Great news! We’ve signed up to take part in the world’s largest drawing festival … and it’s FREE for you and your children to join in. So we’re calling all aspiring artists, disastrous drawers, doodling dreamers and everyone else.
The Big Draw Festival is the world’s biggest celebration of drawing and it takes place across the globe every year from 1-31 October. We’ve chosen half term week (Monday 28 October to Friday 1 November) for our free workshops running from 10am to 12noon, everyday. Then on the Saturday, 2 November, we’ll be exhibiting work at the art centre, starting with the Church Coffee Morning from 10am to 12noon and opening to the public from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
The theme
This year the Festival theme is ‘DRAWN TO LIFE: Creativity and Wellbeing’, celebrating and exploring the benefits of being actively creative to make positive change and improve wellbeing. This positive impact could be for you as an individual, a group or even the entire community, bringing people together to help champion the ever increasing evidence, both anecdotal and academic, that a more creative life really can improve your health.
At Yardley Arts, like all other venues taking part, we will focus around the role of mark making and drawing – in its widest possible interpretation, as a life-enhancing tool not only to help express and navigate the challenges of life around us but also as a tool for healing.
The event
The Big Draw charity is the founder and driving force behind the festival but the thousands of enjoyable and experimental drawing activities are brought to life by hundreds of participating organisations from around the world. Since launching in 2000, the festival has taken place in over 25 countries on seven continents, engaged over 4 million people and even clocked up two world records. The festival promotes drawing as a universal language that has the power to change lives and unite people of any age, background, race, or religion from around the globe.
Patrons include Sir Quentin Blake, Andrew Marr, Bob & Roberta Smith RA, Lord Foster of Thames Bank, David Hockney OM CH, Sir Roger Penrose OM, Narinder Sagoo, Gerald Scarfe CBE, Posy Simmonds MBE and former Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell OBE, Ivan Harbour.
The exhibition
Come along and see the exhibition and enjoy all the work created during the course of the Festival week! It’s free entry between 12.30pm and 2.30pm.
Official sponsor