Personal Development Unit1 A&B
Unit 1 Part A
Gold Unit 1 is all about extending your own arts practice and getting involved in the world of arts.
In Parts A and B, you work with an experienced arts practitioner and create new work. Get hands-on experience with the arts world! Here's exactly what you need to do:
Part A: Extend your own arts practice
This part is super exciting for the artist or practitioner in you. You’ll develop new skills and explore an art form, genre or creative practice to produce new work. You could be an artist, curator, producer, work in arts administration, marketing or a technical role. Explore a different art form or practice and use this to create new work in your main arts practice, then share this work with others.
In Part A you will:
- Extend your arts practice by developing new skills in another art form, genre or practice
- Collaborate with someone else – a friend with specialist expertise, a more advanced practitioner or a teacher.
- Make and implement an action plan to develop your skills
- Produce an original piece of work which is influenced by the new skills you've learned
- Share the work you make with others, then review the skills you’ve developed and how this has influenced your practice
Listen to Alice tell you about what she did for her Gold Arts Award, Unit 1 Part A:
Part B: Career development opportunities in the arts
This part requires you to research and take an active involvement in the world of the arts. What do you think will help you develop your skills? What would you like to do in the future? Are there local opportunities to help you take the next step? Find out what information and advice is available, what career opportunities there are, what training or apprenticeships might suit you.
In Part B you will:
- Find out about opportunities to develop your arts skills and think about what you want to do in the future
- Take part in training or volunteer at an arts organisation. Aim for at least 5 days volunteering/work placement or 2 days training
- Reflect on how the experiences have influenced your learning
Read how Hannah Kemp-Walsh built up her work experience for her Gold while working at Tate Modern
Check out this video of what The Producers, a club at BOA for students, did for the Gold Arts Award, Unit 1 Part B:
Want some ideas?
Check out this guide from Voice contributor Joanna Bailey on How to Research an Artist, or read this article for help finding work placements and opportunities.
Head over the Get Inspired section for more arts interviews and opportunities.
The portfolio bit
Keep track of everything you’re doing by taking pictures, making videos or audio recordings or writing a blog. Upload your reviews and opinions to Voice magazine to share with others and to form part of your portfolio. Here are some other Arts Award portfolios to help spark ideas!
Mini checklist for Unit 1 Parts A & B
Include these in your portfolio:
Part A
- Details of your main art form/practice
- Details of the new art form/practice you want to develop and why you have chosen it
- A skills development plan
- Your action plan
- Who you worked with and what you learned
- Evidence of your progress
- Evidence of the new art work
- Evidence of sharing the new art work and how it went
- Feedback from others
- A final review, including reflection on the new skills you have developed and how this has influenced your practice
Part B
- Evidence of research into opportunities to participate in the arts
- A description of what you did (placements, workshops, volunteering etc)
- Your reflection on how it supported your arts development
- Feedback from practitioners who you worked with or for
There are lots of free digital tools which can help you plan and manage your Gold Award.
Download our recommendations for Unit 1 and let us know if you find a new tool we've missed!
You can also download the 'What To Do' pages and a Portfolio Checklist from the Downloads page.
Research & Review Unit1 C&D
Unit 1 Parts C & D
Research the work of arts practitioners who inspire you and review events, exhibitions or organisations. Then explore and share your views on an issue in the arts which you feel passionate about. Here's exactly what you need to do:
Part C: Research practitioners & review arts events
Now is your chance to find out about artists or creative professionals by experiencing their work, meeting them and finding out about their career paths. Use this to review as many cultural events, exhibitions or experiences as you can!
In Part C you will:
Find out about advanced practitioners in your arts practice
Find out about their work, career paths and the organisations that support them
Review cultural events, exhibitions, performances or organisations. These could be venue-based performances, street art, museum exhibitions, live-streaming online or more
Check out this guide from Voice contributor Joanna Bailey on How to Research an Artist or head to the Careers section on Voice for interviews and advice from working practitioners.
Check out Voice's interviews with young artists on Instagram or check out examples in our Portfolio hub.
Brush up your reviewing skills by using Voice's How to review guides, created by professionals and regular reviewers to make sure you review like a pro. Choose language appropriate to the art form and comment on artistic quality and impact.
You'll find more examples in the Portfolio Hub of practitioner research and arts reviews.
Part D: Form & communicate a view on an arts issue
In this part, you will form your own viewpoint about an issue in the arts and explore the views of others. Discuss what you really care about and then research more about the story behind the issue. Maybe there’s a local arts issue where you live, an aspect of the arts which you think is not taken seriously enough, or a group who you feel have no voice in the arts?
In Part D you will:
Explore an issue in the arts or culture that interests you and form your own opinion. It might be a big issue or one that is local to you
Research a range of views about the issue – they may be similar or different to your own
Put together an argument based on your research and present your case to others. Share your opinion to find out what other people think. You could share it in a live debate, write to a newspaper, create a website or publish a blog on Voice magazine
Joshua Gould shares his top tips on how to write an opinion piece (in under 500 words).
Want some ideas?
YouTuber Rants N Bants rants about how to form and communicate an opinion effectively:
Read more Gold opinion pieces here or visit the Gold Resources in the Get Inspired section for more ideas.
The portfolio bit
Keep track of everything you’re doing by taking pictures, making a video or audio recording, or writing a blog as you go. Upload your opinions to Voice magazine to share with others and to form part of your portfolio. Have a browse through some Arts Award portfolios to help get ideas for your own.
