Reflecting on the success of your arts challenge can be difficult, especially if you want to compare the success of your challenge to your initial plans. It’s important to remain objective, and to gather data or other indicators such as peer feedback on how your challenge went. Think about your challenge as a whole. Reflect on the wider context and various elements that made your art challenge happen. 

Here are some questions to help you think about the success of your art challenge: 

• Has your art form knowledge improved?

It’s helpful to reflect on how deep your art form knowledge is before your art challenge. So that you have a comparison for any improvements. Try giving your current knowledge a score from 1 to 10 before and after a challenge. It will help you understand if you have a deeper insight or not. 

• Creativity 

Art isn’t only about the end result, it’s also about the process. Creativity is one of those things you can't define, but we can feel deeply. How creative did your process feel? Did you allow yourself the chance to experiment and try new things? Did you start to feel the twinkling of inspiration during your challenge? 

• Planning and management 

Compare your end result to your journey and the plan you had in place. Did everything work out as you intended? What obstacles did you face and what did you do as a result? Are there any elements you feel you could have handled or responded to differently? 

• Your intentions

What did you hope to achieve from the challenge? If you achieved it, what helped you get there? If not, what were the obstacles and what could you do differently next time? Do you feel like your audience understood your message? 

Gather feedback from your peers

Ask your peers to reflect on how they experienced your arts challenge. You could give them a survey with a number of questions to ask them, or run a group conversation where people can give feedback on each element. Make sure you record or make notes on all the feedback you receive to use in your Arts Award portfolio. 

It's useful to have questions in mind during your art challenge or experience, rather than at the end. It helps you to reflect on your experience with a wider lens and makes it easier to reflect on the impact it had. Good luck getting started on your challenge!