The Arts Society Newbury

ARTS VOLUNTEERS

'YOUNG ARTS'

'Young Arts' volunteers fundraise and give grants to arts projects for children and young people in their local area. In a time of cuts and changes to the national curriculum, this has never been more important. This group of volunteers aims to give more children and young people access to the arts.

Working with schools, museums and youth groups, 'Young Arts' volunteers support a wide range of projects. They are passionate about the benefits that creativity and arts education can bring to children in early life and adolescence.

Funding for 'Young Arts' comes from surplus funds from Away Trips and Study Days and the Gift Aid donations. All monies from the Membership Subscriptions are used to pay for the lecturers, their travel expenses, the hire of Arlington Arts Centre and our affiliation fees to TAS and Wyvern Area.

The Arts Society Newbury allocated their Community Grant (plus match funding) to Burnham Copse Primary School for a peripatetic Art Teacher -Junk Jodie, for a "Wellbeing Day".

This creative project in which all 300 pupils took part, ran alongside sessions on Relaxation and Yoga. The children drew images which for them represented feelings such as "happiness" and "believe". On a prepared external wall each child selected one of their drawings and repeated it on the space allocated to them. The result is a wonderful Graffiti with a cross section of images ranging from Rainbows to family pets, Ballet dancers to flying birds etc. etc. It is permanently there for all to see and enjoy.

This article will appear in The Arts Society Magazine in November 2022.

Gwynedd Roberts