Mini checklist for Unit 1 Parts C & D
Include these in your portfolio:
Part C
Evidence of your research into more advanced arts practitioners and professionals including how they have developed their arts practice and career
Reviews of events, exhibitions and organisations you visited
Reflection on how this research has influenced you/your work and how you might develop your practice in the future
Part D
The arts issue and why you chose it
Your research into a range of views
Reflections on how the research has influenced you/your views
Evidence and summary of your research
Your final argument
How you shared your argument
Feedback/responses from others
There are lots of free digital tools which can help you plan and manage your Gold Award.
Download our recommendations for Unit 1 and let us know if you find a new tool we've missed!
You can also download the 'What To Do' pages and a Portfolio Checklist from the Downloads page.
Plan an Arts Project Unit2 A&B
Unit 2 Parts A & B
Gold Unit 2 is all about unleashing your inner leader. You'll take charge of running an arts project, build your skills as an effective leader and share your project with a public audience. You'll need to show where you have taken responsibility, from planning to delivery to evaluation.
A few examples of Unit 2 projects are…directing a theatre show, curating an exhibition, organising a film screening, creating a magazine or running a series of workshops in your community. Ask your Arts Award adviser how to source professional advice about health and safety, and if your project involves working with children, you must arrange to have appropriate adult support. You should also check that your project is covered by appropriate insurance.
Plan your leadership project
First up you need to create a strong project plan:
Work out what you think are the qualities of a leader and the personal leadership skills you want to develop
Think about the aims of your project and the outcomes you want to achieve. Who will be involved and how will they benefit?
Write these down and keep them in mind.Think about how to evaluate the project - how will you know if you have achieved your aims?
Then you need to make your action plan which covers the following:
Organise the people and resources you need to run the project
Create a timeline
Conduct a risk assessment of your plans
Consider health and safety
Create your budget
Decide how you'll keep track of the project's progress and evaluate how your own leadership skills develop. For example, you might decide to keep a project blog.
Plan how you will publicly share the project and how you will promote this
Think about your backup plans if things go wrong
Want some ideas?
Check out this guide from Voice contributor Grace McCabe about How to Plan a project. Take a look at how Chris Hill used a spidergram to plan a concert for his Gold project in our Portfolio example hub. Check out this guide about useful websites to help with your Gold Arts Award, including some tips on free project management tools. Visit the Gold Resources in the Get Inspired section for more hints and tips.
The portfolio bit
Keep track of everything you’re doing by taking pictures, making a video or audio recording, or writing a blog as you go. Check out our Portfolio examples hub for more insipiration.
There are lots of free digital tools which can help you plan and manage your Gold Award.
Download our recommendations for Unit 2 and let us know if you find a new tool we've missed!
You can also download the 'What To Do' pages and a Portfolio Checklist from the Downloads page.
Deliver a Project Unit2 C, D&E
Unit 2 Parts C & D
This section is all about doing your arts project after making your carefully crafted plan. You want to be collecting evidence throughout to show you’re communicating and working well with others and solving problems.
Part C: Manage the project & Part D: Manage a
public showing
Now is the time to use your plan to make the project happen. You should:
- Manage people and resources, make decisions and change your plans to solve problems along the way (keeping evidence of your thinking!)
Organise and promote a public showing of your project. This could be a live event or an online exhibition.
Document the project and gather feedback from other people, both about the project itself and your leadership abilities. Keep records including notes, photos, sound/video recordings, leaflets, tickets and posters, emails, feedback questionnaires. You’ll need these for your Arts Award portfolio!
Take a look at Chris Hill’s video about the concert he organised and see how his plan helped him to pull it off:
Part E: Leadership Project Report
It’s time to reflect on how the project went and interpret any feedback you gathered. For this part you’ll need to:
Create a project report which includes a summary and interpretation of the feedback you've gathered from others
Reflect on your project, what you learnt, your achievements, successes and challenges and how it helped you develop as an arts leader
Explain what you might do differently in future
Here are some thinking points to get you started:
What happened on the project and what was produced?
What did you enjoy most – and why?
What was challenging – and why?
How did the public sharing go and what was the feedback from others?
What have you learnt from this feedback?
What have you learnt about leadership, communication and planning, your art form?
What would you do differently next time?
Want some ideas?
You can embed your report in your portfolio blog with links to all your work as Nikki did. Or your report can be a simple document like Jo’s. Visit the Gold Resources in the Get Inspired section for more hints and tips.
The portfolio bit
Keep track of everything you’re doing by taking pictures, making a video or audio recording, or writing a blog as you go. Check out Gold portfolios in the Get Inspired section for portfolio examples.
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Mini Checklist for Unit 2
Make sure you include these in your portfolio:
Details of the leadership skills you want to develop
Your project plan including how you will organise people & resources
Evidence of the project in action
Evidence of the public showing
Evidence of your leadership development throughout the project
Notes of changes you made responding to feedback and self-reflection
Your leadership project report:
- a review of the success of your project and your chosen leadership skills, showing how you led the project, motivated and supported others, dealt with issues arising, and reflected on your skills
- explain how the project has developed your art form knowledge & understanding, your creativity in art practice, your planning & review skills & your communication skills
There are lots of free digital tools which can help you plan and manage your Gold Award.
Download our recommendations for Unit 2 and let us know if you find a new tool we've missed!
You can also download the 'What To Do' pages and a Portfolio Checklist from the Downloads page.
