Teachers

Research from the Cultural Learning Alliance shows that learners benefit from cultural engagement. Our website has been developed to help you to engage with the creative and cultural organisations local to you.

Teachers told us that in order to provide creative and cultural opportunities for their learners, they needed clear information about local resources. You can browse for creative and cultural practitioners and organisations by searching our directory by theme, postcode or keyword (please note, The Culture Challenge ceased to be active in August 2022 and so data on this Directory may not be up to date). You will find a general description of what each provider can offer schools and young people plus an indication of costs, safeguarding information and referees that you are welcome to contact. Please do get in touch directly with the practitioners should you have any specific questions.

We have also provided you with the Culture Checklist – an index of cultural and creative challenges that can be used in a number of ways in the classroom. It can work as an individual checklist so young people can see how much they have already achieved, and also to inspire ideas about what they could do locally. It can also be used as an auditing tool to identify gaps in the cultural life of your class or group, to generate ideas for new activities, and engender discussion about culture and community.

The Culture Challenge has been developed to support those undertaking Arts Award and is especially useful for helping young people investigate a the range of art forms available, and to monitor their own progress. Our listings identify Arts Award supporters and advisors who can help.

Used strategically with a year group or class, The Culture Challenge can help schools meet the criteria for Artsmark.

You can download copies of the checklist and certificates from our downloads page. You can adapt these for use in any way you see fit.

You can contact Bedford Creative Arts using the form below.  Please note, as the service is no longer active we may not respond immediately.