Working with schools, colleges, museums, youth groups, local theatres and young individuals, Arts Volunteers support a wide range of projects involving the visual arts, music and theatre. They are passionate about the benefits that creativity and arts education can bring to individuals and to their community.

Last year, The Arts Society Bury St Edmunds was involved with a second project at Howard Community Academy. Guided by local artist Rockingham Outis, the project involved year three pupils in wet felt work to produce individual masks, often using sewing techniques to add buttons, pockets and hair styles to their creations! The individual masks, incorporated into a combined collage, were put on display and later, featured in an exhibition at the school to which the public were admitted.

In collaboration with Gatehouse, a local charity which supports individuals and families through a broad range of services, the Society provided ‘Art Bags’ containing artists materials to encourage artistic creativity, among young children.

In Autumn 2025, Young Arts Leader, Ann Bygrave was introduced to ‘Art Bytes’, which led to supporting Thurston Community College in a nationwide online competition organised by the not-for-profit organisation. The rationale behind the collaboration between Art Bytes, local art societies and schools is to address the decline in the number of students taking Art at GCSE Level, and links with mental health and neurodiversity.

Working with local artist Kate Jackson, who ran a workshop with year nine students, more than 20 produced work for the competition, which involved 140 schools. A novel aspect of the competition was that it was open to public vote. The entry from Thurston which received the most public votes won a place in the virtual gallery, which you can visit if you click here.

Picture: Spiral Stairs, by Kyrylo Shchurenco, 2026, Acrylic on MDF Board. The entry from Thurston Community College, which won the most public votes.