In Spotlight on Children & the Arts – Winter 2012 (3MB pdf), we hear from James Shenton from Octopus Investments about his own personal challenge for Children & the Arts, we hear how Face Britain is taking the UK schools by storm and an exciting announcement about our upcoming DanceQuest.

The gallery contains some fantastically creative examples of portraits, with everything from paint to leaves and sticks, charcoal to clay used. Some children have used a combination of photography and painting to create cubist style portraits, while others have used objects as a background to represent their personality.

These portraits will each become a pixel in a giant montage image of HM The Queen which will be projected onto Buckingham Palace later in the year. The projection will be a Guinness World Records attempt for ‘Most artists working on the same art installation’.

The best news is that there is still time to get involved – the deadline for uploading portraits isn’t until March 2012. For more information and to view the full gallery visit the Face Britain website.

Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Square came alive when a festive group of celebrities, local residents, children and supporters of the charity congregated for some carols, mulled wine and delightful readings and musical performances.

Guests included; Rowan Atkinson who read a short story from the children’s classic Just William; Alistair McGowan who gave a thrilling rendition of The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole; Ronni Ancona who delighted the congregation with a poem written by a ten year old winner of a poetry competition and Brian Blessed who had the crowd roaring with laughter at his rendition of The night before Christmas.

Special musical guests included the former Royal Harpist Claire Jones and classical singer Laura Wright. There were also performances from the members of the Garden House School Chamber Choir and the St Thomas More Language College Choir.

All in all the evening was a huge success with an amazing fundraising income of £28,000. Not only did the evening help benefit Children & the Arts but it left our guests full of the Christmas Spirit!

The Evaluations looked at our core Start programme as well as the other projects that ran last year; DesignQuest, Great Art Quest and our Catalyst teacher training programme.

Researched and compiled by independent evaluators, these reports assess whether the projects have achieved their aims and objectives.

The conclusions are overwhelmingly positive. Projects’ aims and objectives are consistently met and participants are enthusiastic about the benefits the projects have provided.

‘This is one of the best projects that I have ever been involved in and I have been teaching for 30 years!’

(Primary School teacher, Northern Ballet Start Programme)

‘Catalyst 2010/11 achieved the aims and objectives established at the beginning of the project, exceeding the outcomes of previous phases of Catalyst.’

(Catalyst 10/11 Report)

Children & the Arts are delighted by the findings, and will endeavour to implement recommended changes to further improve their projects.

Read the individual reports:

Start 2010/2011
Design Quest 2010/2011
Catalyst 2010/2011
The Great Art Quest 2008 to 2011

You can find out more on the evaluation section of our website.

In Spotlight on Children & the Arts – Autumn 2011 (pdf), with Christmas almost upon us, we have details of the Children & the Arts Carol Concert and our season’s greetings cards.  Plus, new Children & the Arts Ambassador Amanda Holden tells us why arts education is important to her, and we hear from our Start project at The Gate Theatre.

Just before 2011 slips away, and in the run up to the festive season, I also wanted to remind you of some of the exciting ways you can support Children & the Arts and make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate than us.

Carols at Holy Trinity – tickets selling fast!

Thursday 1 December 2011, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, London
I’ll be there, alongside Rowan Atkinson and comedy stars Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan, to inject some festive cheer to the proceedings. Tickets are a snip at £15-£30 for adults and £7.50-£15 for the little’uns. They’re selling out fast so buy your carol concert tickets here, today!

Season’s Greetings Cards

For just £4 you can buy a delightful pack of ten Season’s Greetings cards to send to your friends, whilst ensuring that all the proceeds go to Children & the Arts.
Find out more information on the designs and how to purchase the cards.

Not interested in anything festive? Why not make a small donation towards our work?

In 2011 Children & the Arts has taken thousands of children, who wouldn’t normally have the chance, on an exhilarating adventure, introducing them to art galleries, theatre and dance productions and music concerts. These mind-blowing experiences help young people develop essential skills such as literacy, independent thinking and communication, whilst increasing their confidence and aspirations.

A gift of just £30 will allow us to work with a young person for a year, unlocking these valuable experiences. Read more about Children & the Arts’ work.

However you choose to support Children & the Arts this Christmas, even if it’s just spreading the word – festive greetings, and THANK YOU!

Brian Blessed

The musical line up is equally as impressive, with former Royal harpist Claire Jones, classical singer Laura Wright and pianist Patrick Hawes.

There will also be music from the Collegium Musicum of London, the Garden House School Chamber Choir and St. Thomas More Language College Choir with plenty of opportunities to join in and sing along with all your favourite carols.

Tickets are selling fast, so book yours now to avoid missing out.

From 3pm on Saturday 5^th November, there will be family activities including face painting, balloon art, and story reading.  Throughout the afternoon a range of festive food delights including mulled wine and mince pies will be available, in addition to the fine food Saturday market offering the best English and International foods.

A special family carol service is taking place at Holy Trinity Church at 4.15pm to get everyone in to the festive spirit.  And St Nicolas will of course make an appearance to turn on the Christmas lights alongside a celebrity guest at 5.15.  Afterwards, children will have the chance to meet St Nicolas and his elves to get those gift lists in early!

We look forward to seeing you at what will be a fantastically festive family day out!

We are aiming to raise £10,000 by the end of 2011 to fund these resources.  We’d like you to donate whatever you are able to in order to help all children enjoy and engage with self portraiture.

In return, we have developed a range of exclusive gifts to say thank you for getting involved:

• Donate £10 and you will be awarded an official Face Britain commemorative certificate acknowledging your support.
• Donate £20 and you will receive the above, plus inclusion on the thank you page of  the Face Britain Teacher’s digital resources.
• Donate £50 and you’ll receive all of the above, plus a copy of Darren Henley’s The Incredible Story of Classical Music, and a classical music CD.
• £120 = everything above, as well as a collection of high quality printed teaching resources for your nominated school.
• £250 = A framed limited edition montage portrait of the Queen, made up of thousands of children’s self portraits (plus everything else!).
• £500 = Everything!, plus an invitation for you and a guest to an exclusive celebrity event celebrating Face Britain.

You can find out more by visiting the our page on the Civilised Money website.

You can also support the project by sharing our Facebook event and inviting your friends!

Celebrities already confirmed are Ronni Ancona and the legendary Brian Blessed, who is back by popular demand.

There will also be music from the Collegium Musicum of London, the Garden House School Choir and St. Thomas More Language College Choir with plenty of opportunities to join in and sing along with all your favourite carols.

Our Carol Concert is always popular, so buy your tickets before they’re all gone!

Tickets:

Premium – Adult £30 / Children £15
General – Adult £20 / Children £10
Limited View – Adult £15 / Children £7.50

Buy your tickets now!

The event is kindly sponsored by Cadogan Estates.