Press Release
1 July 2004
TRAFALGAR SQUARE JOINS CHILDREN'S ART DAY CELEBRATIONS
Tens of thousands of children, their teachers and their families will take part in the biggest ever celebration of CHILDREN'S ART DAY on Thursday 1 July, with special events taking place across the nation from Trafalgar Square to Pontypool, from Ballymena to a bus in Glasgow, from schools to galleries, museums, streets, hospitals, parks and playgrounds.
Amongst the hundreds of special events planned for the day are fairs, workshops, outdoor displays, competitions, exhibitions, drop-in activities and chances to work with artists, both locally based and internationally acclaimed. Open to the public will be hundreds of events, amongst these: a giant interactive art workshop in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 4 July; at Discover in Stratford children will build story sculptures reflecting themes of the environment and journeys; at Jorvik - The Viking City they will be reincarnated as Viking warriors and get a chance to sketch each other in their costumes; at Ruthin Gaol they will be immersed in the crime-world of the Victorian era, risking a lifetime of incarceration and creating art works inspired by their experiences.
The ARTWORKS Children's Art Day Grants Scheme has facilitated over fifty art events nationwide, including a project offering children the chance to film their own animation projects at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery in Stalybridge; setting up a 'factory' with their own radio broadcast at the Chisenhale Gallery in London; a textiles/dance collaboration with GCSE students at the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath and creating interactive 3D sculptures inspired by the Paul Ramirez exhibition at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. The results of many of the grants projects will be displayed in special exhibitions in galleries and museums to be viewed by the general public.
Children will also be chosen to become Art Shadows, spending the day with key art world figures including Tate Director, Nick Serota, Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Martin Wyld, Chief Restorer at the National Gallery, Sir Timothy Clifford, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland, and keepers of the Royal Collection.
The highlight of Children's Art Day is ARTWORKS Young Artists of the Year, the annual Awards ceremony for the UK's largest and most prestigious art awards scheme for the under 18s, which takes place at Tate Modern. Children and their teachers from winning schools throughout Britain will collect awards totalling £60,000 and a specially commissioned, limited edition, signed print by Marc Quinn.
ARTWORKS Young Artists of the Year Awards and Children's Art Day were founded in 1999 and are initiatives of the Clore Duffield Foundation, Britain's leading grant-giving trust in the field of art education. The ARTWORKS programme has developed as the most dynamic and innovative programme of advocacy, research and grant-giving in the field of visual arts education in Europe. For more information about all the projects organised by ARTWORKS go to www.art-works.org.uk
PRESS ENQUIRIES ERICA BOLTON/JANE QUINN 020 7221 5000
