The Battle Arts Trail took place last September with a number of students from the FdA Illustration course taking part. The theme of the trail was 'The World Turned Upside Down". The idea was that for one week only this medieval market town would be transformed in a variety of ways; ways which were playful and quirky, which invited the people who live there as well as visitors to see the environment in a fresh and new way, to perhaps notice things that they hadn't done before.
It was organised by Battle Arts whose aim is to promote the arts. Approximately £25,000, including a £9300 Arts Council grant, was raised to support the event. Armed with all this cash and good will professional artists were commissioned, community groups were supported in making artworks, Radiator Arts ( of which Peter Quinnell is a member) worked in two primary schools and a secondary school to create artworks for the town and students were supported in making their artworks.
Becky Mann, Rowena O'Reilly, Michael Collins, Andrew Youthed and Alice Larkin were all supported in making artworks. This formed a major part of their work experience which is a key part of the course in year 2. Working on the trail meant that they had to develop a proposal, be flexible about how they realised it within the context of the trail, be highly professional in the way thir work was realised and liase with members of Battle Arts.
Illustrators can work in a variety of ways and working on public arts events can be an important way of exhibiting your work and advertising your abilities. It can be funded through the local council's arts development officers but also through the Ats Council. There are also other funding bodies such as the Co-Op or even local businesses. It is an opportunity and it can be a rewarding one. To see more about the trail and about Battle Arts
http://battlearts.co.uk/
