Arts Award and families

Arts Award offers a great framework for family arts activity. In this blog we will explore ways organisations can broaden their activities to include families, including different family arts approaches and Top tips when using Arts Award with families.

Why use Arts Award to engage family audiences?

Discover and Explore awards offer a good ‘hook’ for families to work alongside their children and achieve something together. Arts Award’s structure allows any arts and cultural activity to be mapped to the award,
inspiring children and providing a sense of achievement both for individuals and their family groups. It provides a focus for families to enjoy the arts together.

Additionally, Arts Award has a flexible framework to deliver over different timescales and levels of engagement. Arts Award provides a stepping stone for a child’s pathway in becoming more confident, creative thinkers, good communicators and leaders.

Arts Award in different family arts approaches

Festival or one-off holiday activity

Plan your activity thoroughly, ensuring you have enough time for each part of the award to be completed during your activity session. If you are working in partnership with other organisations be clear about how and where families can access activities. Check out the Family Arts Standards for further guidance. If families need to move between different venues ensure you have all relevant travel information for walking, driving, bus or train routes and perhaps include details on facilities to help inform families.

Arts Award in action: The Bridgwater Hall and Z-Arts, Manchester created
one-off Discover trailblazer templates for their Family Arts Festival week across Manchester city centre’s arts and cultural organisations. Arts Award advisers took the lead, plus staff and volunteers across venues were briefed on the Discover award and how to help participants. 

Working with ‘older’ young people

Working with older siblings can build positive relationships and role models. Siblings can choose to work on the same level award to learn together, or older siblings can work on a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. They could then
support their younger siblings to achieve their Discover or Explore level, either by delivering workshops as part of their leadership or putting on
an event.

Arts Award in action: QUAD Arts Centre worked with family groups, including
older siblings and children with individual needs on a weekly basis. 

Weekly sessions

Arts Award works very well within arts and cultural venues as weekly sessions for families. A lead adviser can plan and deliver sessions, help keep on track and work alongside families to support their experience. Families working alongside other families can help build new friendships, increase communication and strengthen networks. Factor in some flexibility for families missing sessions so that everyone covers all Arts Award activities.

Top tips when using Arts Award with families

Embed family engagement

Encourage family members to work alongside one another and enjoy their artistic journey as a family unit. Try to offer activities that are easy for any age or ability to get involved in. Introduce pairing, group work or identify specific roles within the activity and allow children to take a steer.

Stay on track 

Children and their families need an Arts Award adviser to help them stay on track, gain an understanding of the arts and complete all parts fully within their Discover or Explore award. If you’re not an Arts Award centre there may be advisers in your area you can work with to get started, find them at artsaward.org.uk/centres, or you and your team can train to be an adviser at:
artsaward.org.uk/training

Members of your team who are not trained Arts Award advisers can support families if they are briefed well. Depending on your activity, you could offer
Arts Award maps/trails for your venue, handouts for parents and/or children, an Arts Award help point or some ‘top tips’ posted throughout a venue. 

Share an understanding of the ‘arts’

Some children and/or their families may not have a wide understanding of what the arts are, or what an artist is. Allow them the freedom to question but steer them within art form genres by giving informed choices. Perhaps
start off with suggestions and ‘what is art?’ discussions, representing art forms in either visual, written, verbal, sound, film or animation to help them
understand the breadth. 

Plan, gather and create resources in advance

Whatever your family activity, it is important to gather all materials and equipment needed for Arts Award evidence in advance so they are readily
available for all. You could have template hand-outs or arts logs to gather evidence quickly and ‘on-the-spot’.

Keep it clear

There are many demands and stresses within family life so keep it simple and to the point. Try to give clear guidance including objectives, outcomes, timings, cost, venue, accessibility, facilities, parking, potential access for siblings, age ranges and abilities. 

Gather evidence as you go along

Some children may need more support in documenting their Arts Award journey. Try to think of creative and ‘on-the-spot’ ways of capturing their immediate thoughts or responses. Families could put together films, photo storyboards, simple voice recordings, written post-it notes or fill out worksheets.

We hope you find these tips helpful and that including families in Arts Award is an enriching experience!