Arts Award Bronze & Silver toolkit changes explained

This is the second in our series of blogs looking at the updates that we made to our Arts Award Adviser toolkits last year. In our previous blog we explained the changes at Discover and Explore levels so today we move on to Bronze and Silver!

Which toolkit?

The first thing to check is which edition of the toolkit you’re using? Turn to the contents page in your toolkit – for Bronze & Silver it should say ‘Sixth edition.’

Don’t worry if you have an old toolkit, you can download the latest versions by visiting artsaward.org.uk/toolkit and logging in with your adviser details. This page also includes some helpful key changes documents which offer a quick reference to the pages in your toolkit that have been updated. 

So, let’s take a look at what has changed…

We have made some small changes to provide further clarity on what we are asking of young people and advisers. We hope that this will prove helpful for both newly trained advisers, as well as those that have been delivering Arts Award for years! Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to make any big adaptations to the way that you have been delivering, there aren’t any major changes, just a few tweaks to some of the Parts.

So, beginning with Bronze…there haven’t been any changes to Bronze Part A: Explore the arts as a participant or Bronze Part C: Arts inspiration, so that’s an easy start!

Bronze Part B: Explore the arts as an audience member

The term arts experience has been added into this Part to address the wide range of ways that young people may experience the arts as an audience member. A description of examples of types of arts events/experiences can also be found in the helpful, new Glossary feature at the back of the toolkit. Minor amendments have been made to the wording under What young people should demonstrate through their evidence and the Evidence required in their portfolios to reflect this change.

Bronze Part D: Arts skills share – passing on arts skills to others

In the previous toolkit under What young people should do we stated “Young people plan to pass on their arts skills/knowledge…” We have now removed the word ‘knowledge’ to make it clear that this Part is all about passing on arts skills rather than just knowledge.

Now onto Silver…As with Bronze, we haven’t made changes to all of the Parts, so we just note here those that we have.

Silver Unit 1 and Unit 2 outlines

We have included Unit Outlines before the detailed explanation of each of the parts. These outlines include time guidance and are a helpful summary that advisers can refer to at a glance.

Silver Unit 1: Part A - Plan an arts challenge

You will notice a small change in the title of Part A here from ‘Identify and plan an arts challenge’ to ‘Plan an arts challenge.’ The important thing to remember is that the focus remains the same.

Silver Unit 1: Part C - Review arts events

The change in this Part is the same as what we implemented for Bronze: Part B (see above), again to address the wide range of ways that young people may experience the arts as an audience member.

Silver Unit 2: Part A - Plan a leadership project

The title here has been updated from ‘Identify leadership role and plan the project’s aims’ to ‘Plan a leadership project,’ again the focus remains the same.

Silver Unit 2: Part B: Plan the practical issues

Under What young people should demonstrate through their evidence we have removed the term emergency situations and updated this to focus instead on managing risk.

Silver Unit 2: Part C - Effective arts leadership

The evidence for this Part ideally focuses on the development and application of a young person’s chosen leadership skills but we recognise that for some young people these skills may change as the project develops. As a result, we have removed the word chosen from ‘how they are developing and applying their leadership skills’ under What young people should demonstrate though their evidence.

Silver Unit 2: Part D - Working effectively with others

An additional bullet point has been added under What young people should demonstrate through their evidence so that it better aligns with the evidence requirements: ‘Ongoing reflection on the progress of their arts project and how their leadership skills are developing.’

Silver Unit 2: Part E - Leadership project review

The title has been updated from ‘review the project and leadership role’ to ‘Leadership project review,’ however the focus remains the same.

Also, as in Unit 2: Part C, reference to reflecting on how young people have developed their chosen leadership skills has been changed to be about reflecting on how they have developed their leadership skills more generally in recognition that these skills may change for some young people over time.                                                                  

If you have any specific questions regarding the updated criteria or your delivery, you can always contact the Arts Award support team with any queries on 0207 820 6178 or email artsawardenquiries@trinitycollege.co.uk. You may wish to take advantage of our free remote support sessions which are available to trained advisers, to find out more please visit artsaward.org.uk/support

If you feel you would prefer a full refresher on delivering Arts Award you are welcome to attend Arts Award Adviser Training again. You would also then be provided with the latest version of the toolkit. If you would like to book onto an upcoming online training course you can do so here.