Get Creative Family Arts Festival Set

The Get Creative Family Arts Festival will run throughout October 2016, marking the fourth year of this hugely successful national initiative funded by Arts Council England. On 30th March this year's Festival will be officially launched at the Family Arts Awards event held at The Albany in Deptford, London.

Organisations, artists and performers across the UK are all invited to take part in what will be the largest Family Arts Festival since its launch in 2013.

The Festival has so far engaged 1.7 million family members, involved 1,700 organisations and included 13,000 events from Penzance to Dundee, London to Llandudno. Past events have included award-winning family show Dragon at National Theatre of Scotland, mass pumpkin carving at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts in Gateshead, and London Symphony Orchestra's Create an Opera in a Day family workshop.

Michael Eakin, Chief Executive of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Chair of the Family Arts Campaign said: "The Get Creative Family Arts Festival unites families all across the country in experiencing a wealth of music, dance, theatre and visual arts activities. With the Festival now lasting one whole month, I hope that even more families will be able to take part, be inspired, and discover something new this October."

The Get Creative Family Arts Festival Awards which celebrate the very best family activity from 2015 will be announced at a special event on 30 March 2016 which will also launch this year's Festival. Organisations will be awarded for excellence in the categories of Best Event, Best Venue and Best Family Welcome and will receive their awards with an audience of cultural representatives from across the UK.

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 Family Arts 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."

The Family Arts Campaign is run by a partnership of arts and family organisations. The Albany has joined as a new partner and will now take over from Association of British Orchestras (ABO) as accountable body for the Campaign. The ABO will continue to be an active and valued partner.

The Festival provides an opportunity to invite families to experience the range of high quality arts available across the country, with participating organisations reporting an increased interest and on-going attendance by families.

The Campaign is encouraging more organisations to take part in the Festival and benefit from its promotional activities by submitting a listing to familyartsfestival.com. Events can be new work created especially for family visitors, or existing work that could appeal to an under-16 and adult attending together.

Organisations wishing to take part will be able to submit event listings from April, which will go live on the website in early June, when families will be able to search for events in their area and by genre, age-range and interest.

The Festival will be supported by a widespread national media campaign, targeting press, TV and radio and online sources both nationally and regionally.

Until the Festival begins, organisations can demonstrate their ongoing commitment to families and receive expert guidance by signing up to the Family Arts Standards.

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