About us
Changing children’s worlds through art and creativity
The Children’s Art School is a charitable organisation committed to promoting the value of art education for children and young people, with the aim of teaching children that through art, they can change their world.
We bring extraordinary, hands-on, creative opportunities to children and young people aged 2 -18 across Kirklees and beyond, unlocking their creativity, celebrating their individuality, building confidence and igniting their interest in the arts.
Founded in 2015 by artist Chloe Williams, The Children’s Art School works with associate artists to make art and creative activities accessible to all. We create opportunities for joyful artmaking in various locations, helping children become inspired and develop self-confidence in their own creativity and abilities and empowering them to affect and change the world they live in.
Since 2020, The Children’s Art School has expanded its work. Alongside our regular art school programme in Holmfirth and the MakerWorld creative space for children and families in the centre of Huddersfield, we have delivered two Kirklees-wide arts festivals for children and young people, created thousands of activities packs, devised remote participatory projects and worked with partners including WOVEN in Kirklees and Kirklees Year of Music 2023 to expand the offering for children within existing festivals and programmes. As well as this, we have also developed a Kirklees-wide outreach programme in areas of high free school meal need for the Kirklees Schools Out programme, developed the space in Huddersfield town centre and piloted MakerWorld in Dewsbury.
We continue to invest in our crucial partnerships with Evoke (Kirklees cultural education partnership), Kirklees Youth Alliance, as well as Kirklees Councils’ Play team and Culture and Tourism team to position ourselves as a strategic children’s arts organisation in West Yorkshire.
Our mission
To create extraordinary, hands-on, creative opportunities for children and young people. Facilitating joyful and adventurous engagement in art and culture in order to develop creative thinking skills, champion individual creativity, strengthen communities and improve lives.
To be visible, in order to normalise regular engagement with hands on creative activities for children and families and to ensure that regardless of geographical, economic or cultural background creative opportunities are accessible to all children and young people.
Our aims
- To deliver high-quality hands-on arts opportunities for children and young people of all ages regardless of geographical, economic or cultural background, exposing them to artists and artistic practices and developing creative thinking skills, improving self-confidence and well-being and supporting CYPs progression into creative careers. To develop projects that are as thought-provoking as they are playful.
- To champion and celebrate the creativity of children and young people through increased visibility and by providing platforms which celebrate CYPs creative expression.
- To contribute to the development of vibrant cultural communities in Kirklees. To devise and deliver creative and ambitious participatory place-based opportunities with local communities in order to support regeneration and place making aims of Kirklees Council.
- To support the development of artists around community engagement skills, sharing good practice and offering training programmes which support local artists to share their skills with and inspire children and young people.
- To be a progressive and dynamic organisation developing the way we listen to and work with our communities in order to continue to be relevant to local children and families. Prioritising collaboration and partnership working, responding to the changing needs of our community and playing our part in the wider development of a diverse children and young people’s cultural sector.
- To support the development of Kirklees and the UK as a creative and cultural place, supporting CYPs progression aims into creative careers in order to strengthen the UKs creative industry and supporting it to reflect the passion, creativity and diversity of our society.
- To use our platform to increase awareness of the climate crisis and individual environmental responsibility through modelling good practice and storytelling.
- To develop and access new income strands in order to become financially resilient and be able to deliver our ambitious mission to give access to all CYPs to high quality participatory cultural experiences.
What we do
As a CIO focused on art education our values and strategies are strongly aligned with Arts Council England’s Investment Principles and Outcomes. A diverse model of investment supports our work including income generated from our Saturday Art School and after school clubs, grants from Arts Council England, National Lottery, and other funding from trusts and foundations. We are committed to our strategic partnerships to develop and share resources and build a common vision for children, young people and culture in Kirklees. Key partners include Evoke (the Kirklees cultural education partnership), Woven, Kirklees Council, Kirklees Youth Alliance, Chol Theatre, Kirklees Libraries, Kirklees Museums and Holmfirth Arts Festival, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Musica Kirklees.
The Children’s Art School
We are delivering and developing a range of regular offers for CYPs from age 2-18 years through our regular art school clubs at Holmfirth Tech and at our Maker World space in Huddersfield town centre. Our work is led by, involves and references artists and contemporary artistic practices. Our approach is fundamentally experimental and ambitious, embracing creative risk taking. Our projects are presented to public audiences whether it be local, national or international.
Our Biennale
In partnership with Evoke we deliver Our Biennale, a bi-annual Kirklees wide arts festival for children and young people. Our Biennale aims to champion and showcase the creativity of children and young people. Since 2018 Our Biennale has reached over 6’;000 children engaging them in high quality, new artistic experiences. Projects led by The Children’s Art School reached audiences across the world through the Kirklees Cuckoo project, part of a global action around climate change and through Moulding Memories, which was showcased as part of the Royal Academy Young Artist Summer Exhibition.
Outreach Art School
We work with arts organisations, community hub leaders, libraries, schools and youth groups throughout Kirklees to develop remote and outreach programmes which responded to community needs and take arts and culture into communities so that children from all areas of Kirklees and any cultural and economic backgrounds are able to access arts and culture.
Maker World
Set up in 2020 Maker World has become an integral part of The Children’s Art Schools offer, actively supporting Kirklees Councils cultural regeneration plans to bring visible creativity and vibrancy to Huddersfield town centre. Maker World is an inclusive, accessible and visible creative space which offers regular hands-on creative activities, projects and events for children and families.
