Gold Arts Award guidance
Drive your personal development in the arts
What is it?
The Gold Arts Award! This Arts Award helps you develop your arts skills
by:
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experimenting and creating original artwork
researching the wider arts sector
getting involved through a placement or by volunteering
debating an arts issue
planning, delivering and reviewing an arts project
This document gives you all the information you need to complete your
Arts Award.
The text in blue gives you extra tips, prompts and suggestions to help you
as you work through each part.
What do you do?
You’ll keep a record of what you’ve done, thought, and learnt along the
way. You can do this in any format. You might include photos, diagrams,
presentations, sketches, notes, blogs, audio, film...it’s up to you.
You can use Artsbox to record and store this information in one place so
that you can keep track of your progress.
Gold is a Level 3 Qualification. Once you’ve finished all the parts of the
Gold Award your Arts Award adviser will check and assess what you’ve
done. They will look for examples of your art form knowledge and
understanding; your creativity; your ability to plan and review; and
your ability to communicate.
Don’t forget you can ask your adviser for suggestions or help.
Get further inspiration from Arts Award Voice – www.artsawardvoice.com
Good luck!
Unit 1
personal arts development
Part A: extend your own arts practice
Extend your arts practice by setting yourself a challenge to develop new
skills in a new/different art form, genre or practice. You should work with
someone else in order to do this – a friend with specialist expertise; a
more advanced practitioner; a tutor or teacher.
Then produce new work in your main art form/arts practice that is
influenced by the new art form or practice.
Share the work you make with others and gather feedback on it. Review
how you’ve developed – reflecting on what impact the new experience
has had upon your arts practice.
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What is your main art form or arts practice?
What new challenge have you set yourself and why?
What other art practitioner will you work with and why?
What new material will you produce?
How will you demonstrate how one art form/genre has influenced
the other?
How will you share your work with others?
How will you gather feedback from them?
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Identify your main art form/practice and describe your new art
form, genre or practice and why you’ve chosen it
 Present a plan of how you will go about developing your new skills
 Show how your plan is progressing
 Show the new art work you’ve created
 Show that you’ve shared your work with others and include their
feedback
 Present a final review – include reflection on the new skills you’ve
developed and their influence on your arts practice
Part B: get involved in the arts world
Find out about opportunities to develop your arts skills and consider what
you might want to do in the future. Get actively involved in the wider arts
community by taking part in training or workshops, by volunteering or
doing a work placement. Collect feedback from others about your
participation.
Reflect on what you’ve learnt and the impact it has had on your own
practice.
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What opportunities and activities are available to develop your
skills?
What relevant careers or occupations are there in the arts?
Are there any sources of information, professional bodies and
organisations that can help?
What kind of training/placement is available?
Remember to reflect on what you did...
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What did you find out about careers in the wider arts sector?
What did you learn about how to develop a career in your art form?
What did you learn from your practical involvement in the arts?
What information did you gather from practitioners leading
volunteering, placement or training opportunities?
How has your experience impacted on your own career
development?
As a guide your involvement should be equivalent to at least 5 days’
volunteering or work placement or 2 days’ training.
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Show your research into opportunities to participate in the arts
 Describe how you got involved and what you did
 Reflect on what you learnt and how it supported your arts
development
 Include feedback from people you worked for/with
Part C: research and review
Find out about more advanced arts practitioners by actively experiencing
their work and by exploring their career paths and the organisations that
support them (where applicable). This might include interviewing them or
others involved with their work, attending events and reviewing their
work. Experience and review a range of different arts events and visits to
exhibitions, performances or organisations - as many as you can!
Advanced arts practitioners:
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How did they get to where they are today?
How do they sustain their work? How is it financed?
How do they continue to develop their skills?
What influence might their work or experience have on you and
your work?
Arts events: (NB these can take many forms, from venue-based
performances to street art to live-streaming online...)
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What organisations and events did you attend or visit?
What did you learn from attending arts events?
How will you present your reviews?
What types of arts events have you been most influenced by and
why?
How will you take what you have discovered and apply it to your
own practice?
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Show your research into arts practitioners/professionals and their
work, including details of any direct contact you’ve had with them
or with others involved with their work
 Give reviews of events, exhibitions and organisations you’ve
experienced
 Reflect on how your research and experiences might influence you
and your arts practice
Part D: form and communicate a view
Explore an issue in the arts that is of interest to you, develop your
understanding and form a considered opinion on it. Put together an
argument, taking into account other people’s points of view, and present
your case to others. Find out what other people think about the argument
you have put forward.
Choose a subject that you care about. It might be a wider issue in the
arts or one that is very local to you. You don’t necessarily have to focus
on the art forms/arts practice you’ve explored elsewhere in the award.
Maybe there are artists or art forms you know about that don’t get
enough funding or people who are missing out on the arts in some way.
Perhaps there is an aspect of the arts that is not taken seriously – or
taken too seriously! Maybe there is a local arts issue where you live, or a
maybe you would like to debate national arts policy!
Think about the following:
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What issues in the arts interest or affect you?
How will you go about gathering further information and exploring
the issue more broadly and deeply? Can you find a range of
different viewpoints?
How will you present your case and communicate it to others?
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Examples might include: taking part in a debate (online or face-toface); writing to a newspaper or magazine; writing to decisionmakers and politicians; making a presentation to a group; creating
a campaign website
How will you find out what others think about the case you’ve
argued for?
Have the views of others altered your view?
