Arts Award
Arts Award inspires young people to grow their arts and leadership talents: it's creative, valuable and accessible.
Arts Award can be achieved at five levels, four qualifications and an introductory award. These accredited qualifications are for children exploring the performing and visual arts at all levels of development.
Abercorn School became an Arts Award Centre in 2019 and music teacher Mr Matthews-Owen is the school’s moderator and examiner.
Students start their Arts Award journey at Discover level. At Abercorn we focus Discover Arts Awards on students who do not want to be on stage in our annual productions. Being in the limelight is not for everyone, so we angle the awards to students who take on a variety of arts challenges. These contributions have been invaluable to the success of recent musicals we have staged such as Joseph, Peter Pan, Into the Woods and Dr Dolittle. Our students walked away with Discover Arts Awards for their roles as Assistant Director, Lighting and Sound Assistants, back stage management and all important prop/set design.
Arts Award FAQs
What is involved?
Each student creates an Arts Challenge, usually just a sentence.
Once approved, a journal will need to be kept detailing the challenge and showing evidence of the project’s development.
A brief weekly check in with Mr Matthews-Owen will allow the challenge to stay on track, or develop into an area, depending where each student's creativity takes them.
A Discover Award will be awarded to every student at Abercorn for his/her arts challenge. Then, it is on to the next level!
What is an Arts Challenge?
Whatever interests the student.
Creativity and curiosity are the only prerequisites.
During Covid-19 lockdown, our students explored a range of challenges. These have ranged from a journal on Basketball, a Coronavirus Cookery Book, an illustrated Wildlife book, an exploration of Japanese art and its influence on modern cartoon art and a multi-screen tribute to The Wizard of Oz musical and film. So it really is that broad.
Each journal must show the journey, the questioning, the trying, the successes and perhaps sometimes when things haven’t gone to plan. There are no rules, only evidence.
How long should a discover journal be?
As long as it needs to be to cover each Arts Challenge. No fewer than 20 pages, but as a maximum, as long as you want it to be.
What should go in my journal?
Everything!
Your thoughts, ideas, curiosities and anything relevant. For those of our students doing “Designing and making props for our school production of Wizard of Oz” as their Arts Challenge, they have filled their journals with sketches, samples of fabric, colour ideas for Emerald City, reviews of the original movie/the effectiveness of its set and props and ticket stubs from visits to other live events.
Arts Awards exist to build the belief of students who are interested in unique areas of creativity. In schools, musicians and actors have benefitted from progressing through Grade examinations for decades. thanks to ABRSM, Trinity and LAMDA, all of which are offered at Abercorn. They offer recognition of talent and foster belief in the individual. For those students who are gifted in areas of creativity which do not receive a formal, they can now explore a Discover Arts Award, develop their skills, experience and curiosity, and receive formal recognition for their talent, ensuring they then progress to the next level.
