Your gift will open doors for young people to develop their practical skills, improve their mental well-being and may even help them on a path to become a professional artist or maker.
* £50 will pay for a young person to attend the Art and Design Saturday Club for one day
* £130 will enable a young person to complete a one day course which ignites their passion and develops their confidence
In a recent BBC survey, 90% of schools said they had cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in at least one creative arts subject.
As technology races to replace us in the workforce, the need for art is more important than ever; machines cannot ever replace creativity.
Not only that, in the UK one in ten secondary-school age children have a diagnosable mental health problem; that’s an average of three children in every classroom according to Young Minds.
But research shows that children who are involved in the arts at a young age have a happier, healthier childhood and adulthood. It builds self-confidence, a sense of identity and helps them feel a part of their community.
And the impact is more wide-reaching; The Arts Council report showed that school-aged children who engage in the arts are twice as likely to volunteer and are 20 per cent more likely to vote as a young adult.
Art improves mental well-being and can inspire a lifetime love of creativity. Whether it’s to start a fulfilling career or as a cherished hobby, it can help the mind in so many ways. Your donation is a potentially life-changing act for a young person.
We are developing new initiatives to open up access to the College, including a partnership with the National Saturday Club scheme to run an Art and Design Saturday Club for young people aged 13-16 to discover new skills they love. Run by qualified lecturers and Fine Art students, it is already encouraging students to commit to GCSE Art.
With your help we can establish a permanent Art and Design Saturday Club for 13-16 year olds hrere, and help more young people access arts education.
“Many of my students did the Art and Design Saturday Club at West Dean. It’s the only College locally to offer the club and they were absolutely thrilled. Lots of my year 9’s have now chosen Art GCSE because of their experience at West Dean.” Andrew Lean, Art teacher at Chichester Free School.
“It was interesting being in a college environment, I have more of an understanding of how I could do art in further education”- Maddi
“I learnt new interesting mediums including printing, which I would never do anywhere else” – Ella
A gift of any amount really will make a difference to someone’s future.
I want to give someone a chance to fall in love with art