Creative adventures at the RSA Academies

Alison Critchley, CEO of RSA Academies, discusses how some of their current projects are helping pupils to gain a practical understanding of the RSA's Power to Create approach and unleash their own creativity.

At a time of growing concern about the marginalisation of art and design in schools – including anxiety about the impact of the ‘compulsory e-bacc’ – RSA Academies is delighted to be providing unique opportunities for pupils in the RSA Family of Academies to engage with the arts in a range of ways. 

In June Helen Storey RDI unveiled the ‘Field of Jeans’ at Ipsley CE RSA Academy.  The jeans in question have been treated with a special catalysing agent which purify the air around them. They spark an interesting debate, considering that jeans are such an everyday item and that the environment is increasingly now an everyday concern. Over the next six months, the work will tour round all five RSA academies, taking on a new position and perspective in each location.   

And, this month more than one hundred pupils and teachers from the five RSA Academies descended on RSA House for our second annual Arts Day and Arts Prize. It is difficult to put into words the energy and enthusiasm of the pupils on the day as they demonstrated the ‘Power to Create’ in action, but the words and images in Georgina Chatfield’s blog provide a flavour of it.