Turner Contemporary and UCA's Big Draw
Schoolchildren in Kent are being encouraged to pick up a pencil and draw thanks to a special collaboration between the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and Turner Contemporary.
Students from UCA Maidstone are taking over the Margate gallery's regular weekend workshops during October for the national Big Draw campaign.
The practical sessions take place each Saturday and Sunday from 1-4pm in Turner Contemporary's Learning Studio.
Grant Petrey, Subject Leader at UCA, said: "We are proud to be working with Turner Contemporary as part of The Big Draw campaign because we want encourage youngsters to find new ways of creative thinking and learning while also expressing themselves and gaining a new understanding of the world around them.
"We hope that a wider message of the importance of community, collaboration and creative fun is spread via Turner Contemporary and UCA students and connect people in a positive way."
Launched as a one-day event in 2000, The Big Draw is now the world's biggest annual celebration of drawing, lasting a full month. Every October, museums, galleries, heritage sites, libraries, schools and parks join in - inviting people of all ages to discover how drawing can connect them with their surroundings and the wider community.
The month-long UCA workshops will also benefit the students leading them.
Grant said: "It is very important that our students experience the art world beyond the confines of UCA and are able to make use of the skills they're being given so they can better understand how they are connected to a wider community of practice.
The workshops give a wide range of students, from different year groups and courses, the opportunity to come together to work constructively with other artists in a gallery environment and also to contextualise what they do for a public audience."
Keiko Higashi, Learning Officer at Turner Contemporary, said: "Turner Contemporary is passionate about getting young people interested in art so The Big Draw campaign is an ideal project for us to support. These workshops form part of our year-round offer for families and children.
"We are also keen to regularly collaborate with UCA to enable students to gain first-hand experiences in the art sector so they can develop meaningful relationships with the gallery and our professional artists. It is a partnership that we value greatly."
The UCA workshops at Turner Contemporary will take place from 1-4pm every Saturday and Sunday in October, plus Sunday 1 November. Children are £3. Adults/children under 3 and families living in CT9 are free.
For more information, visit: www.turnercontemporary.org/whats-on.
For more information contact:
David Reilly, Press Officer, UCA
T: 01252 892939
E: dreilly@ucreative.ac.uk
