Congratulations to Shipley College’s First Arts Award Silver Students

IVE would like to congratulate music students at Shipley College for achieving the Further Education college’s first ever Arts Award Silver.

Shipley College delivered Arts Award Silver in partnership with Bradford YMCA and “The Big Music Project.” Through the partnerships, students got the opportunity to run percussion workshops for 50 young people at the YMCA, form a band and perform for 200 young people at Big Music Live in Manchester, attend performance and production related workshops organised by Leeds Beckett University, meet Ken Scott (producer for The Beatles and the Rolling Stones) and talk to Helen Boaden, Director of BBC Radio. They also attended the Aria Awards at Leeds Arena which they reviewed, and also saw the Kaiser Chiefs.

Asked how Arts Award Silver specifically benefitted her students, Arts Award Adviser Katherine Robertshaw said:

“I am always looking out for interesting working partnerships and projects to maximise the students’ learning opportunities and Arts Award Silver provided a great project for them that lead into interesting areas. The students have met people in the industry that they would not otherwise have met. They have gained deeper insights into lots of aspects of creative arts including performance, production and event management. The Arts Award has also opened their eyes to roles within the creative arts that they did not know about. It has also challenged, inspired and motivated them.”

“It’s been a big benefit to me as a teacher too. It gives me access to lots of inspiring opportunities and experiences for my students. In turn it helps keep me up to date and provides me with new contacts within the industry. I also learn about my students’ creative passions that may not be related to their vocational course. For example, I now know I have a music student who also directs for theatre.”

“We have decided to move to Gold this year as we felt that our Level 3 students needed a bigger challenge and we thought the Gold Award delivered that for them. It will motivate and improve their knowledge and confidence.”

“I would definitely recommend it from my experience and that of my students. We have all benefitted. It complements courses well and opens up great learning and networking opportunities for students and staff.”

Asked what he thought of Arts Award Silver, student Josh answered:

“Doing the Silver Arts Award helped my confidence with playing in front of people and talking to new people. This also helped me when my band started gigging, as doing the workshops and performances within Arts Award made my commitment and confidence levels much higher.”

Another Arts Award Silver attainer, Harrison, added:

“I enjoyed having the opportunity to take part in the Silver Arts Award and going to the ARIAS. At the beginning of the Arts Award I was a bit shy and didn’t have much confidence, but after doing the projects my confidence and my leadership skills improved. This will tie into the Gold Arts Award and make it easier and more enjoyable for me.”

Interested in delivering Arts Award? Find out more on our Arts Award page. It’s very simple to become an adviser and provides huge benefits for the confidence, leadership skills and abilities of the young people that complete the award.