One of the best things about achieving Gold Arts Awardis that it has helped me to gain more confidence when leading a group of people. Prior to achieving Gold Arts Award I had little experience talking to and managing a team. As a result, the Arts Award has helped me to build on these valuable life skills.

I completed Bronze and Silver Arts Award at my secondary school as an extra-curricular activity. After leaving secondary school, I found out about a project called Croydon Wordfest which was held at my local library offering young people the opportunity to work with artists abd put on events in the library, while achieving an Arts Award qualification. I joined this project as it was an excellent opportunity for me to attempt completing the Gold.

During the Bronze and Silver I focused on dance and movement and explored ways I could tell a story or show a clear theme through movement. During the Gold Arts Award I focused on storytelling through photography and improving my organising and planning skills.

I was lucky enough to work with a number of storytellers, poets and photographers, during the events I was involved in, as part of my Gold Arts Award. They showed me valuable photography and storytelling techniques they used to show narrative in their artwork and capture an audience.

I organised two events for the leadership section, the first was a storytelling workshop for young children in a local library. The second was a larger event with multiple smaller workshops for young people aged 11 – 19 year olds. I found leading a large event very scary as I was responsible for organising a big team, but the event was a success and inspired me to overcome many personal challenges.

The Gold Arts Award gave me the opportunity to learn more photography skills and valuable planning skills. It helped me to learn ways to advertise, problem solve and become a more confident person.

In the future I hope to continue volunteering as a photographer for events and I would like to organise more events in the community.