Contains Art Evaluation Report 2020

Final evaluation, January 2020
5.1 Educational strategy
We have made substantial
progress in our educational
work since 2018 following
the recruitment of Cat Smith,
a qualified teacher, with
significant arts experience, as
our Educational Engagement
officer. She works for us 3
days a week, with additional
resourcing secured via the
West Somerset Opportunity
Area in order to set up after
school art clubs in local middle
schools and to coordinate our
Studio Digital project. Having
now made successful links with
our thirteen most local schools
and beyond, school exhibition
visits have become a regular
activity.
Achievements in the past two
years include:
• Hosted 18 school visits
involving hundreds of
children across 24 classes/
groups (ages 4 to 13).
• Developed solid working
relationships with a wider
portfolio of schools,
including all 6 West
Somerset Academies Trust
(WSAT) schools (4 first, 2
middle schools), plus 7 other
schools west of Taunton.
• Co-created an education
strategy, developed as
a result of several key
pieces of work including a
strategic 5-year ‘visioning’
exercise in collaboration
with 11 Headteachers
and arts coordinators, as
well as through creative
consultations with local
school children, and
consultation with artists also.
• Created tailored activities
and workshops to
complement exhibition visits
by schools.
• Facilitated multiple artists
workshops in school.
• Created a successful
‘Passport’ participation
activity, aimed at 4-8 year
olds, encouraging summer
holiday visits to Contains Art.
• Established two after-school
art clubs at Danesfield
Middle School and Minehead
Middle enabling students to
work with a range of artists.
• Hosted two students’
exhibitions and facilitated
one more at The Museum of
Somerset.
• Become an active Arts
Award Centre, with 34
students obtaining ‘Explore’
with exemplary feedback
and 72 children obtaining
‘Discover’.
• Registered as an Arts
Award Partner, providing
continued support to the 6
WSAT schools and one other
as they embark on their
Artsmark journey; supported
another West Somerset
primary school in submitting
their case study and entering
their first pupils for Arts
Award, resulting in a ‘Gold’
Artsmark award.
• Embedded firm working
partnerships with other
local cultural education
organisations such as Hauser
and Wirth, The Museum of
Somerset and joined the
Cultural Learning Alliance of
local organisations, as well
as those further afield such
as Deborah Curtis’s House of
Fairy Tales.
• Designed a series of school
holiday workshops, linking
9-13 year olds with a range
of different artists and art
forms including glass fusion,
ceramics, monoprinting,
photography, bookbinding,
veneer wood work and
drawing.
• Provided continued support
to University Centre
Somerset’s fine art degree
students with crits, work
experience and connections.
• Successful delivery of an
ACE-funded collaborative
project between Contains
Art and The Museum of
Somerset, working with
students from Danesfield
Middle School and a local
artist.
• Carried out 3 successful
rounds of Studio Digital with
24 often hard-to-engage
students, having completed
the programme.
We have now developed very
positive relationships with
all local schools, for which
we intend to maximise the
impact in East Quay, having
overcome substantial barriers
that initially proved difficult
to tackle for a variety of
reasons. The strategic 5-year
‘visioning’ exercise of October
2018 brought many of these
schools together to hear
about the work we are doing
and our ambitions for the
future. This also provided a
platform for the schools’ senior
leaders to discuss the current
barriers that prevent school
engagement and student
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