Bronze Arts Award: Trips and Cultural Visits - linking trips to artistic vision

This resource gives tips for organisations leading young people through the Bronze Arts Award, but it will be useful to anyone arranging arts trips and cultural visits for groups of children and young people. In order for young people to get the most from their experience, and in order to clearly meet the Arts Award criteria, the visit should clearly link to the overall artistic vision of the project.

• Encourage the young people to carry out their own research on their music project, allowing them to highlight what interests them most. This will help you and the young people work together in deciding the most appropriate type of visit. This is particularly important if the music or art form is new to them.
• If young people are producing a music based project and portfolio, investigate music venues, festivals, musicians, or producers – young people can investigate this too. If they do get a pre-concert briefing, suggest the speaker give them particular things to listen out for, making the experience as engaging as possible.
• Ensure that all staff and music leaders/practitioners “are aware of the function of the visit, so that consistent messages can be promoted to the young people” (Unitas, Summer Arts College, Guidelines for Trips and Cultural Visits)

For additional information on preparing visits please see the Unitas and Arts Award websites http://www.unitas.uk.net/ http://www.artsaward.org.uk

For those working specifically with young people in the Summer Arts College programme, you can download additional guidance here.