What is the Arts Award?
Arts Award is a range of unique qualifications that supports anyone aged up to 25 to grow as artists and arts leaders, inspiring them to connect with and take part in the wider arts world through taking challenges in an art form – from fashion to digital art, pottery to poetry.
Through progressing through the five levels, young people get to:
- discover the enjoyment of creatingand participating in arts activities
- experience arts events
- develop creative and communicationskills that are essential for success in 21st century life
- explore the work ofartists and craftspeople and gain insights into the professional arts world
- gain experience and knowledge to help progress into further education and employment
Find out more about the impact of Arts Award on young people.
There are no entry requirements, no time limit for completing the award, and no set rules on how to present final work.
How does it work?
Arts Award’s flexible framework means it can fit around a wide range of arts, cultural and heritage activities and projects, including creative and technical roles. It can be delivered in many ways and in a wide range of settings. You can map it to your existing activity or use it to kick-start something new. Arts Award delivery happens in curriculum or extra-curricular programmes and enrichment options, museum or heritage projects, weekly clubs or groups, and partnership projects.
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Discover
This Award is delivered through our Year 7 Enrichment Programme.
20 guided learning hours (recommended)
Arts Award Discover is an introductory award, designed for ages 5 and above, but is open to children and young people aged 25 and under.
Aims: To achieve an Arts Award Discover, children and young people collect evidence in an individual arts log of their experiences of:
- participating in arts activities
- researching artists and their work
sharing their arts discovery
Bronze
This Award is delivered during Year 8 lessons in Expressive and Performing Arts lessons adding further value to the course content.
Bronze Arts Award: Level 1 Award in the Arts
40 guided learning hours + 20 independent learning hours = 60 hours total qualification time (TQT)
Bronze Arts Award is a Level 1 qualification on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and is open to young people aged 11 to 25.
To achieve a Bronze Arts Award, young people collect evidence in an individual arts log or portfolio of their experiences of:
- developing their interests, knowledge and skills through actively participating in any art form
- experience of at least one arts event/experience as an audience member and their review of that event/experience
- researching the career and work of an artist or craftsperson that inspires them
experience of passing on an arts skill
Silver
Delivered during a Dance Twilight session for Y9 every Wednesday 3-5pm
Silver Arts Award: Level 2 Award in the Arts
60 guided learning hours + 35 independent learning hours = 95 hours total qualification time (TQT)
Silver Arts Award is a Level 2 qualification on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and is designed for ages 14 and above, but is open to young people aged 11 to 25.
To achieve a Silver Arts Award, young people collect evidence in an individual arts portfolio of their experiences of:
Arts practice and pathways
- identifying and planning an arts challenge
- implementing and reviewing their arts challenge
- reviewing arts events/experiences and sharing their views
- researching future opportunities and careers in the arts
Arts leadership
- identifying a leadership role and planning a leadership project
- planning the practical issues
- being an effective arts leader
- working effectively with others
reviewing their project and the development of their leadership skills
Gold
Explore the professional arts world – and gain UCAS points
Gold is the highest level of Arts Award, giving young people insight into life as an arts professional. They’ll hone their existing artistic skills, acquire new ones, gain practical experience of different roles in the arts world and develop leadership expertise. Worth 16 UCAS points, it’s also a great boost to university and job applications.
Gold Arts Award is a young person-led qualification that encourages creativity and independent learning. It challenges young people to develop their arts practice, lead an arts project, investigate topical arts issues and get involved in the arts world.
Along the way, they create a portfolio showcasing their new-found knowledge alongside their critical-thinking, organisational, problem-solving, collaboration, communication and management skills.
Completing the award gives young people a foothold in the creative industries and skills for life – whatever their future holds. We’ve made a short video so you can see for yourself.
To achieve Gold Arts Award, learners create a portfolio, in a format of their choice, presenting evidence that they have successfully completed the two units:
Unit 1: Personal arts development
● extending their arts practice, experiencing another art form and creating new work
● actively exploring the arts world through placements, volunteering, training and research
● reviewing arts events and researching artists or craftspeople and their careers
● researching and making the case for an arts issue
Unit 2: Leadership of an arts project
● planning a project, identifying aims and outcomes
● organising people and resources
● delivering the project – including a public showing – and managing its effectiveness
● reviewing their leadership development, including collecting and evaluating feedback from participants, audience members and more
Gold Arts Award is designed for ages 16 and above, and open to anyone aged 11 to 25. It’s a Level 3 qualification on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and typically takes 90 guided learning hours plus 60 independent learning hours to complete (150 hours total qualification time). Read the Gold qualification specification.
60 guided learning hours + 35 independent learning hours = 95 hours total qualification time (TQT)
