Arts Award

Staffordshire Arts and Museum Service is proud to support Arts Award participants and the Shire Hall Gallery is an Arts Award Welcome venue - we're here to help you achieve sections of your Arts Award.

If you're into visual art or craft, we can offer you the opportunity to study work by contemporary makers at the Shire Hall Gallery. Meet the artists involved in creating the work and find out more about what they do through interviews - or having a go in an artist-led workshop. There are even some opportunities to assist the artists in running creative activities.

If you'd like to know more about what happened behind the scenes, you can apply for a work experience opportunity at the Shire Hall Gallery or SAMS offices. You'll find out how exhibitions are curated - and if you have any special areas of interest, we can help you to find out more about them through Q&A sessions with our staff, or by taking on your own project.

If you love dance or film & video, you can work on a community project with our Arts Development Team. We engage real artists to work with community groups in lots of short term projects so the roles on offer change on a regular basis. It could be anything from finding a venue to developing marketing to assisting the artist or installing an exhibition!

If you're full of ideas and interested in setting up your own exhibition, performance or activity and need a venue or some funding you are also welcome to submit a proposal form to us. Come in and meet us and we'll explain the application process and criteria and then we'll feed back to you after it's been through the assessment process.

Arts Award is a national qualification which can helps young people aged between 11 and 25 to develop their skills in all kinds of artistic disciplines from drawing, painting and sculpting to singing, dancing and drama.

With help and advice from a local Arts Award adviser (who will guide you through your award) you could meet your favourite artist, put on an event or performance or even curate your own exhibition!

The scheme has three levels - Bronze, Silver and Gold - and is available across England. Find out more about the Arts Award here | | . If you are already working towards your award, here's how we can help!