Young People working with Barnardo’s and Tees Valley Arts will be celebrating achieving their Bronze Arts Awards at a special exhibition of their work at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art on Thursday 1st December 2011. Family, friends and invited guests will be able to see the excellent artwork the group have created, as well as seeing them receive their Arts Award certificates.

Since August the young people have been working with artists Nicola Parkin, Shirley Wells, Laura Degnan and Michael Sogbetun to design and create their own visual artwork, creative writing and a dance film, building portfolios for the Bronze Arts Award, which is a Level 1 qualification. Across the weeks, they used and developed skills in a wide-range of arts techniques, such as silk painting, freestyle stitching, concrete poems, haiku and dance movements.

The project is a partnership between Tees Valley Arts and Barnardo’s, and is funded by Comic Relief.

Tees Valley Arts Education Officer, Jane Gray said: “The young people have achieved a great deal throughout this project – not just great artwork, but confidence and self-esteem, teamwork, leadership, communication skills and personal development. We’re all extremely proud of their achievements and it will be fantastic to see their work exhibited within a professional arts venue.”