Z-arts Highly Commended for its outstanding contribution to the national Get Creative Family Arts Festival

Z-arts, 335 Stretford Road, Manchester, M15 5ZA

Z-arts has been Highly Commended for its contribution to the 2016 Get Creative Family Arts Festival, with its event Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake and Bad Things

The annual Get Creative Family Arts Festival is a national festival offering families an extraordinary range of arts activities to enjoy right across the UK.

Voted for by a panel of expert judges from the arts sector, the Commendations recognise the outstanding events that took place within the 2016 Festival and the exemplary family-friendly organisations and venues that participated.

Z-arts joined 736 other organisations in delivering events as part of the festival, which took place between throughout October 2016.  Around 500,000 family members attended one of the 4,000 festival events held across the UK.

Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake and Bad Things, the interactive exhibition which is enabling children and families to relive the bear hunt through the eyes of Michael Rosen and see his poems and stories come to life from the page.

The Get Creative Family Arts Festival celebrates at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 14 March at Circomedia in Bristol, recognising the Festival’s most engaging family events as well as highlighting the outstanding organisers amongst the huge variety of particiapting organisations.

Award winning author Michael Rosen says: “This exhibition is one of the most exciting things to have happened in my writing career. I am someone who has found a way of writing that is often about digging up stuff to do with my past and here it is made into a giant exhibition that families and schools will be able to explore. Just as exciting for me, as someone who works with children and students, is the idea that this exhibition will act as a springboard for children, teachers and parents to talk together about things that they remember or think up, and this, I hope, will turn into writing and performing new poems and stories. I am so looking forward to it.”

The Festival is run by the Family Arts Campaign, whose evaluation report found that 61% of participating organisations reported an increase in work shown for families at their organisation. Since its beginnings in 2013 the Festival has reached approximately 2.2 million family members and included over 750 pieces of newly commissioned work specifically for families.

Phil Cave, Director of Engagement and Audiences at Arts Council England said: “Encouraging arts organisations to develop their family offer, and to consider the diverse needs of families in Britain today is really important. We are very pleased to continue to support the Family Arts Campaign, it has been a huge success to date and has reached a wide range of people. The Campaign continues to inspire artists, arts organisations and families to engage in a vast range of arts activities across the country. It provides time for families to get together and create shared memories, and to experience the power of engaging with the arts.”

To discover other family-friendly arts organisations near you visit familyartsfestival.com.