Creative Briefs is a Hull-based Community Interest Company dedicated to empowering neurodiverse children and young people through inclusive, design-based workshops. This commitment to accessibility has shaped how the organisation delivers Arts Award, with remote delivery now an established part of its approach.
Founder and Director, Jason Bowers has found that working online makes it possible to reach students who might otherwise miss out on achieving Arts Award, while maintaining a strong focus on quality, creativity and progression.
What remote Arts Award delivery looks like in practice
At Creative Briefs, we’ve been delivering Arts Award for five years through weekly online sessions held on Saturday mornings. Sessions run for two hours and typically involve groups of between 12 and 24 learners aged eight to fourteen from across the UK. Young people join us through a mix of school partnerships, local promotion and national networks such as the Children’s University Trust.
Holding sessions at the weekend is a deliberate choice. It helps keep Arts Award delivery separate from school timetables, homework and weekday pressures, and allows sessions to feel distinct from formal learning. This consistent approach also gives learners a clear structure they can rely on and return to each week. For many of the young people involved, we find that sense of routine plays a key role in building confidence and sustained engagement.
We carefully plan each session, with a clear framework in place, while remaining flexible enough to respond to individual interests. We design creative tasks to engage learners first, working from their passions and ideas so sessions feel creative rather than instructional. Once work is underway, we map activities to Arts Award criteria, ensuring that assessment supports creativity rather than directing it. This approach allows students to stay focused on making, experimenting and reflecting, while naturally progressing towards achieving an Arts Award.
Learner-led, inclusive approaches to engagement
Inclusion underpins every aspect of delivery at Creative Briefs. Sessions are designed to be accessible to learners with a wide range of needs, and activities are broken down into manageable stages, with flexibility built in to respond to different learning styles, confidence levels and ways of thinking.
Alongside developing their own ideas, learners are introduced to a wide range of artists, designers and creative disciplines, from architects and graphic designers to graffiti artists. These are used as starting points for exploration and discussion.
We’ve found that this approach often sparks new interests over time, while allowing learners with established passions to deepen their knowledge and confidence. It also aligns naturally with Arts Award’s focus on researching artists and creative practices, without that research feeling like a separate task.
Supporting mixed-level groups online
Remote groups at Creative Briefs often include students working at different Arts Award levels, from Discover and Explore through to Bronze, Silver and Gold. We balance whole-group discussion with the use of breakout rooms - with an adviser present in each - allowing learners to focus on requirements appropriate to their level.
Peer support is an important part of this process. Young people who have been involved for longer often share approaches, reflect on challenges they have overcome and talk about their progression. This helps others build confidence and gain a clearer sense of what their own next steps might be.
Digital tools, AI and flexible ways of working
We use digital tools to support engagement and the collection of Arts Award evidence. Young people use online platforms to research artists, develop and test ideas, and capture their work as it happens, using formats that suit them such as audio, video, photographs and visual responses.
We encourage students to take ownership of their own portfolios, choosing how they record and present their progress rather than feeling limited to written work. This approach makes evidence-gathering feel natural and accessible.
Some students choose to explore AI tools to help with research and generate ideas, or as a starting point for presentations. These tools are used to extend creative thinking and support young people to experiment and shape thoughts, whilst still owning the creative process and final artworks.
Access, reflection and building confidence
To support independent working between sessions, we’ve developed a bespoke online portal at Creative Briefs that guides learners through each Arts Award unit and level. Students can revisit activities, catch up if they miss a session and upload evidence in a range of formats, working at a pace that feels manageable for them.
Reflection is treated as an ongoing process rather than a separate task. Learners regularly share work, talk through ideas and, in some cases, lead activities for others – in addition to final reflection work, as relevant to the level.
Inclusion, achievement and long-term impact
Our approach to remote Arts Award delivery is shaped by the understanding that every learner is unique and should be encouraged to bring their own interests and preferences to their Arts Award work. Artists and creative practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds are represented throughout the programme, helping students see themselves reflected in creative pathways.
Creative Briefs celebrates achievement in a range of ways, from Arts Award certificates and competitions to shared milestones and opportunities for learners to lead parts of sessions. Over time, we see this recognition translate into greater confidence, stronger creative skills and clearer aspirations for the future.
Closing thoughts and advice for remote delivery
For me, remote Arts Award delivery works best when it is approached with care and intention. At Creative Briefs, consistency, creativity and strong relationships are essential, alongside a clear commitment to inclusion, flexibility and accessibility.
You can’t just turn on Zoom and expect it to work. You need to nurture participants, sometimes start with something fun, and then link it to Arts Award. With the right approach in place, remote delivery offers a meaningful way to support progression and creative development for a wide range of learners, while maintaining the structure, credibility and creative focus that Arts Award provides.