In order to prepare and lead a successful art oriented event, there are certain qualities an Arts Leader should have.

Leaders, in general, should be patient and motivational. By modelling this attitude, those who are being led will feel comfortable enough to try and retry again, and this results in a better experience for everyone involved. The job of the leader is to guide and encourage those who are learning, rather than demand and control. Although it is important to have a degree of authority as good leader, a better leader understands that there should be a balance of control, and listening to the ideas given by those who follow and learn from the leader. It is also essential for a leader to be knowledgeable about their craft, as this allows them to answer questions, and provide more fulfilling and useful feedback to the people developing their skills.

Idea 1:

As I am focusing on digital art, if I were to organise an event independently, a time slot dedicated to art in the gaming industry would be ideal. As part of this, I could present my argument about games being an art form. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of people from a variety of age groups, as the definition of art is progressing. As well as this, I could potentially host a digital art workshop that would teach interested parties about the basics, and perhaps more sophisticated elements of software such as photoshop.

Things to consider:

Organising an event of significant scale would be difficult to do alone. For example, finding a reasonable sized venue, and also reasonably priced, might be difficult to come by. Furthermore, I'd have to promote the event with posters, and advertisements, which can also be costly, as well was the equipment required. If there is a large group, then finding and hiring laptops with all the available software could potentially be a problem. Then, I'd have to cater to different levels of experience in using digital software. Younger children would not find it as easy to operate the software, but older people might. I'd have to consider hosting separate workshops depending on experience and age, and I'd also have to find suitable people with enough experience to help me manage each 'class'.

Idea 2:

Instead of planning an event individually, I spoke with my Arts Award peers and we generated an idea where each of us played a part relevant to our new art form. As a result of our discussion, we came up with the idea of a fashion show, and my contribution would be in promotional material. This would allow me to create posters, tickets, and possible prints and souvenirs that wold raise awareness and money for the event.

Things to consider:

Although in this case there would be more people to share the load, and organisation could be easier because of this, we would all have to ensure the workload was spread evenly, and everyone was meeting personal and group deadlines. If anyone fell behind, this could create delays in the planning process. Some issues would still occur even as a group, such as venues, pricing, how many people would want to attend, and the resources required for a show like this. There may be a situation where members of the group decide to pursue their own projects, which although means less resources, it is also a few less people that may have played a pivotal role in the success of the show. To counter this, we'd have to have a few back up events to fill in where they're art forms would have contributed.