By Paula Briggs

Sewn banners sit within a long and powerful tradition of creativity and activism, where textiles, stitch, colour and symbol are used to make visible what communities care about. From suffrage banners to trade union, peace and protest banners, making by hand has enabled people to gather, speak collectively and claim space. In this post, we document how AccessArt made a sewn banner to help create a strong visual presence at advocacy events.

As a Subject Association for art, representing over 24,000 members, and as a visual arts educational charity, we always try to balance our practical work creating resources for teachers and learners with our advocacy work, raising awareness of the importance of arts education for all. With the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government’s response to that review, and a whole raft of proposals aimed at providing a world-class curriculum for all, the wider arts education community has, in many ways, never felt more united in its message. It felt like an appropriate time to make a banner that AccessArt could use at events to help create greater visibility. Inspired by the beautiful banners created by trade unions and the Suffragette movement, we decided our banner needed to be carefully crafted and beautiful to look at.

To Begin

Letters were drawn on paper to act as templates. We sketched these freehand, working between measured lines, but you might decide to enlarge letters downloaded from the internet.

We then used the paper letters to cut out a fabric letter that was 1cm larger in every dimension than the paper template, and then a letter cut from iron-on interfacing. The shape cut from interfacing needed to fit the reverse of the letter, as it was to be ironed onto the back of the fabric letter.

Using a running stitch, we hemmed each letter around the interfacing.

We then pinned the hemmed letters to the banner background, using a chalk pencil to mark out positions to ensure everything was straight.

We used a small overcast stitch to simply attach the edges of each letter to the banner. We then ironed each letter down, using the interfacing to help fix the letters in place.

We scaled up the AccessArt bird using the grid method.

As we wanted the banner to display the message “AccessArt for All” from both the front and the back, we made two versions, one mirrored, so the text could be read from either side.

We then sewed them together (hemming as we went) using a sewing machine.

Time to take the “AccessArt for All” banner out into the world!

The Arts & Minds Coalition visited Westminster to deliver an open letter signed by 10,000 people to make space for the arts in schools (2025).

This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.

AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.

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On this page, you will find a selection of poetry that can be used as prompts for your Kindness and Curiosity Art Week projects.

Choose a poem that you think will spark rich imagery and imagination in your learners, and then select a project from the bottom of the page to support their creative discovery.

Give space for learners to process information through both sketchbook work and group discussion, prompted by resources and questions below.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Step 1: Choose a Poem

Kind Hearts are the Gardens by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Explore the text version of the poem at Words for Life.

Questions to Prompt Discussion

What is this poem about?

Why has the poet chosen a garden as a way to talk about kindness?

Why do you think ‘kind thoughts’ are the roots in a garden?

What does this poem suggest about kindness?

What pictures/colours/shapes do you see in your head when you listen to this poem?

How does this poem make you feel?

What kind thoughts will you plant today?

You by Donna Ashworth

Find the text version of You at Kindness Poems.

Questions to Prompt Discussion

What is this poem about?

What does it say about ‘you’?

What do you picture your ‘bright pathway’ to look like or be lit up by?

Where would your map reach to?

What does this poem teach us?

How does this poem make you feel and why?

Miss Flotsam by Joseph Coelho

Explore a written version of Miss Flotsam at The Children’s Poetry Archive

Questions to Prompt Discussion

What is this poem about?

Describe Miss Flotsam.

How does Miss Flotsam show kindness to others?

What is the poet trying to show us when he says Miss Flotsam would turn “fists into begging bowls” or she “placed sandbags around my lies”?

Does Miss Flotsam remind you of anyone you know?

How does this poem make you feel?

If All The World Were Paper by Joseph Coelho

Explore a written version of this poem at The Children’s Poetry Archive

Questions to Prompt Discussion

What is this poem about?

What is in the poets ‘world of paper’?

Why do you think the poet makes his world out of paper and not another material?

Name the different ways he alters his world for people. Why does he do these things?

What feelings can you spot in the poem?

What material would you make your world from?

How does this poem make you feel?