What you need to post on Artsbox:
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Describe the issue and why you’ve chosen it
Show your research into a range of views about the issue
Reflect on your research and on how it has influenced your view
Present a copy of the case you’ve made about the issue
Show how you shared your case with others and include their
feedback
Unit 2
arts project leadership
Part A: identify aims and outcomes
Take responsibility for planning an arts project that uses your skills to
lead and organise others. You may work on your own or in a small group
but, if you’re working as part of a team, you must take responsibility for a
specific leadership role. Your project must be shared with an audience
and you must have a creative input into it.
Think about the skills and qualities that make an effective arts leader.
What examples of good leadership have you experienced? Give details of
the project you have chosen to lead and why you’ve chosen it. Give
information about the project’s aims and desired outcomes and identify
the leadership skills you are planning to develop. Think about how and
why you will evaluate the project.
Think about the following:
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What is a leader? What do we mean by ‘leadership’?
Do I know any good leaders? What makes them a good leader?
How would I like to lead?
Which leadership skills will I work on during this project?
The project might involve a series of workshops; a one-off day-long
event; a performance; an exhibition; or development of a product such as
an arts publication or arts-based website.
Think about the following to help you plan your project:
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Who is your project for and what do you know about them?
What are you going to do?
How will you motivate the participants involved in your project?
Who is part of the team and what are their different roles and
responsibilities?
What resources will you need and where will you get them?
Are there costs involved — and if so where will you get the money?
What are your plans for sharing your project with an audience?
How will you advertise or promote the event?
What are the health and safety considerations?
Do you need to do a risk assessment?
How will you know if the project has worked?
How will you collect feedback?
What things could go wrong? Do you have a back-up plan?
What else do you need to find out or do?
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Share your reflection on the skills and qualities of an effective arts
leader and detail the leadership skills you wish to develop
 Describe the arts project you’ve chosen, its aims and desired
outcomes
 Describe your leadership role and responsibilities within the project
and how it will help develop your leadership skills
 If you’re working in a team, describe how your role relates to the
roles of others
 Show how you will evaluate the project – how you will measure the
effectiveness of your leadership and the success of the project and
how you will gather feedback from others
NB: Gold Unit 2 Parts A and B can be evidenced through one project plan
as long as it includes all the information required for each part.
Part B: organise people and resources
Plan the practicalities of your project and make sure you’ve got
everything you need. Allocate roles, set timescales, organise equipment,
venues and resources as appropriate. Develop or source any content or
materials you may need. Ensure you’ve considered budget, risk
assessments and health & safety considerations as required. Plan how
you’re going to show and share your project with others and what you
need to put in place for this.
Think about how you will:
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Manage resources and equipment for the project
Set timescales
Promote the project / recruit participants
Manage the budget
Deliver the project
Ask your adviser if you need further information or support on how to do
any of the following:
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how to budget and, where appropriate, access funding
how to conduct a straightforward risk assessment
how to deal with contingencies or emergency situations
the health and safety, legal, licensing and insurance requirements,
as appropriate
who to contact or approach for further advice or assistance
If your project involves working with children you must arrange to have
appropriate adult support.
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Present a project plan that includes your planning and thoughts
about all of issues described
 Include any other relevant evidence or notes
NB: Gold Unit 2 Parts A and B can be evidenced through one project plan
as long as it includes all the information required for each part.
Part C: manage the effectiveness of the project
Use your plan to make the project happen, making changes to it where
necessary as you go. Show how you are developing and applying your
leadership skills. Manage time and resources and show how you respond
effectively to any unexpected situations. Show how you can inspire and
motivate others, offering creative suggestions, solutions and support
along the way.
Collect examples, feedback from others, and reflect on how you are doing
throughout the project.
Keep records to show how the project is going. You might include:
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Annotated photos
Sound/video recordings
Printed materials
Emails
Minutes and notes from meetings and discussions
Feedback questionnaires
Diary log
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Show the delivery of your project - include documentation, notes
and examples from throughout the project
 Show your ongoing reflection on where and how you are developing
and applying your leadership skills; how you are working with and
communicating with participants; how you are dealing with
resources and challenges
 Show how you are collecting feedback from others, both about the
project and about your leadership abilities
Part D: manage a public showing of the work
Organise and promote a public showing or sharing of your project. This
could be a live performance or event or an online exhibition. Decide how
you will promote this and plan practical arrangements. Deliver the event
and collect feedback about it and, where appropriate, about your
leadership skills, from participants, audience members and others
involved.
The event doesn’t necessarily need to be a fully public event: for
example, it could be a concert or exhibition at your school or centre or an
event at which an invited audience attend.
Think about:
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the date(s)/timings
booking a venue
equipment and resources required
roles on the day – your role and other people’s
publicity and promotion
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Describe how the project will be shown/shared with others
 Detail your role in managing the sharing event including information
on how you’ve organised people/resources
 Document the public sharing event in progress
 Reflect on how you developed and applied your leadership skills
through the public sharing event
 Show feedback from participants and audience members
Part E: arts leadership project report
Create a project report which includes your reflections on how the project
went, its successes, any challenges you encountered, what you learnt and
how it helped you develop as an arts leader. Reflect on how the project
developed your art form knowledge and understanding; creativity in arts
practice; planning and review skills; communication skills. Analyse and
summarize the feedback you’ve collected from other people throughout
the project and compare their responses to your own reflections. Consider
what you might do differently in the future to improve and adapt further
projects.
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What happened on the project and what was produced?
What did you enjoy most – and why?
What was challenging – and why?
What have you learnt about leadership; communication; creativity;
planning; your art form?
What have you learnt about working effectively with others?
What did you learn from the feedback from others?
What would you do differently next time?
What you need to post on Artsbox:
 Present a report on your arts project includes your reflections and
thoughts about the issues described
 Include any other relevant evidence or notes