Culture Street: Introducing a new creative website for kids that supports the Arts Award

Your class may have heard of Picasso or Van Gogh but we know how it can be a challenge to introduce contemporary creative people and their work into the classroom, as well as developing pupils' hands-on creative skills. It can also be difficult to get young people to think beyond painting and sculpture when it comes to the arts.

The new Culture Street website does just that by connecting you and your pupils with contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers and performers and their amazing work - both online and in the real world - on its Art, Stage, Film, and Books channels.

Your class can learn all about an artist by watching a short 'Who is' video clip, and then do some further investigation with the Watch at Work, Techniques or Questions' sections. These films are made with young people, so are particularly accessible for the classroom.

An extensive range of classroom-based workshops are led by professional artists from many different artforms, and feature a wide range of arty projects.

The most popular Key Stage 2 workshop is ‘Improve your class’s drawing skills and for Key Stage 3 the ‘Wire Workshop’ is a suitable for most art rooms. We particularly like the Illustrated book workshop because it links so well with the interactive activity Picture Book Maker. Or if you are trying to engage a group of boys try Superactioncomicmaker...

The locate+create section is full of fun, virtual activities that are perfect as a starting point for practical work, or as fillers in the classroom.

Culture Street has now partnered up with Arts Award to support pupils in advancing their creative and leadership talents and gaining accreditation.

The site is specially designed to provide practical ways for your pupils to get their Arts Award, particularly in the new Arts Award Discover and Explore levels for 9-11 year olds as well as Arts Award Bronze for 11 and over.

Culture Street is all about encouraging creativity in the classroom and beyond, and where a child lives shouldn’t be a barrier to the arts.  

Made possible with funding from Arts Council England it brings together a family of sites, including Film Street and award-winning ArtisanCam, which was nominated for the prestigious Webby awards and won a BETT award in 2007 and a BAFTA in 2008.

• Visit it at www.culturestreet.org.uk