Tips for Exploring Poetry with Learners

Once you have chosen a poem to explore, watch the video with your learners. In sketchbooks, ask them to create some simple visual notes, noting down significant words, images, marks, lines or colours that come to mind as they listen to the poem.

Follow on by discussing the poem with the class, using the questions next to the poem to prompt conversation. Encourage learners to add to their visual notes as they think more deeply about what the words in the poem might represent, and the narratives that begin to emerge.

Throughout the project, learners can refer to these visual notes for additional visual stimulation.

Step 2: Choose a Project

Still and Dynamic Drawings: Making Magic Spells

Explore both observational and experimental drawing, as well as collaborative working, in this project. Here, learners will create a collaborative spell inspired by the chosen poem. They will start with a series of observational drawings before working together to create a dynamic, bubbling pot of kindness.

Adaptations: Collect a variety of objects that represent the ‘ingredients’ in the chosen poem for learners to use when creating their shared magic spell pot.

Set Design with Primary Aged Children

If you’d like to incorporate 3D projects into your art week, this activity allows learners to explores form and narrative through both drawing and making, inspired by visually descriptive lines from the chosen poem.

Adaptation: In the first session, learners will create a mini scene using small toys to inspire drawings that depict a moment of kindness from the poem. In the set building sessions that follow, the descriptive starting point will be taken from the poem. 

A Visual Poetry Zine in Monotype

Choose this project to explore painting, collage, drawing and printmaking in your art week. Create zines in response to the chosen poem, inspired by the shapes, colours, lines and text that learners imagine when they listen to and picture the poem.

Adaptation: Choose to print with either ink or carbon paper to suit your setting.

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How can public art positively impact a community?

Chalk Riot began as a group of friends sharing joy in their community through chalk drawings on neighbourhood pavements. What started as simple acts of creativity grew into a movement encouraging neighbours to connect, share stories, and celebrate their shared spaces. Their mission is to unite, protect, and energise the cities we love, starting from the ground up.

Find out what Chalk Riot do and how they create using the sources below, then discuss the questions provided.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Chalk Art

With beginnings in the 16th century, chalk art has long adorned pavements in communities across the world. It began with the religious street-painting tradition of Madonnari in Italy and over time, has evolved into a vibrant form of public expression. Today, artists and collectives such as Chalk Riot use chalk art to energise public spaces, foster connection, and help communities reclaim and protect their environments.

Explore the videos below and use the questions to inspire classroom discussion.

Chalk Riot

Find out what Chalk Riot does in public spaces and the impact it has on the community.

Questions to Ask Children

Where in your community would you like to make a chalk drawing?

How can chalk drawings change the way a space looks, or how people interact with the space?

What kind of message might you leave for someone else to find?

How does public art bring the community together?

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“We really love how Nichola devised and facilitated this activity, giving learners complete freedom whilst limiting certain elements such as colour palette. This activity incorporates a journeyful approach, in which the experiments all come together to form a shared outcome, and celebrate every learners exploration, which we love!” – Tobi, AccessArt

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We’re delighted to share that from the Summer Term 2026, all AccessArt and collaborative CPD will be free for AccessArt members.

Since launching our online CPD programme in 2020, we’ve offered a mix of free and paid sessions. As part of our ongoing commitment to helping teachers and educators provide a rich, diverse visual arts education, we’re expanding this offer. From the Summer Term 2026, AccessArt members will be able to attend any of our collaborative CPD sessions at no extra cost, as part of their membership.

Not a member? You can still join any of our collaborative CPD events by purchasing a ticket for £25. All our in house CPD (those not run in collaboration with Susan Coles and Mandy Barrett), will remain free and open to AccessArt members only, If you would like to become a member, we’d love to welcome you to the community!

We will be launching our summer term 2026 programme very soon, so do keep an eye on our events page for updates.

Please note, that all AccessArt members will need to verify their membership by including the email address associated with their membership, upon registering their attendance for our collaborative CPD.

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Those of us who have worked in the creative industries or in arts education have long known the positive impact the arts can have on our lives. As makers or teachers, audience members or learners, we have all experienced moments when we have felt somehow more alive, more seen, and more connected to others through our engagement with the arts.

