Hastings Contemporary and The St Leonard’s Academy enter second year of inclusive arts project

In 2024, an initiative was set up between The St Leonard’s Academy and Hastings Contemporary – The Cove: Calm waters. This incentive offers the opportunity for completion of the Arts Award Bronze Programme for young people at the academy with a diagnosis of ADHA, Autism and/or other SEND needs in years 7-10. Now entering its second year of the project, 19 students are soon to be awarded the Bronze award and ready to move onto their Silver, with another cohort of 20 on signed up to begin the course.

The project was co-founded by Academy SEND teacher Mr. Richard MacAree and Learning Coordinator for Hastings Contemporary, Louisa O’Shaughnessy. The aim was to engage young students from the Academy in the arts, using the visual nature to nurture emotional literacy and confidence; cultural capital and creativity; socialisation and teamwork; and curatorial and visual art skills. The Arts Award qualification and principle is managed by Trinity College London and Arts Council England, designed to encourage anyone under the age of 25 to engage and participate in the arts. At the end, participants obtain a nationally recognised qualification that can support them in future ventures.

 At the start of the 2023/24 cohort, 94% of the intake had never visited an art gallery before, however through accessible gallery workshops provided by Hastings Contemporary, students ‘walked out proud of their own work’. The project culminated in a student-created summer pop-up exhibition. Feedback from the programme was highly positive, with parents stating that ‘It helped him make friends he’d never normally talk to’, and students commenting that they ‘didn’t know they could talk about art like this’.

Academy project lead Richard MacAree said, “This kind of collaboration with arts institutions, like Hastings Contemporary, provides invaluable experience and opportunity for all of our young people, especially those who experience barriers to learning. The programme that has been developed is visually rich, challenging and supports students to engage in art whilst also fostering the development of mental models in diverse settings, something vital to prepare them for the world. Seeing them succeed puts a big smile on my face!”

Continuing on the growth of 2023/24, the pioneer cohort are soon to be working towards their Arts Award Silver Award, whilst there is a new group of students embarking on their Bronze. With enhanced focus on curatorial practice and public-facing engagement, alongside a work experience programme at the Hastings Contemporary, this provides the students with a wealth of learning and insight they can apply as they consider their futures.

This is a great initiative taken by the academy and gallery to provide alternative learning opportunities for students diagnosed with SEND. We can’t wait to see how the project continues to grow and develop, opening up the opportunity to more students as the programme continues.