Developed by Sky Arts in partnership with leading artists and arts organisations, this brand new learning programme is available to all primary school teachers and children in the UK and Ireland, celebrating the arts and highlighting their importance in supporting the health and wellbeing of young people. After a year in which access to the arts has been severely restricted owing to long closures of schools and arts institutions, Access All Arts week will give every teacher the opportunity to bring the arts into their classroom in 2022.
From the 6th – 10th June, Access All Arts week aims to provide teachers with the resources and inspiration to take their classes on a creative adventure during one jam-packed and fun-filled week in June. You don’t need any prior experience of teaching art or any specialist equipment to take part, just yourselves, your pupils and the desire to embark on a creative journey.
Teachers can access a full programme of free, ready-made learning materials exploring a range of artforms via a content-rich website providing a hub of activities, video content and competitions, all brought together by Sky Arts and their partner arts organisations. Schools can also use the site’s interactive map to connect with local arts organisations.
And that’s not all. Access All Arts week will feature content and opportunities with key arts partners across the UK including the English National Opera, the National Theatre, The Big Draw, the Crafts Council, The Reading Agency, The Poetry Society, The Photography Movement, Into Film and Artis. Not only will you have access to exclusive partner content, you will be taken through the arts via videos hosted by a breadth of expert talent, including Bob and Roberta Smith, MC Grammar, YolanDa Brown, Liz Pichon and many more.
With ‘access’ at the heart of the programme, the resources have been built to allow teachers to engage and have fun, no matter how much experience, equipment, time or space they have.
“This week sounds super exciting and definitely something I’d like to take part in with my school as the Art, DT and Music co-ordinator! Our children at St Mary’s would be enthused by this opportunity as we are a small village school with extremely little funding for the arts, this is a fantastic opportunity for us to experiment artistically! Thanks, countdown to June!”
Why Access All Arts and why now?
As the UK’s only dedicated arts channel, Sky Arts exists to bring more of the arts to more people. In 2020, they supercharged their mission to increase access to and drive participation in the arts, by throwing open the doors and making the channel free to air. As part of this mission came Access All Arts, a nationwide arts week in primary schools which aims to celebrate the arts, providing pupils with the opportunity to express themselves and find the artform for them.
We know that working in an educational setting over the past 18 months has been challenging and Sky Arts want to help teachers to unleash creativity in their classrooms and support the excellent educator ethos of building and sharing new ideas and signposting existing resources within school communities.
“I am thrilled to see a programme placing importance on the arts!”
Not all schools can always easily access the arts and so Sky Arts has joined forces with leading artists and art organisations to help break down the barriers teachers face in bringing the arts into their classrooms. Access All Arts week will be offering clear guides on how to explore each artform, not only to support pupils learning and wellbeing but to ignite your creative confidence too. So if by June your creative tank is running on empty, Access All Arts will offer a well-timed refuel.
Developed by a team of education strategists and teachers, the teacher resources will be designed around 10 guiding principles:
- Linked to the different art and design curriculum in all four Nations.
- Focussed on using the arts as a springboard for developing literacy skills.
- Developed to be accessible to all children no matter their level of attainment or additional needs.
- Designed to follow a 4-step journey (Discover, Explore, Make, Share) to build familiarity and confidence.
- Flexible, modular and easily adaptable to enable teachers to use what they feel comfortable with.
- Tested with specialist teachers, arts partners and parents throughout the development process.
- Supported with CPD tips, designed to support the least confident teachers, from expert Andria Zafirakou.
- Enhanced through collaboration with from expert partners to harness their wealth of experience and knowledge.
- A celebration of the creative journey rather than the outcome & using creativity to support wellbeing.
- Achievable for all teachers and schools, requiring little to no arts equipment or previous training or experience.
How you can use Access All Arts in your educational setting
Teachers will be given access to five modules, built around five forms of artistic expression: Marks – Words – Sounds – Moves – Images.
Within each expression, schools will be able to explore two different artforms:
Marks:
2D Mark Making and 3D Mark Making
Words:
Poetry and Storytelling
Sounds:
Singing and Instruments
Moves:
Movement and Drama
Images:
Filmmaking and Photography
To experience the full range of art on offer, the recommendation is to teach an artform from a different expression each day over the Access All Arts week. Let’s take a look at our Marks module to help bring an Access All Arts Day to life:
MARKS is championed by Expression Hero Liz Pichon. Join her for a Tom Gates Draw Along assembly to start your day.
From there you can choose the 2D Mark Making pathway or 3D Mark Making pathway – or both.
2D Mark Making is supported by The Big Draw. The 2D Artform Icon is the one and only Bob and Roberta Smith. In this pathway, pupils will end the day by reimagining their favourite work of art.
3D Mark Making is supported by the Crafts Council. The 3D Artform Icon is 3D artist and winner of Sky Arts’ Landscape, Favour Jonathan. In this pathway, pupils will have a go at reimagining an everyday object.
Teachers are invited to make this art week their own. Resources are easily adaptable to fit around you, your school and your pupils.
“This is very exciting! As a newly qualified teacher who used to work in the arts sector bringing the two things together is always my goal! I cannot wait to be part of this.”
Resources are free for everyone and will be made available in the Resource Centre from 28th March 2022, however keep your eyes peeled for monthly content drops, including the release of the Marks module resources coming soon.
What Access All Arts brings to your primary school or educational setting?
By the end of Access All Arts week, we want every classroom teacher to feel confident enough to deliver the arts and every child to feel confident enough to unleash their inner artist.
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, said: “Across the spectrum of the arts every single person we speak to passionately believes every child should have access to music, dance, visual arts, theatre and the full spectrum of creative activity and learning. With Sky Arts ‘Access all Arts’ week we aim to bring as many arts organisations as possible together to provide tools for teachers to create fun and inspiring lessons for their pupils. We know that access to creative pursuits enhances a child’s prospects whatever they choose to do in later life, so fighting the fight for arts education is vital.”
Are you ready to sign up to creative adventure?
So, what are you waiting for? Join over 3500 teachers who are already registered and sign up today to be part of Access All Arts week. As well as access to outstanding resources, you’ll also receiving the monthly newsletters containing frequent competitions with amazing prizes to be won for your school, talent and partnership announcements, free CPD, creative events and opportunities, and so much more.
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