AccessArt is passionate about the value of those moments. Added together, no matter how small, they are the golden nuggets that shine through the work we all do, and keep us going when things get tough.

Better still, when we share examples of how the arts have made a positive impact, passing them back and forth among ourselves and on to others, they help us collectively deepen our understanding of the value of a rich arts education for all.

Send us your feel-good art moments and we’ll share what we can to help advocate for the importance of inclusive arts education for all. It’s quick and easy to do, and here are a few prompts to get you started:

• Tell us about the ways you have seen the arts make a real difference to your pupils or learners. Share specific examples (please be mindful to anonymise) of action and impact,

• Or, tell us about the ways the arts have helped you – as an audience or as a maker – or both. How have the arts made your life richer?

• Or, tell us about the ways in which you have found AccessArt helpful. Share any impact you have seen, as a result of using our resources, approach and philosophy.

Thank you!

Paula Briggs, AccessArt

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How can fashion challenge, distort, or reimagine the human silhouette?

Beth Fraser is a fashion illustrator who works with collage to create experimental silhouettes that exaggerate and distort the body, capturing personality and celebrating individuality. Operating between illustration and fashion, she uses surrealist-style collages to challenge and push the boundaries of beauty standards commonly found within the fashion industry.

Explore the work of Beth Fraser using the sources below, then discuss the questions provided.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

Beth Fraser

Inspired by mid-century poster art and the cut-outs of Picasso, Beth Fraser is a fashion illustrator who combines collage with ink to create bold multimedia illustrations.

Watch the videos below to be inspired by her practise and explore her collages.

Questions to Ask Learners

What do you notice about the shapes Beth Fraser cuts?

What do you like about Beth Fraser’s work?

Looking at an illustration, how would you describe the character she has created? If they could talk what would they say?

How might the shapes a character is made from convey a certain mood or energy e.g. pointy and sharp or curvy?

What do you think the role is of a fashion illustrator and where might they work?

“We’re excited by the task ahead and committed to delivering a curriculum teachers enjoy and one that gives every child the chance to thrive creatively.”

AccessArt is pleased to announce that our CEO and Creative Director, Paula Briggs, has been contracted by the Department for Education (DfE) to help draft the new National Curriculum programmes of study for art and design. 

Paula Briggs and Dr Will Grant (University of the West of England) will be working on Key Stage 3 and transitions between Key Stages under a contract between the Department for Education and AccessArt. They will work very closely with Kaytie Holdstock (University of Worcester), who is working on Key Stages 1 and 2, and Michele Gregson (NSEAD), the lead drafter, who is working on GCSE.

Drafters were appointed by the DfE following the release of Building a World-Class Curriculum For All[1], the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report published in November 2025. They were selected for their extensive subject expertise and their ability to collaborate with other stakeholders to help deliver the government’s recommendations[2], which include a commitment to “revitalise arts education as part of the reformed national curriculum and through high-quality support for teachers of these subjects.”

Paula has been advocating for the importance of arts education for all for over 30 years. Both a practitioner and a thought leader, she co-founded AccessArt, a registered charity with the sole aim of advancing visual arts education, and has guided the organisation’s growth with passion and expertise. AccessArt is now one of two subject associations for art, representing over 24,000 members who use its resources in schools and communities.

“We’re looking forward to working closely together to ensure all pupils benefit from a rich, inclusive and relevant arts education. We know that schools need a curriculum that is engaging for pupils and rewarding to teach. That means greater diversity and representation; clearer support for non-specialist teachers, alongside flexibility for specialists; and stronger progression from key stage to key stage and through to GCSE. We’re excited by the task ahead and committed to delivering a curriculum teachers enjoy and one that gives every child the chance to thrive creatively.” Paula Briggs, CEO AccessArt

“This appointment recognises the depth of expertise within the art education sector and AccessArt’s longstanding contribution to inclusive, high-quality creative and progressive curriculum thinking. Paula’s and Will’s voices will be crucial in this work.” Susan Coles, Trustee AccessArt

Notes

Please contact paula@accessart.org.uk

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report-government-response

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Paula Briggs, CEO AccessArt

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