The JM Glendinning Art Award in conjunction with Guiseley School

We’re working with art students from Guiseley School – our local secondary school – to sponsor the first JM Glendinning Art Award

Our Managing Director Nick Houghton recently volunteered to spend a day carrying out mock interviews with students at Guiseley school, to help them to prepare for job or university applications in the near future. He was very impressed with the attitude and enthusiasm of the students and decided to explore ways that the school and ourselves could work together for our mutual benefit.

The JM Glendinning Art Award came about as a way of helping art students to gain exposure and recognition for their work, whilst giving us another perspective on how people view the world that we operate in. Students will submit a piece of work as part of their A-Level art studies, on a theme chosen by ourselves. From September this year, their art will be exhibited at our offices, and visitors will be asked to vote for their favourite piece, with the winner announced towards the end of the year.

This year’s theme is ‘Risk’ and Nick Houghton recently visited the school to see early drafts of the students’ work and see how they are beginning to interpret what is a very open creative brief. Nick commented:

I’m personally very interested in art, and that was the starting point for shaping this award, which makes it particularly exciting for me. As a core part our work as insurance brokers involves advising clients on how to manage their risk, we felt that this would make a great theme on which the students could base their submissions.

We’re very much looking forward to having the finished artwork on show at our offices for clients to see and vote on. The student with the most votes will receive a cash prize, as well as exposure for their work among a wider audience.

Eleanor Morrish – a Year 12 student taking part in the competition – said:

The arts award brief is different to anything we have worked on before. It’s a broad subject area and we’ve all had quite different approaches. My project is based around a poem which links to risk, others have drawn on personal experiences. It’s an honour for us to take part and a good opportunity to exhibit our work to people other than our parents and teachers. It’s also giving us an extra incentive and push to do well.

Tracy Broadhead – Art and Design Curriculum Leader at Guiseley School – also commented:

The school has been an Artsmark Gold school for several years and this reflects our commitment to quality arts education. We’re now aiming for Platinum status, which encourages us to forge partnerships with other organisations, so JM Glendinning’s award came at the perfect time.

It’s a brilliant opportunity for our students, and ‘risk’ is a very interesting subject. We started with a mind mapping activity about what risk means to everyone, and from there the students started shaping their thinking and direction for their work. It’s very exciting to see their ideas taking shape – I can’t wait to see the finished submissions.

As well as displaying the final work at our offices in Guiseley, we will be showcasing the students’ work here on our website and announcing the winner later in the year.