard Wentworth, the National Society for Education in Art & Design (NSEAD) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The Artworks programme attracted a wealth of media interest, with Channel 4, The Guardian and The Times Educational Supplement taking up the cause as key media partners.
Information about Children's Art Day and the Artworks Award Scheme can be found below and click here for Artworks Research.
Children's Art Day
Taking place at the end of June/early July each year, Children's Art Day provides opportunities for thousands of children, young people and families to take part in exciting art activities in hundreds of galleries, museums and other public venues across the UK. From 2000-2004 the day was run by the Clore Duffield Foundation in partnership with engage (the National Association for Gallery Education). It is now run by engage with funding from the Clore Duffield Foundation and support from the Mayor of London and Arts Council England.
Click here to find out more about Children's Art Day on the engage website.
Children's Art Day events have ranged from the intimate and innovative to the huge in scale. In 2007, Time Out London published a guide to the many Children's Art Day activities. In 2006, young people visiting the Imperial War Museum were each invited to make a flower representing a soldier killed in the Somme. At the Park Gallery in Falkirk in 2004, families experimented with flour, semolina and animal feed to make pigments for painting on grass. In 2005, the Mayor of London joined forces with the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and Creative Partnerships to create a giant, open-air art workshop in Trafalgar Square. Many of these events were supported through special grants from the Clore Duffield Foundation.
High levels of media interest have served to widen awareness of Children's Art Day among the general public. This included Channel 4 screening several series' of short films to coincide with Children's Art Day, profiling Artworks projects.
Artworks Awards scheme
Over five years, from 2000 to 2004, the Artworks Awards rewarded exciting teaching in art & design, in which artists and works of art were the inspiration for teachers and young people aged up to 18.
Each year, well over 500 schools submitted stories of projects inspired by works of art, artists, galleries and other resources. Winning projects were selected by a panel of judges comprising prominent artists, gallery directors and education experts. Winning schools were given signed, limited-edition prints by some of the UK's best known artists as well as substantial cash prizes (£2,000 per school) to develop new projects. Each year, teachers and their pupils attended prestigious award ceremonies at Tate Modern. Attracting extensive media coverage, the role of the Awards in celebrating and raising the profile of the work of teachers was always described as being of equal importance to the material prizes.
Over the five years, 144 Awards were won by nursery, primary, secondary, special and hospital schools as well as pupil referral units across the UK. Awards were given to projects that were judged to be inspiring and inventive, carefully planned and well-executed and which challenged teachers and pupils; broadening their horizons and stretching their understanding of art & design. Projects spanned a diverse range of approaches, starting points and materials; winning projects included a contemporary re-interpretation of Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode using digital technology, a nursery child inspiring her classmates with a visit to the Angel of the North, and a collective response in pastels and sculpture to the devastation caused by foot and mouth disease in Cumbria.
All the Artworks Award-winning projects are described and illustrated in the Artworks Awards Gallery, which continues to provide an inspirational resource for teachers, as well as offering a valuable archive of evidence about how art & design was taught between the years of the awards.
Click here to access the searchable Artworks Awards Gallery.