Sky Arts' Access All Arts week for primary schools returns for a second year

Sky Arts is pleased to announce that Access All Arts week, a nationwide arts week that launched last year for primary schools, is returning for a second year from 19 - 23 June 2023.

Access All Arts week is a learning programme which helps teachers to celebrate the arts by equipping them with hundreds of free resources developed by Sky Arts alongside teachers and educationalists. Featuring well-known faces such as Benjamin Zephaniah and MC Grammar, children can explore everything from spoken word and sketching to opera singing and photography.

Available to all primary school teachers and children in the UK and Ireland, Access All Arts week celebrates the arts and highlights their importance in supporting the health and wellbeing of young people. The theme for the 2023 week will be Identity. This year, teachers will also be able to download packs for parents to use with their children to continue their Access All Arts journey at home. Brand new resources will be developed for next year, whilst this year's resources will remain freely available to all teachers.

In its first year (6-10 June 2022) over 6,000 teachers across the UK and Ireland registered to take part, with 1,460 schools downloading the resources and an estimated 208,000 children participating across the week.

97% of teachers who took part said the week was effective in developing their pupils' interest and engagement in the arts and 91% said it had given their school more support and resources to draw upon for teaching the arts.

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, said: At Sky Arts we believe every child should have access to Arts education. Unlocking creativity is key - whether that's in drawing, music, dance, writing or any other way that allows a child to tell their story. Armed with positive and constructive feedback from pupils and teachers after our first year of Access All Arts Week, we are thrilled to be back and focussing this year on mark making and the theme of identity. Allowing children to express themselves through art is a proven way to enhance life chances and create a more empathetic culture.

Details of the initiative

Access All Arts' week aims to provide teachers with the resources and inspiration to take their classes on a creative adventure during one jam-packed week in June.Teachers can access a full programme of free, ready-made learning materials exploring all artforms via a content-rich website, providing a hub of activities, video content and competitions brought together by Sky Arts and their partners. Access to the platform and all content is free and open to all.Schools can also use the site's interactive map to connect with local arts organisations.

Developed by an expert team of teachers and educationalists, teachers will have access to five modules built around five forms of artistic expression: Sounds, Marks, Words, Images and Moves. This year's hero module will be Marks, with more resources than ever on drawing, illustration, sculpture and craft. Modules can be taught individually as a standalone teaching unit or joined together to form a longer programme, so that teachers can make the week their own.

In 2022 the theme was Re-Imagine, prompting children to try their hand at perspective photography, creative movement and re-envisioning classic fairytales. 2023's theme is Identity, with bespoke resources providing teachers with tools to explore Identity through the arts.

New content will be made available in the Resource Centre on the website from Easter 2023. All resources from 2022 and 2023 will remain live as a permanent resource for teachers.

There will also be a specific focus on targeting schools in areas of deprivation and those lacking arts provision.

The initiative is being run by Vanessa Woodard, Head of Partnerships, Sky Arts and activation agency We Are Futures.

The Access All Arts Week website is now open for registration, with 2022 resources also available. Teachers can register their interest at https://accessallarts.skyarts.uk/

For more information please contact:

Vanessa Woodard, Head of Partnerships, Sky Arts: Vanessa.Woodard@sky.uk

Lucy Butterfield, Senior PR Manager, Sky Arts: Lucy.Butterfield@sky.uk

Hattie Ince, Account Director, We Are Futures: Hattie.ince@wearefutures.com

Notes to Editors

All primary school teachers are encouraged to register their interest via the website https://accessallarts.skyarts.uk/ Those teachers who are already registered from this year will not need to register again.

The week will run from 19th - 23rd June 2023

#AccessAllArts

About Sky Arts

Sky Arts exists to bring more art to more people across the UK. In 2020, with the creative industries under serious threat, we threw open our doors to make the channel free for everyone to watch. We've redoubled our mission to increase access to the arts and we're committed to getting everyone involved as the industry recovers. The fact is, we need the arts now like never before, and Sky Arts brings them straight to your living room.

We have something for everyone, championing creative talent by showcasing the best in music, theatre, dance, literature, opera and visual art. From Glyndebourne to Grime and C zanne to The Style Council, we've got your passions covered. Millions of viewers tune in to hit returning series such as Portrait Artist of the Year, Urban Myths and British cultural institution The South Bank Show, but our acclaimed new programmes might take you anywhere from Pinter's house with Danny Dyer to a Scottish road trip with Samuel Johnson.

Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Sky Arts is the headline sponsor of National Theatre Live in the UK and we work with cultural partners across the country including the English National Opera, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate, Creative UK and Coventry City of Culture to name bu

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